Fighting stance

Question

What is the best fighting stance for kickboxing Dutch style? I'm new to kickboxing K-1, and I'm wondering if keeping your back straight with the core tensed and raising your shoulders to protect your chin is a proper form.

Answer 1

I can't provide any personal input on this, but this Reddit topic discusses a good stance for Dutch-style kickboxing:

Lead foot forward, rear foot 90 degrees out to your side. Dutch style usually involves "lighter" and more boxing/karate styled footwork rather than the Muay Thai "march".

Lead foot is more planted than in Muay Thai, guard styles vary a lot. It superficially looks a lot like an intermediate between the Muay Thai stance (narrow, rear foot more forward angled and lead foot straight to check kicks) and boxing (usually wide, rear foot sometimes pointing away, lead foot pointing in).

Focus in Dutch style is entering with rapid and powerful hand strikes and then finishing with a crouched "stepping" low kick compared to MT where singular power shots and (usually "pivoted on toes") kicks on the "open" side is much more valuable.

I specifically asked about the shoulders/core bit and he replied:

Haha, weird that you look up a 5 month old post for a question but I'll try to answer it. Nah you don't raise your shoulders or tense your core all the time when you're in your usual stance, if the guy asking the question does some more training he'll realise how quickly you grow tired ("gas out") from doing that.

You shrug your shoulders as a last ditch effort to help reduce the impact of a blow, and you do the same when you tense your core for body shots. Some guys like to "shoulder roll" which also involves raising the shoulder to block incoming strikes, but it's also something you only do temporarily. You want to be relaxed, but ready, when you're in your normal stance.