Universal Positions (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum

I spotlight the importance of specific shapes and positions because they are what I refer to as "universal positions." They serve as linchpins that connect many other positions, shapes, and techniques.

Position Zero is your default position, the starting point for all your attacks and defenses. In this position, my gaze remains fixed on the imaginary opponent's chest, aligning my head and chin. Both lead and rear hands act as obstacles against straight punches, with the rear hand protecting the chin from surprise punches. The rear hand gives you confidence. Since this is where your rear hand blocks punches, it shouldn't need to react against feints. My forearms and elbows provide side coverage, and my loose hands create larger obstacles. From this position, your opponent would have to come closer to use hooks to the head, which already alerts you that hooks are now in play. A narrow stance exposes fewer targets and maximizes turning capability. Weight distribution is slightly shifted back for effective use of the lead leg in blocking or kicking. My feet are apart, both forward and back and side to side, giving me optimal balance against my opponent. The primary weapons, lead leg and hand, are light and loaded. All my offense and defense come from this position.

Position One, or pointing your foot away from your opponent, increases your balance and puts your knee in a position to take both load and torque. Neglecting Position One can pose injury risks. In Position One, you can turn your body toward your knee. All your offense and defense come from turning.

The rear foot starts in Position One, which gives you balance both front to back and side to side. You can turn the direction of your rear knee, which means jabs, hooks, uppercuts, various lead kicks and checks, blocks, and slips.

By placing your lead foot in Position One, you effectively change stances, enabling you to turn in the other direction and open up various kicks with the other leg. Failure to adopt Position One during kicking places substantial torque on your standing knee, which, being a hinge joint, is not suited for excessive twisting or lateral stress.

High Hurdle Step represents another universal position, offering the ability to kick, block kicks, knee, feint, create distance, jam/cancel, and move. As we progress further, you'll notice the High Hurdle Step often serves as a precursor for various movements. It can be executed using either the lead or rear leg. When you lift your lead leg, your rear foot will be in Position One.

However, when you lift your rear leg into High Hurdle Step, your lead leg usually remains pointed at your opponent unless a specific reason calls for adopting Position One and the extra effort.

The importance of universal positions extends beyond their versatility; they also conserve energy and motion. Minimizing unnecessary movements saves time and effort, making it challenging for opponents to predict your actions. By reinventing the wheel for every movement, you not only make yourself easy to read but tax yourself mentally and physically.

Your job is to be as economical as possible, and it's your opponent's job to make you do extra work. You shouldn't intentionally make it harder on yourself. Avoiding universal positions doesn't reduce your effort; it increases it, as both your opponent and your body will force you to do even more work because your positions won't be stable.

Naming these invisible positions isn't solely for recall; it underscores their universal nature and that these positions afford you various options from a stable position while allowing you to link position to position. Attacks and blocks are secondary; what takes priority is universal positions. Without them, everything becomes clumsy and unstable. With beginners, the emphasis is often on their punching, kicking, and blocking techniques when what's really lacking is universal positions.

There are more universal positions to come, but what's important to remember isn't just their names but the concept of universality. How you do one thing is how you do all things.

– Sam