[I:http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/extras/pics/bowzerimage15.jpg]It makes no sense to let an attacker get close. If he’s got a knife or club, or just a better punch, the best strategy is to kick low and hard and keep him out of range. The problem is that many Karate schools do not teach the right way to use the legs.
A couple of things to remember before we get into making your kicks into powerful weapons. Practice kicking high so you have strength and flexibility, but keep your kicks low in a real fight so you don’t get a leg caught. And, the best strategy is to avoid the fight altogether whenever you can.
Practice kicking over a chair or similar height object. This will train you to raise your knee high for the kick. When your knee is high your foot can go straight in and deliver the goods, and not scrape up the body in a rising arc.
Turn your hips into the kick. Always turn, or tilt, your hips so that the weight of the hips is committed to the action. This will also give you a little more reach, and it will help put the whole body into the action.
Always try to kick with the ball of the foot. I know many people like to kick with the instep, but if they miss they end up spinning around out of control. Kicking with the ball of the foot forces the artist to be an artist, and it concentrates more weight into the smaller area of the ball of the foot.
Bring the foot all the way back after you have executed a kick. Snap that foot back so that an opponent can’t grab it and throw you to the ground. This also tends to leave more power in the target, and less backing up your leg.
Practice planting your foot on the target, then pushing. This usually means you will alter the kick, for this exercise, so that you can place the heel on the body of your partner, then push. This trains the exact muscles needed at impact.
Kicks are your first line of defense, don’t just practice these techniques a few times and forget about them, practice them hundreds of times a day for each kick. Whether you are training in Karate, or Tae Kwon Do, or Kung Fu, or whatever, a well placed kick can save your life. So practice, and look at your kicks, invest awareness, study the physics of a kick so that your kicks are effective and end the fight before it can even start.
Al Case has studied martial arts for over 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate for several years. You can find out how to have the most powerful punch in the world, or how to have the strongest kicks in the world, by picking up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
