The Secret Of Power Kick Strategies In Karate
Kicking is one of the most misunderstood tools of the martial arts
. You are potentially off balance, fighting at distance, and yet must adhere to certain basic strategies of combat. This article, however, should enable you to offset the disadvantages and develop an excellent fighting strategy, and even develop some pretty potent and powerful kicking.
Interestingly, kicks were not always a big thing, they didn't even impact on the American martial arts until the sixties. Watch the kicks in movies earlier than that and you don't see much, not even in the old kung fu chop sockies. The reason for this lack of adequate kicking had to do with clothing and basic strategy.
Soldiers in ancient times often wore armor in war. This meant that they were carrying more weight, and if they wanted to deliver some sort of leg attack their balances were often at risk. Ask a modern day solder to kick while wearing a back pack, body armor, a rifle, all while standing in combat boots, and you will easily see my point.
Another reason was that soldiers carried weapons. Why on earth would you deliver a kick, which is slower than punching, and larger and easier to see, to a fellow who was holding a sword? Or, with today's modern warfare, a rifle?
Thus, before Tae Kwon Do reared its head, with that art's spinning kicks and head hunters and ax kicks, martial arts foot techniques were quite a bit different. Instead of lifting the leg up and shooting it in, which could often be easily defended against, the leg was chambered with the foot cupping the standing knee, and then snapped out. In other words, a leg attack was actually more of a slap with the outside portion of the foot.
A lot of power could be delivered with this type of foot, and one didn't have to risk falling, and it wasn't out long enough to be chopped off. Actually, it was designed for close quarter combat, not the long ranges developed by some of today's arts. And, speaking oftoday's arts, we now come face to face with modern legwork.
Long, spinning, jumping kicks came into vogue with the Tae Kwon Do influence of the 60s. Long kicks took more energy, were great for conditioning, and were so different that they worked, at least in the beginning. Now, however, while they are good for a change up, most people understand and see the long kicks, and so they treat them as a part of strategy, and not the end all to strategy.
It is doubtful that we will ever go back to short range, slapping kicks at knee level. And, there is good reason for practicing the long, high kicks, for they give range, a type of strength, and are pretty darn good for shifting strategies in combat. And, the good news, one can, through proper dedication and diligence and heaps of sweat, develop powerful kicks in any art, be it Karate, Kung Fu, or whatever.
by: Al Case
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