Original subtitles

hi and welcome back to my Channel today I would like to talk about the horse stance I will show

you how to do it and how to progress into it to gain strength health and vitality you can benefit

from it physically for example you'll squat hover over dirty public toilets for emergency feces

evacuation but it's not just that this strength is going to translate into every aspect of your

life that involves legs walking running jumping hiking cycling swimming every time am I seriously

go into keeping up with my horse dance practice I feel the difference in all these endeavors if

you do this for just 10 to 30 seconds a day for 2 weeks you will feel those results for yourself big

claim huh but I'll make good on it if you think this posture is too difficult and you'd never

be able to even attempt it please watch till the end because I'll be sharing a trick that can help

anyone get started safely you can build from there I stumbled upon the horse stance back in 2018 when

I found the Wim Hof method which is a breathing technique that also includes cold exposure Wim

Hof threw the horse stance in there and extoled its virtues at allowing you to withstand the cold

its inflammation reducing properties and also how it combats cellulite uh regardless of whether his

claims were true or not I like the routine and how I was slowly able to do it for longer and longer

periods of time at some point I have adopted it as my pre-stretch stance but a few months

ago I abandoned it for some unknown reason and I had to start it fresh for this video the most

famous practitioners of the horse stance which in Chinese is called Mabu which probably everybody

has heard about are the Shaolin monks however this is the mainstay of all martial arts training

everywhere because it builds incredibly strong legs improves mobility while at the same time

getting you to work on your willpower different martial arts call it different things it's Mabu

in Chinese Kiba Dachi in Karate and Shiko in Sumo but horse stance has applications beyond martial

arts and it's beneficial to general Joe public too be it gym goers please don't go to the gym it's

a waste of time and money athletes and anyone looking to improve mobility and stability that

means us people over 40 now obviously the benefits are going to vary depending on how it's performed

your goals and the technique used all those horse stances mentioned are all a little a little bit

different and they are all correct in their own way there is no their way of doing this except

of course my way which I'm going to show you like hanging and squatting this one too is one of the

basical primal human movements and it's really important for changing height and I don't mean

just to look good in family photos with your mom but also because changing level is an essential

part of many sports and athletic pursuits and a lot of us just don't have this ability anymore

more but we once did as kids again kids have no problems with it when playing but then well we

send our kids to a place where they do boring low grade clerical work for hours and they are

not allowed to move aka the school and what comes out of the other end is us who hasn't lost this

ability well people who are being paid millions of dollars not to but it also makes sense that what

was once lost can be reclaimed like with hanging and squatting check out these videos of course if

you're interested and that's what I'm going to show you today some claim that this exercise is

good at stretching your adductors and that if you progress with it to a wider and wider stance you

will eventually be able to do splits but we're not going to be trying to do that anytime soon it took

that guy two years to do it and I'd hazard a guess that he's under 40 so what does the horse stand

do what are the benefits you are getting many benefits it's at the same time it is opening up

your hips and stretching and strengthening your adductors because you are consistently exerting

the muscles to keep yourself in this position you are building strength and stability in those

usually tricky range of motion positions that are so important for well getting up from chairs and

car seats and sofas and toilets oh yeah toilets or as the athletes and people who go to the gym would

call it deep squats it is a fantastic exercise because as you're holding it sometimes for minutes

at a time you're developing strength and endurance in the glutes hamstrings quads and even the core

you're also going to strengthen your tendence in that area now that being said is going to be

a little challenging especially at first now how does it work many of the benefits of this exercise

come from the fact that it is an isometricexercise the muscles are contracted for longer the blood

flow to them is restricted the muscle contraction squeezes blood vessels and the waste products

metabolites like lactate and hydrogen ions are stuck where they are and prevent it from being

cleared out and the longer you hold the more they accumulate and the more painful it becomes super

painful in fact but nature's trick is that these compounds besides giving you all this discomfort

and pain are a powerful signal for the body to adapt and get better at clearing things

out this leads to improved muscle strength and endurance giving you more power there now

a little bit of a warning before we get down to the nitty-gritty let me remind you do not

try to do too much too soon remember dsy don't shit yourself you don't want to go too deep too

early because you don't want to give yourself back or knee pain do you you have been warned

personal anecdote here I have been doing horse stance for a while then I had a break and now

I'm coming back to it and I'm finding them very challenging so for the rest of the video I'm

going to play it mostly safe and I'm not going to hold the most advanced pose with my thighs

parallel to the floor trying to impress you there are plenty of martial artists doing that already

and I'll just borrow their footage so let's get to it then each martial art discipline has their

own correct way of getting into this posture and out of it each one is correct in its own

way but we don't care we are over 40 and we are going to do that thing that the greatest martial

artist of all time Bruce Lee has taught us which is adopt what is useful reject what is useless

and add what is specifically your own a lot of instructions out there talk about getting into

the position the fstep way stand up straight with your feet together and there you go o1

2 3 4 5 but honestly I don't know about you but I've had major issues with my knees in the past

so I'm really careful with movements like that and this one seems to be putting unnecessary strain on

them just notice that this position gets you about shoulder width apart and skip it just

stand shoulders width apart just be glad you're not practicing Sumo their hor stance is double

the shoulder width apart because we are not at the sholing temple or training for a karate tournament

how big of a step you take to the side basically depends on what feels comfortable for you some

people in school say that you should keep your feet facing the front but I say you do whatever

you need to find a position that is a bit more comfortable for your knees now squat down and you

might feel you might like to adjust your feet by opening them up a bit more that's okay to go with

what feel feels comfortable the important part is for you to watch your knees you don't want them

to cave inwards like so no no remember to actively push your knees outward now pull your body forward

so that your knees start to hover over your toes as you go forward see if you can drop your ass a

little more and get your chest up so that you can get it in a nice straight line with your

back that's the position we want and getting to that position can take some time but remember

repetition not aggression Rome wasn't built in a day etc so it's absolutely fine to start with

an easier posture one that allows you to keep your back straight and little by little day by day keep

working on it until you can find yourself in that coveted spot remembering to pull your hips under

you and your chest up and always remember don't let your knees collapse inwards those are the 3

things to remember tuck your pelvis keep your back straight and keep your your knees out if your butt

is sticking out then it may mean that you're going too low into the horse stance and you should back

off a little bit the same goes for the discomfort in your back if you feel it you're probably

arching it too much and what about your knees is it going to murder them not if you remember to

find the right position for yourself and adjust your stance to your circumstances once you know

where you're going then you can try to enter this pose later the Shaolin way raise your arms up

and touch your palms over your head as you breathe in and then breathe out as you lower yourself into

the stance breathing is important in this exercise so remember to breathe okay deep focused breaths

so here we are in a horse stance you can now enjoy its other benefit of building mental strength and

focus it's super uncomfortable and it doesn't take long for the pain to set in making it very

easy to quit but each second is an opportunity to push your yourself a bit further through the

crisis what I find makes it easier is to occupy your body and mind with something else like the

Tai Chi-liked arm movements or punches or whatever else you can think of because it's so painful and

because it's so easy to quit it is worthwhile to set a timer at first of a minimum that you

should last even 15 seconds then perhaps as you're into days or weeks of this somewhat masochistic

exercise you can set it to something you think is outside of your possibilities put the timer

out of your view and wait for it to ring fun fun fun don't be surprised to find that your legs

start to shake that's how much you are exerting yourself and there are those who say that animals

shake to release tension and that we can do it too to work through trauma on a physiological

level I find that this exercise recalibrates my perception of what is difficult so I guess it's

no wonder why they put so much emphasis on it in the martial arts training what if you say to me

no way I can't do it even for 5 seconds and I'm just going to end up with my bum on the

floor then I say I have a solution for you it's a special piece of equipment called a chair it's

a super useful trick to get the feel for the proper form even if you are very out of shape

or way over 40 and hav't exercise like this in a long while or if you have a way over 40 mom or dad

whom you'd like to take this tip up sitting on the chair is taking the exercise back to its roots so

to speak as you are straddling it as if you were straddling a horse so straddle that chair and face

towards the back and this way you have something to support you for balance you can't fall and the

chair limits the depth of how far you can get with your legs so now just spread your legs out and

remember the 3 points I have discussed already 1.tuck your pelvis 2.keep your back straight

3.keep your knees out and then you're just going to do an isometric pushup it's okay if you don't

get very far with this and your bum may not even leave the chair but you're are going to get the

credit for just trying to unload the bottom from the seat you will get stronger from this

repetition not aggression you can also do what I do and use your chair and desk none of your

co-workers has to know I found this way of coming back to this posture super reassuring knowing that

all I need to worry about is hitting the seat of the chair with my bum as you get stronger you can

flip the chair around so this will challenge your balance and stability more hold out your arms in

front of you or give them something to do like with the Tai Chi like movements remember starting

small is okay holding 5 10 15 seconds to begin with is quite all right when you get to 30 seconds

you've graduated and you on your way okay so let's start wrapping up it's good to incorporate it into

your daily life I used to do it for 30 seconds before my 3 minute stretching routine you could

also do it while brushing your teeth or combine it with another habit you might have habit stacking

its cold I believe same with incorporating it as a way to have a break in front of your computer the

horse stance is a valuable exercise but don't go crazy don't believe the YouTube videos that will

tell you that it is the one adapt the practice to your personal fitness goals and physical

condition you don't have to train like a Shaolin monk to get the benefits start small and don't

get discouraged remember consistency beats intensity every time you will get infinitely

more benefit from even the shortest seconds long holds than other people will get from long holds

that they are not doing and please remember the three important points tuck your pelvis

keep your back straight and keep your knees out actually Let's do an experiment do this note your

beginning time and then come back after a week or two and note your new time what Mr Sendyka are

you shamelessly trying to pull more comments no I wouldn't do that please do it because I'm really

curious and yes also because I want this channel to grow so that I can brainwash more people over

40 to be fit and healthy with me so given this how high or how low you are it doesn't matter

progress slowly be patient with yourself after all you're not training to be a kong fu master or

to go to The Shaolin Temple and as always use your judgment and don't blame me your muscles might get

tense and if you have these things they can make them relax again and generally make your life more

enjoyable I'm going to make a separate video one day on how to keep your muscles soft and relaxed

us using these oh and if you into these sort of poses I made a video about the Asian squat that

can be your lesson too never mind I recorded it first strong leg muscles will help you to go in

and out of it go check it out if that's something that you might be interested in your life won't

be complete without it if you're enjoying the content please like and comment because it really

helps with the algorithm consider subscribing too thank you for watching and see you next time bye