Power Martial Arts Kicks in Five Simple and Logical Steps
Posted: Saturday, January 30, 2010
by Al Case
http://www.alcasebooks.com/
Itmakes no sense to let an attacker get close enough to punch. If he'sgot a knife or club, or just a fist that is fast, the best strategy isto kick low and hard and keep him out of range. The problem is thatmany Tae Kwon Do schools do not teach the right way to use the legs.
Acouple of things to remember before we get into making your kicks intopowerful weapons. Practice kicking high so you have strength andflexibility, but keep your kicks low in a real fight so you don't get aleg caught. And, the best strategy is to avoid the fight altogetherwhenever you can.
Turnyour hips into the action of the kick. Always turn, or tilt, your hipsso that the weight of the hips is driven into the action. This willalso give you a little more reach, and it will help commit the wholeweight of the body into the action.
Kick with the ball of thefoot. I know many people like to bash with the instep, but they end upspinning around out of control. Kicking with the ball of the footforces the artist to be an artist, and it concentrates more weight intoa smaller striking area.
Bring the foot all the way back afterkicking. Snap that foot back so that an opponent can't grab it andthrow you. This also tends to leave more power in the target, considerit a type of follow through.
Practice planting your foot on thetarget, then pushing your partner. This usually means you will alterthe kick, for this training drill, so that you can place the heel onthe body of your partner, then push. This trains the exact muscles thatare actually used in a kick.
Kicks are your first line ofdefense, don't just practice these techniques a few times and forgetabout them, practice them hundreds of times a day for each kick.Whether you are training in Karate, or Tae Kwon Do, or Kung Fu, orwhatever, a well placed kick can save your life. So practice, and lookat your kicks, invest awareness, study the physics of a kick so thatyour kicks are effective and end the fight before it can even start.
AlCase has examined martial arts for over 4O+ years. A writer for themagazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate for many years. Youcan find out how to have the mostpowerful punch in the world, or how to have the strongestkicks in the world, by picking up his free ebook at Monster MartialArts.
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