World Of Swords

It makes no sense to let an attacker get close enough to punch. If he's got a knife or club, or just a fist that is fast, the best strategy is to kick low and hard and keep him out of range. The problem is that many Tae Kwon Do 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 tools of destruction. 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 grabbed and tossed. And, the best strategy is to avoid the fight altogether.

Practice kicking over a chair. This will train you to raise your knee high. When your knee is high your foot can go straight in and deliver the goods, and not arc up and scrape the body.

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.

Kick with the ball of the foot. I know many people like to bash with the instep, but 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 a smaller striking area.

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 your partner, then pushing him. This usually means you will alter the kick so that you can place the heel on the body of your partner, then push. This trains you to use the exact muscles that are actually used in a kick.

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 examined martial arts for more than over 4O years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate for many years. You can find out how to have the most powerful punch on the planet, or how to have the strongest kicks on the planet, by picking up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Tags: hit harder, hit stronger, karate, kenpo, kick harder, knock out, Kyokushinkai, Martial Arts, power kick, powerful punch, self defense, shaolin, tae kwon do, uechi ryu

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