ready stance
Poised for action
A ready stance is a balanced, alert body position from which someone can quickly respond to action.
The term appears most often in martial arts, sports, and tactical contexts, where practitioners adopt a ready stance before engaging: She dropped into a ready stance, weight centered, hands up.
The stance prepares the body for movement in any direction.
- poisedCalm and controlled
- alertWarning or watchfulness
- guardWatchful defensive attention
- coiledArranged in spirals
- tenseStrained or nervous
on your toes · hair trigger · balanced · low center · braced · waiting · fight or flight · crouched · defensive · athletic · anticipation · split second · set · primed · loaded · vigilant · game face · fighting
- Taekwondofront kick, side kick, roundhouse kick, back kick, axe kick
- fighting stancesorthodox, southpaw, on guard, en garde, peek-a-boo
- expressions of alertnesswide eyes
- low positionssquat, deep squat, crouch, hunker, Asian squat
ready stancerelaxed stance
Informal body positioning
at ease · relaxed posture · rest position · slouch · standing down
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