Ready stance also known as parallel stance is used as in the “ready” position before and after patterns, at the start and end of classes or as a preparation to do basics.   You will often hear the instructor call out:Chombe to ask you to move into this ready stance.  This stance is also found in some patterns including Taegeuk Six.

Ready Stance

Tiger stance is a traditional Taekwondo stance which first appears in Taegeuk Seven.  The weight is heavily biased towards the rear foot with a key concept of the stance being that you can kick with the front foot immediately without any weight transfer being necessary.  The weight of the front foot is carried on the ball of the foot, with the heal being completely off the ground.

Tiger Stance

Your weight should be evenly distributed over both feet in horse stance, with both knees bent, feet parallel and facing towards the front.

Horse Stance

Walking stance otherwise known as short stance is the predominant stance in the first three Taegeuk patterns.  As  depicted it is a very small stance at only one foot length long.  Both knees are bent, but only gently, ie don’t lock your legs straight, let the knee joint be soft and relaxed.  While formally for competitions this stance is only the width of a foot wide, in class it is ok to perform the stance up to shoulder width.  Your weight is evenly distributed over both feet.

Walking Stance

Front stance, also known as forward or long stance is a dominate stance in many patterns and is also one of the first stances most new students will learn.  Your front knee should be bent so that you can just see the tip of your toes over the end of your knee, the back leg should be straight with the foot turned to thirty degrees.  Formally the stance is only the width of your foot and this is what must be used in competition, however in general use the stance is normally wider up to shoulder width. 

Front stance

Back stance is found in many patterns starting with Taegeuk Three (Sam Jang).  Your weight your should be held more over the back leg (approx 70%) while still keeping your body centred over both feet – if you bend your back leg more than the front this will be easily achieved.  Bear the actual weight predominantly over the ball of each foot as opposed to the heal so that you are not flat footed.  As the picture below illustrates, traditional back stance is two foot lengths long with the feet placed perpendicular to each other.

Bank stance