One of the Most Beneficial Exercises for Muscle Growth: Horse Stance
The horse stance is an exercise that is part of the basic fundamentals of many Asian martial art sports such as kung-fu. It can be used to help increase the gains not only in your legs but in your upper body if done properly.
What is the Horse stance?
The horse stance is an isometric exercise in which you spread your legs to the sides of your body squatting down until your legs are at a 90-degree angle. The name comes from the riding position an individual would have with a horse. Your legs would be spread apart to accommodate the horse. The easiest way to improve upon the exercise is to try.
You can first start at 30 seconds and try and work your way up to 2 minutes. This exercise can be performed anywhere anytime, so you can do it while you're brushing your teeth or when you get out of bed.
Why is it so effective?
One of the reasons why the horse stance is such a beneficial exercise is that it builds mobility in the hips through having to spread the legs, building lower back strength reducing the risk of injury, as well as hitting the adductors of the legs. It also has a great mental benefit due to the pain threshold of the exercise. Holding the exercise for long periods of time is both physically and mentally challenging. This exercise can teach the ability to overcome hardships and push through pain.
How do you perform it?
As I stated previously the horse stance is a basic position for many martial arts. The way you perform the horse stance is by stretching your legs far apart keeping the toes pointed forwards. Lower legs until your at squat height and slightly tilt the toes away from each other. Try and grip the floor with your feet to keep your body stable.
Kness
Push your knees outward keeping them in line with your toes to stay balanced.
Back
Make sure to keep your back as straight as possible when performing this exercise. Typically when squating down people have a tendency up bring the back forward due to lack of mobility in the hips and adductors. But doing this exercise can help improve that issue. This position can also help take the load off of the quads and instead onto the glutes, helping you hold the stance for longer.
Hips
keep a neutral position with the hips in order to move more freely and generate power.
Conclusion
The horse stance is a unique exercise that not only provides physical benefits to the lower back and leg region, but can increase mental resilience. It is an exercise that is known as a basic position in many martial arts such as taekwondo, karate, and kung-fu. If you enjoyed this article don’t forget to share it with a friend.
Cited Source: “Perfect Ma Bu/ Horse Stance Training Guide — Kung Fit: Kung Fu and Fitness to Stay Fit for Life.” Kung Fit, 5 May 2022, www.kungfit.coach/blog/perfect-ma-bu-guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDhKU_z2t3Q
