Quote Originally Posted by Bartrim View Post
I don't know who you've talked about/practiced Muay Thai with Gok but we actually have very good groin defence. We use our lead leg to check across our body. I've found it to be better then in karate with some of the very wide traditional stances.
Cool. Unfortunately none of the MT guys I've ever trained with had good groin defence. But as we know, individual results can vary greatly between different schools, even if they teach the same martial art. I've been to Karate Dojos that practice excellent groin defence, while others are just really bad.

And I see what you mean about the wideness of stances as practised in some schools (the Yang Tai Chi school that I used to go to also taught their Bow Stance as being too impractically wide for my liking). I've also found that some of them leave the groin open. One example is the way that some people teach the Forward Stance in a wider position. IMO the forward stance should be aligned from the Riding Horse Stance (Kibadachi), which is meant to be the 'core fundamental' stance in a lot of East Asian martial arts; one ought to be able to "turn" into a Forward Stance from a Horse Stance.
e.g.
Forward Stance A
Forward Stance B
IMO Forward Stance B is better than A. A is too wide and appears to leave the groin open, whereas B is narrower and tighter. I've had people criticise this narrower gait for being "unstable" if someone pushes you from the side... but as if you would remain in this stance allowing someone to face you from your flank! The opponent is supposed to be in front of you, and quite frankly, if they manouevre themselves to your inside, then you should have already changed your stance so that your vulnerable side isn't facing them! It's almost as if they're expecting you to fight like a statue rather than these stances merely being momentary. So I wouldn't say that the traditional stances are inherently flawed, per se, but often just not taught or applied correctly, IMHO. And most likely, the Muay Thai guys that I trained with were probably taught incorrectly too.