Kick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of the words "kick" and "kicker" see Kick (disambiguation).
In violence, martial arts, and combat sports, a kick is an attack using the foot, leg, or knee (also known as a knee strike). This attack is often used in hand-to-hand combat, especially in stand-up fighting. Kicks have greater power and reach than strikes made with the hands.
Kicks play a great part in many martial arts, such as Taekwondo, kung fu, karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai, capoeira, Silat, and Savate. Some arts do not utilize kicks at all, such as judo and boxing. Other arts limit the use of kicks to attacks on the legs and lower body, while some sport martial arts tournaments only allow kicking above the waist.
The usefulness of kicks in self-defense and actual combat has been debated. Some, like Bruce Lee, have commented that the leg, thanks to its size and weight, is a more powerful weapon than the arm. Because kicks are more exotic than punches, they may intimidate and catch a fighter off-guard, and because the leg is longer than the arm, kicks tend to keep an opponent at a distance and to surprise him or her with their range. Many have reported successfully using kicks in real-life self-defense situations, and some modern combat systems such as Krav Maga, intended primarily for self-defense and combat, have incorporated kicks. Others, however, argue that compared to punches and other hand strikes, a kick is overly slow, predictable, and unbalancing, and that high kicks are particularly impractical.
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[edit] Kick variations
A great number of kicks exist, and often the same movement will have different names in different martial arts. This page gives the English terms commonly used by taekwondo practitioners.
In karate, and its technical descendant and spiritual cousin, taekwondo, and similar arts, kicks typically begin with what's called coiling or chambering, when the leg is drawn back and cocked in a "ready" position. Then the kick is fired with an explosive movement and snapped or thrust out at the target. The leg is then swiftly recoiled (rechambered). After that, the leg may be lowered or used for another kick. Some martial arts (such as Muay Thai and a number of Chinese martial arts) eschew this method for some or all kicking techniques.
The kicks listed below can be done using either the back foot or the lead foot ("lead leg"). Many kicks can be delivered using different parts of the leg as the attack "tool", the portion of the leg delivering the impact. These variations change from kick to kick and are given in the individual kick descriptions.
These kicks can be executed at many heights. Many flexible martial artists can deliver kicks above their own heads. They can also be executed "in the air" with a jumping motion (mid-air and jump kicks), with a spinning motion (spin kicks), or combining the two (jump spin kicks), as long as muscular strength in the martial artist permits. Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, has a spinning block/kick called "au batido" that resembles half-cartwheels. As a general rule, however, the fancier and higher a kick is, the less effective it will prove in actual combat; flashy kicks are developed for show (such as in Tricking), for fun, for sport, or for art, and not, practically, for self-defense.
[edit] Basic kicks
[edit] Front kick
In Japanese, mae geri; in Korean, ap chagi (앞 차기).
From a standing position, the leg is swung upward into the target, or lifted and thrust forward into the target. Depending on the method used, the striking surface may be the instep, the point of the toe, the heel, or the ball of the foot. In taekwondo, the front kick is regarded a push kick, a very powerful kick that pushes the opponent away or onto the ground, as well as a rapid strike on the opponent's groin or chin. In karate, it is either delivered with a thrusting motion (mae geri kekome) striking with the heel, or as a snapping or whipping motion (mae geri keage) that strikes with the ball. Some older, Okinawan variants also may strike with the tips of the toes in a penetrating attack aimed for various pressure points.
Muay thai uses front kicks (Called "teep" kicks) in a pushing motion to maintain distance. Many proponents of the art teach it as a push only, but others teach it as an actual, damaging attack. It is most like the karate mae geri kekome in its targets and weapon used on the foot, but uses either a pushing or whipping motion to propel itself home. A teep kick to the face is considered particularly insulting in muay thai, and in fact, in older muay boran, a frontwards kick was taught that was designed to flatten a hated opponent as an interception kick to the face.
Front kicks can be executed extremely quickly by anyone with respectable strength and dynamic flexibility. Front kicks are most often used to disarm opponents and strike the groin and stomach, but they can be delivered to higher targets such as the chin or face. They are perfect for developing balance in students before they learn more advanced kicks, such as the ones that follow.
[edit] Side kick
In Japanese, yoko geri; in Korean, yop chagi (옆 차기).
The Side Kick refers to a kick that is delivered sideways in relation to the body of the person kicking. There are two general ways in which a side kick can be delivered. The first involves chambering the kick by bending it and cocking it back before you kick. The second involves shooting the leg forward as you would in a front kick and then pivoting and turning so that you actually deliver a side kick. The first way is more easily read by an opponent but has great power. The second has far less power but is much faster and more deceptive. Therefore, the former is more preferable by a full-contact or combative individual, while the latter is more used in the attitude of point-sparring.
In addition, there are two areas that are commonly used as impact points in sidekicks. The first is the heel of the foot and the other is the outer edge of the foot (this is sometimes called the side blade kick, "ashi-gatana" or "sokuto" in Japanese). The heel is more suited to hard targets such as the ribs, stomach, jaw, temple and chest. The side blade is more suited to the softer targets such as the knee and neck.
Muay thai uses the side-kick in a smaller, but arguably more effective, manner, by using it as a damaging attack only when striking the knees of a high-kicking opponent when one wishes to destroy said opponent. Otherwise, it is mainly used in a pushing role. The reason this is stems from the fact that the most viable targets for a sidekick are the lower abdomen (Below the belt) and the face, which is a risky venture.
Side kicks require less flexibility to reach head height than any other standing kick. However, they need much greater strength and precision to be used effectively in anything but a rough, pushing strike such as that employed by other push kicks.
[edit] Back kick
In Japanese, ushiro geri; in Korean, dwit chagi (뒤 차기).
Also called a donkey kick, spin-side kick, spin kick, mule kick, or turning back side kick. This kick is directed backward, using the heel as a striking surface. Most often, this kick is delivered with a spinning motion in tournaments. It can be highly damaging due to its power and Benny Urquidez stated once in his book, "Training and Fighting Skills", his belief in it being the most powerful kick in karate.
[edit] Advanced kicks
[edit] Axe kick
In Japanese, kakato geri; in Korean, chikyo chagi or naeryo chagi.
An axe kick is characterized by the straightened leg coming down on an opponent. The starting phase involves the foot being moved in an arc up and forward, like a crescent kick. The arc motion is stopped, and the attacking foot is brought down to strike the target from above, in imitation of an axe. The arc can be performed in either an inward (clockwise) or outward (counter-clockwise) fashion. In some styles, this is known as a downward kick. Axe kicks must be practiced carefully because they can very easily be used to accidentally injure one's sparring partner.
One of the most famous proponents of the axe kick was the late Andy Hug, the Swiss karateka that won the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix. He won countless fights with this kick, and it was in fact called the "Andy kick" in some circles.
[edit] Butterfly kick
The butterfly kick is a signature martial arts kick and has its own separate article. It's commonly done by doing a large circular motion with both feet in succession, making the combatant airborne. There are many variations of this kick.
[edit] Calf kick
This kick strikes with the backside of the calf. A variation which is known as the jumping calf kick is when the user jumps before performing the kick.
[edit] Crescent kick
In Japanese, mikazuki Geri; in Korean, bandal chagi.
The crescent kick hits with either the instep or the blade of the foot, depending on whether it is an inward (or clockwise) or outward (or counter-clockwise) crescent, respectively. Much like the hook kick, in practice it is similar to an off-target front snap kick. The leg is bent like the front kick, but the knee is pointed at a target to the left or right of the true target. The energy from the snap is then redirected, whipping the leg into an arc and hitting the target from the side. This is useful for getting inside defenses and striking the side of the head or for knocking down hands to follow up with a close attack.
The inward variant has also been called a hangetsu geri (Crescent moon-kick) in karate and is employed to "wipe" an opponents hand off of one's wrist. It can quickly be followed up by a low side-blade kick to the knee of the offender.
Also called inside or outside swing kicks.
[edit] Hook kick
In Japanese, ura mawashi-geri; in Korean, yup hu ryo chagi or goro chagi.
The hook kick strikes with the heel from the side. It is executed similar to a side kick. However, the kick is intentionally aimed slightly off target in the direction of the kicking foot's toes. At full extension, the knee is bent and the foot snapped to the side, impacting the target with the heel. Practitioners of jeet kune do frequently use the term heel hook kick or sweep kick.
The kick can be seen used by Bruce Lee in all of its flashiness in Fists of Fury (The Chinese Connection in America.). Bill Wallace was also a great user of this kick, as seen in his fight with Bill Briggs, where he KO'd his opponent with the clocked 60mph kick.
[edit] Twist Kick
The twist kick begins as would a front kick. However, the practitioner, beginning as with a front kick, allows the heel to move towards the center of the body. The kick is then directed outward from a cross-leg chamber so that the final destination of the kick is a target to the side, rather than one that is directly ahead.
[edit] Reverse roundhouse kick or sometimes, Heel Kick
In Japanese, ushiro mawashi geri; in Korean, bandae dollyo chagi or dwit hu ryo chagi.
Also called a reverse turning kick or a spin kick. This kick uses the heel as the striking tool. The kicking leg comes from around the kicker's back and remains straight, unlike a reverse hooking kick. See above for more on hook kicks.
Variations exist for low, middle and high height.
[edit] Roundhouse kick
In Japanese, mawashi geri; in Korean, dollyo chagi.
Also called a round kick or turning kick. The attacker swings his/her leg up in a circular motion. Also performable is a 360 degree in which the attacker performs a full circle with his/her leg. The striking surface is generally either the instep, shin or ball of the foot. A simpler version of the kick is performed by starting as a straight kick, but turning the hips sideways so the kick is snapped sideways (called a point kick).
This is the most commonly used kick in kickboxing due to its power and ease of use. In most styles, the instep is used to strike, while in Shotokan karate when it was first introduced to the curricula in 1950, used the ball of the foot. In Kyokushinkai, this was changed to the instep and then, due possibly to encounters with muay thai practitioners, included use of the shin.
Muay thai has used the shin for its entire existence, seeing the use of the foot as being too open to being damaging to the small bones contained within.
[edit] Flying kicks
A flying kick is a general description of kicks that involve a running launch, jump, then a kick in mid-air. Compared to a regular, on-ground kick, the user is able to achieve greater momentum from the run at the start. Flying kicks are often derived from the basic kicks. Some of the more commonly known flying kicks are the: flying side kick, flying back kick and the flying roundhouse kick, as well as the flying reverse roundhouse kick.
Flying kicks are commonly practiced in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Muay Thai and Wushu.
[edit] Scissor kick
Several kicks may be called a scissor kick, involving swinging out the legs to kick multiple targets or using the legs to take down an opponent.
The popularized version of a scissor kick is, while lying down, or jumping, the kicker brings both legs to both sides of the opponent's legs or to their body and head, then brings both in as a take down (as the name states, leg motions are like that of a pair of scissors).
Scissor kicks and other variants are also commonly applied Vovinam.
[edit] Vertical kick
The vertical kick involves bringing the knee forward and across the chest, then swinging the hip while extending the kicking leg outward, striking with the outside ("sword") edge of the foot. It can deliver a considerable amount of power. This is called a yoko geri keage in karate.
[edit] Multiple kick
In Japanese karate, the term ren geri is used for several kicks performed in succession. Old karate did not promote the use of the legs for weapons as much as modern karate does, seeing them as being too open for countering. However, in modern competitions, the ability to use multiple kicks without setting the foot down has become a viable option, not only for effectiveness but also for stylish aesthetics.
The Multiple Kick, in Taekwondo, is a slightly complex Side Kick where a High Side Kick is followed by a Low Side Kick which is in turn followed by a more powerful Side Kick. This combination is done rapidly and is meant not for multiple targets but for a single one. The Multiple Kick usually targets the face, thigh, & chest, but in turn can be a multiple chest attack which is useful for knocking the breathe out of an attacker. The Multiple Kick is usually done in the "second" style described in the Side Kick article which "involves shooting the leg forward as you would in a front kick and then pivoting and turning so that you actually deliver a side kick." that style "has far less power but is much faster and more deceptive." which is what the Multiple Kick was designed for. The Multiple Kick unlike some Side Kicks or "side blade kicks" never uses the outer edge of the foot; it's intended solely for the heel to be used as the impact point. In the encounters with muay thai, however, multiple side-kicks have seen disastrous results against the highly-conditioned abs of their targets.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and References
- Introductory Karate. Cory Searcy's Shotokan Karate Pages. http://www.i-clps.com/karate/ik.html
- How to perform the Karate Side-Kick (from gokarate.co.uk)
- Martialedge, reviews, interviews and articles
- http://www.ppark.freeserve.co.uk/kicks.htm
- http://www.geocities.com/pak_taekwondo2/urdulinks/kicks.htm
- Andy Hug Official Website. http://www.andyhug.ch/default,,r,_Ez.html
