The following article is instructional in nature and is aimed at new students to the martial arts and those who have not done this method of attack before.
Mention any fighting stance, such as the Crane stance or a Horse stance, and anyone involved in the striking arts will know exactly what you mean, more or less, straightaway. But what about the Cat stance? For sure many do know what a Cat stance is of course as it is often part of any set form and used many times within competition events and so on. But what about the Cat Spring Attack method? The Cat Spring attack method is a descriptive term, and a good name for sure, regarding this very fast and powerful striking method that uses the Cat stance in a practical way. The Cat stance of course is a good starting position in some situations and can easily be turned into a Crane stance or as a defensive posture, however, the Cat stance really does come into its own as a rapid spring ‘cat like’ attacking method. The Cat Spring attacking method is one of the best methods to use when it comes to performing a preemptive strike, when closing the gap between you and your opponent and striking at the same time. Although when it comes to a self defence situation, striking first is something that many will not do, however there are times when attacking first can be more than ideal in some situations. For example, imagine that you have stopped your opponent's attack in a street fight and you both find yourselves out of reach from each other for just a few moments. In that situation it does of course raise the question of how do you close that gap to land another blow? You could step, lunge or even walk forward, at speed of course, to close that gap, or you could spring forward and strike at the same time. That is when the Cat spring is needed. Of course it should be noted at this stage that a Cat Spring Attack technique is a full on attack mode method so defending yourself against counter punches at the same time is not really possible. So that being the case it should only be used as a surprise attack or as a counter strike, in the main, when distance needs to be reduced rapidly. The first thing to look at on this subject is how you stand in a Cat stance because there are variations on how to do this. Some put a bit of body weight on the front leg while others only have their foot lightly touching the floor. Some even have a degree of width involved like you would in a fighting stance for example, while other forms of the Cat stance are somewhat extreme in nature, extreme meaning crouching down low in what I would call a fancy artistic pose. In this case however all the weight is on the back leg and the leading leg is directly in front of the back leg with the foot only touching the floor. In this version of the Cat stance it is very much a defensive posture that is aimed at protecting the lower part of the body, such as the ‘groin’ area, with the hand guard protecting the centre line of the body. By this stage you should now be aware that the front positioned leg is directly in front of the back leg with the back leg bent at the knee. That bent back leg is very vital when it comes to performing a spring attack as it is the power behind the entire technique. In addition, the front leg is very close to the back leg. Near enough no gap between the legs in this version of a Cat stance at all. Before going into the technical methods used regarding the Cat Spring technique I must say how surprised I am that not everyone knows about this practical fighting technique? Or at the very least it seems to be overlooked or even neglected within martial art classes these days? I have taught this fighting application often to students and some did have a problem with it in the beginning as they often had the habit of jumping off the ground with both feet at the same time. Not only students I hasten to add but also black belt instructors until shown how best to do it. Now for the technical part of it all. From a Cat stance position you now need to use the back leg, with your knee bent a bit, to propel yourself not only forward but upward at the same time. Going forward of course is the main part of it all. A Cat does this all the time if you think about it, they will remain completely still and jump forward, pounce, with a spring-like action. Hence the name Cat Spring. So how can we humans do the same thing? Well all you need to do is use your back leg to jump forward and land on your front leading leg. Imagine you are a sprint runner jumping over hurdles. They kick off the ground with one foot and land on the other foot. They are of course running, but in this situation you will be doing the very same thing but from a standing still position. Just like a Cat. The spring attack action, it should be noted at this point, must include both a forward and a small but positive upward jumping action at the same time or without that little bit of height gravity will soon bring you back down and shorten your attempt at closing the gap between you and your opponent. In addition to being an ideal way of closing the gap it can also be used even if in striking range already as it has one other special feature, that being, how rapidly you can move forward and strike compared to a basic step and punch action. Learning the Cat Spring attacking method in two stages is often the best way forward and if you are right handed then it would be wise to go into a right Cat stance first until you have mastered this item before trying the same thing in a left Cat stance. By the way if you start in a right Cat stance, meaning the right leg is in the forward position, then afterwards you will still be in a right Cat stance position. And the hand strike also starts and ends with the right fist. The first stage is to understand the physical action required by doing a step and punch only from a Cat stance. So with the right leg in the forward position and the right hand guard also in the forward position, take a step forward with the right leg and throw a right hand jab. As you do this the back leg is drawn up behind the right leg. You are now back in the same position as when you started. Repeat this action a few times advancing down the room. Always using the right leading leg and right hand. The next stage now involves the jumping spring action. Put a very small, not very tall object to jump over in front of you on the ground. Something that you could easily step over like a very low fence for example. Or maybe imagine a wide painted line on the floor to clear as you jump over it. The aim of course is to force you to jump a bit and cover a bit of distance at the same time. This second stage is not a simple step forward job anymore, a little jump forward is now added so that it will help you to cover the required distance more rapidly and reduce that gap between you and your opponent, or target, at the same time. Lifting the leading leg into a Crane stance, as all part of just one single action jump, and using your back leg to power that jump will give you added power to the punch itself. And of course you will be moving in a forward direction at the same time, so that adds even more power to the punch. At this stage you now need to also draw up the back leg behind the front leg after the punch is thrown before placing your back leg back on the ground. All one smooth fluid action and all done from start to finish within 2 seconds at the most. Yes, it is a very fast attacking method. The last part of it all is to then put weight on the back leg as you return into a right Cat stance position again. In somewhat simple terms you are not jumping with both feet but hopping from one leg to the other as you cover distance and leaving the back leg in the raised position as you throw a punch. This Cat spring attack method is always best done with a leading hand ‘fast recoil' jab and done before the back leg is placed back on the ground. Think of a Crane stance but with the back leg lifted and not the front leg as you throw the punch in other words. This mode of attack is remarkably fast and with practice you will be able to cover the gap between you and your opponent, and throw a punch, in half the time that it would normally take to step forward and throw any other hand strike. On a final note, that is worth remembering, the lead foot must hit the ground just like any step and punch method, before you throw the punch. The back leg returns to the ground after the punch is done. As with all published articles on this site you can leave a message, or an article review, at any time via the contact page or via my Facebook page. Click >HERE< for both methods of contact. For the site author profile page click >HERE< Comments are closed.
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