TKD Basic Stances
Offense
Our "Offense" stance is what most schools would term "Fighting Stance". Most people are right-handed and fight with the weak side forward (left side forward). In the "Offense" stance, the strong hand is closer to the body, and the weak hand is closer to the opponent. You often feign attacks and/or misdirections with the weak hand, then follow through with the powerful rear hand. Same tactics typically apply to the legs.
In the Offense stance, the leading hand can be open for palm strikes, or closed for fist punches. Either are acceptable.
Defense
Our "Defense" stance is the symmetrical opposite of "Offense", with the strong hand forward and the weak hand closer to the body (assuming you are right handed). This is often called the "south-paw stance" in boxing. To get to this stance, many other schools call "Fighting Stance", then call "Switch" (or "Bah Kwah" in Korean). We simply call "Defense".
Just as in the Offense stance, with the Defense stance the leading hand can be open for palm strikes, or closed for fist punches. Either are acceptable.
Transition Into Offense/Defense
You'll notice that the video explains and demonstrates that "Offense" and "Defense" are simple transitions from a common walk, which is part of why we do it this way and call it our "fighting stance". This side stance is also the most common fighting stance of the martial arts styles. And, it is the way all (but one) of our instructors have been trained.
If a person prefers a "fighting stance" that is more square, they can easily transition from this stance. But this is our official fighting stance.
Taekwondo Fighting Stance
The above "Offense/Defense" stances come from Moo Lim Do, which in turn seem to have come from Tang Soo Do. It is a bit different from Taekwondo fighting stance. Most Taekwondo people have their leading foot turned inward slightly, like this (notice the leading leg):
And below is a traditional Tang Soo Do fighting stance:
Additional Stances: Horse, Walking, Front
These stances are common across most styles of martial arts, and very well illustrated in the following Taekwondo video.
Horse Stance:
Horse Stance is a "transitional" stance, and not otherwise used in fighting. As a transitional stance, you will see a fighter briefly use it as they transition from one technique to another technique. It is very common as a transitional stance, plus doing it helps train muscle memory for keeping the knees bent, which is important with virtually all stances. It is also a decent leg muscle strengthening exercise, as keeping a horse stance for very long will cause your leg muscles to burn. It is also a good mobility and flexibility exercise-- you can gradually increase how far apart your legs are and eventually build up to a full side split.
Knees Over Toes:
Ben Patrick (known as the "Knees Over Toes" guy) is not a martial artist, but he has helped *many* prominent martial artists and other sports people overcome their knee problems. Below is what he suggests. And, interestingly enough, Grandmaster Kim now demonstrates a horse stance similar to below, and he says it is easier on knees. So Grandmaster Kim and Ben Patrick are in agreement on what you see below:
