? for san shou experts...

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
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I am trying to implement the sidekick more effectively into my kickboxing skills. I am really impressed with the way a lot of san shou fighters use the kick. So for the people who know what they’re talking about when it comes to san shou training, i was wondering if you might have any tips about how you would train the sidekick for effective use in full contact fighting.

Hell, even for anyone who’s good at TKD, if you think there is something you could share that really helps, please feel free to speak up. Thanx

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I’m hardly an expert on this subject but I’ll give you my own experience.

you need to fire this kick like a piston! Don’t let it hang around out there!! In San shou your opponent will often be trying to close any distance from you so you need to chamber the kick very tight to the body(my thigh touches my chest opposite the leg and BAM! and then snap it back quickly and get ready to go again!

LKFMDC has written of this kick being like a spring and its a very appropriate description. I’ll see if i can find it if he doesn’t post.

didn’t have to look far.. the UG kickboxing Q&A has some good sanshou info in the archives.

Subject:
From: Laughing Lion
Date: 26-Jan-02 | 03:34 PM

How do you adapt Muay Thai/boxing techniques to fighting in San Shou in order to not be taken down constantly?

Also what does a San Shou/San Da stance look like bearing in mind it has to accomodate punching, kicking & throwing?

thanks.

Subject: RE: INFO
From: lkfmdc
Date: 26-Jan-02 | 03:52 PM

One of the reasons San Shou fighters like Side kicks isn’t just power, it is also a very hard kick to catch if you throw it correctly. Round kick is probably the easiest kick to catch, especially to the leg or to the body. One major thing you have to do is “bounce” the kick, throw it and retract it, don’t leave it hanging out there. You have to learn to retract, reset and be ready to move/sprawl. Kicks in isolation are bad. It is often not so much the single technique as the selection of combination, selection of target at the moment and setting up an attack

Footwork involves the legs being like a spring. Your weight is like a bowling ball on top of that spring. Wight drops down, spring shoot it back up, it goes back and forth. If you are too light, you are thrown, too heavy and you get hit a lot

Right now, there is nothing out there explaining this sort of stuff, but I am trying to fix that in the next few months

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The beginning of the first Clip found here shows a sidekick speed drill that Marvin Perry (the best sidekicker in US San Shou today) uses. Notice he does not let the bag fully recover it’s swing before he kicks again.

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where’s ralek?

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thanx for the responses so far guys. Sanshou guru, cool website. I loved the clips! But geez, Marvin Perry makes it look a lot easier than it is :wink: The fight clip of one of the other guys on Perry’s team was also very impressive with some beautifully executed throws. Makes me wish there was a good san shou team training in LA so i could learn some stuff from them!

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I think Cung Le’s school and the EBM Academy’s satellite school are in LA County.

I don’t have any san shou training (I apologize for stepping up to reply when you directed the side kick question specifically to people with experience in the discipline), but I remember reading an article were Cung Le was stating that he performed a combination consisting of throwing the side kick and shifting to his scissor takedown if the opponent slipped to the outside of it. I don’t know if this was off a sidekick thrown as a primary attack which was countered and then the counter was countered OR if the side kick was used as a bait to purposely move the opponent into position for the scissor takedown.

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While I’m giving advice on things I know nothing about :smiley: …

ST mentioned that he chambered his side kick high and tight. Savate is a full contact kickboxing art that chambers the side kick high and tight.
I think you train at the Inosanto Academy (sorry if I’m mistaken), and therefore have access to instructors who know the mechanics of the Savate side kick. An exploration of Savate’s side kick might help you out.
Maybe?
I don’t know.
:o

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Cung Le’s school is in the san fransisco area, not LA. I feel your pain, dragonzrage, I’ve been looking for a san shou gym in LA for the past four months and come up dry.

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LA San Shou School…

Don’t know much about them but, worth a try:

http://www.lakungfu.com/

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Iron Arahat,

That is the EBM Academy satellite school I mentioned. The instructor at the main school has been recommended by both sanshou guru and lkfmdc.

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That school is the best I know of in LA right now.