Beginner Forms

Choy Lay Fut’s Basic Stances & Applications

Peformers: Alex Brzobohaty, Daniel Jespersen, Aaron Lee & Nicholas Lee

This article is based on a short form used at our school to introduce 4 stances used in our style Choy Lay Fut. The form is called “Gei Boon Ma Bo Yut” in Cantonese, in English we call it Basic Stance Form 1. This is the 1st form taught to our students and is taken from the original form “Li Ma” which is a complete stance form.

Why Stances?

To someone who is not familiar with Martial Arts Training, stances may be something new and hard to understand, but stances are the foundation of our art. Stances help understand power generation, train the overall strength and stamina of the legs, create a better connection between the upper and lower body and help train the waist for more efficient movement. The patterns that stances follow in forms give us a variety of footwork and options to help us in fighting. Advancing, retreating, side stepping, rising, sinking & circle stepping are some of the more popular steps in Choy Lay Fut.

Lets Discuss the 4 stances found in “Gei Boon Ma Bo Yut” – Basic Stance Form 1

Choy Lay Fut’s Basic Stance Form 1

We recommend holding each stance up to 5 minutes… Move at your own pace, and increase the time in each stance. In Choy Lay Fut we do not want to hold the stance too long in order to avoid injury and to keep the legs quick.

In class we count to 10 or 20 in Cantonese…

1-yut …… 2-yee …… 3-sam …… 4-say …… 5-ng …… 6-lok …… 7-chaat …… 8-baat …… 9-gow …… 10-sup

Choy Lay Fut’s Basic Fist Form 1

In Choy Lay Fut we do not want to hold the stance for very long periods of time. We train up to 10-15 minutes per stance and change from stance to stance to help understand various types of footwork. Using your waist while punching is essential, this basic form developed by Grandmaster Lee Koon Hung is short simple and excellent for helping one to get more power, range and build good habits while punching. Notice that the punches are long and the back always remains straight to avoid over extension. Each punch is executed while making the sounds in this order 1. Ha, 2. Seet, 3. Yeet, 4. Seet. When making these sounds make them short and originating from the tan tien (lower abdomen). This will ensure more power and stamina. Below the sounds will be in White Text…