High kicks.Shall we forget about them?

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Street/Reality Fighting
1

What do you think about high kicks?
Are they completely useles?
They are still going to teach them anyway…
Here are some facts about them.

1.A high kick is going to leave your groin open,if your leg gets trapped,kick to knee is even more dangerous.You have lost the game.
2.They are a lot easier to block.
3.They are said to be bad for your lower back.
4.You must use a lot more energy to use a high kick,it would require flexibility too.Is it worth it?
5.Bruce lee said something like “to kick a man to head is like to punch him to foot”.
6.It is a lot harder to go for target areas like jugular vein,temples throat,or even to solar plexus level.

I hope you can crush my thoughts into little pieces.

2

Good Topic

i agree totally with your thoughts on the subject. kicking high is good for flexability training and in forms that require it. but in sparring, fighting,totally useless. unless they guy is swaying from a hit and you finish him off with a high kick that you know he wont be able to block. time and time again i have shown the futility of kicking high in a sparring match,those nuts are soo easy to blast.
Many Respects, Wllow Sword

Whatever you think i am or want me to be, i am.
Luke?! Luke?! dont give into hate. That leads to the dark side.
Obi Wan Kenobi,star wars, empire strikes back.

3

Exactly

In a fight, why strain to kick him in the head, when you can just step right through his exposed and vulnerable knee-cap? After that he’ll be sitting on the floor in pain. You can kick him in the head then.

But kicking high does look good, and you can use it if you’re opponant is out of hitting range.

And it impresses small children.

“Tomorrow’s life is too late. Live today.”
Marcus Valerius Martialis

4

Kicking

If u were fighting someone off with your hands and then someone came up from behind u…Your legs may sometimes be the only limbs free, and if u were only prepared to fight one at a time then u may as well do a side kick to his ribs or stomach or even head to make him fall over or move back and away from what u are already doing because your arms may be held in an unmovable position by one opponent and thyen another comes in to finish u off.. If u were in a bear hug for example…high kicks are a good thing to have as they come in handy, but dont rely too much on them as it is wiser to attack them with hands

5

practice high, fight low.

Far better is the hero’s death, than life when courage fails.

6

High kicks are pretty. So are boy bands. Both are about equally as effectively in a fight as each other. While it can be fun to throw the odd high kick it’s more likely to cause you grief than your opponent. Destroy the legs with the legs, destroy the upper body with the tools of the upper body.

“Forfeit the game
Before somebody else takes you out of the frame
And puts your name to shame
Cover up your face
You can’t run the race
The pace is too fast,
You just won’t last!”

7

You know, I used to totally dismiss high kicks. Then, I sparred some professional kick boxers and found that high kicks can indeed be usefull. My sparring matches with Tim Kirby erased any doubt in my mind that high kicks were usefull. Also, check out some of Silva’s and Maurice Smith’s UFC and Pride fights. Many of those NHB fights against good opponents ended by kicking them in the neck and head.

Me, I can’t do it. I just don’t have the flexibility or the timing. I’m working on it, but it’s pretty hard to get that timing just right. But the attack is quite valid.

Oh, and next time I do a single leg followed by a heel hook I’ll think of that Bruce Lee quote.

JWT

If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV

8

High kicks are great…high risk but high reward. Watching K-1 I see a lot of good high kicks landing, especially with the lead leg.

I have had much success with them myself.

9

There are a lot of kicks I used to think were a waste, turns out I wasn’t being shown their proper use. Would I do high kicks all of the time? Nope, but if it was the best shot at ending a fight I’d go for it.

[i]Signed,
Rogue, Soke and Senior Grandmaster of Southeast American Brazillian Bagua Combat Chi jitsu Kempo Karate Do and Choral Society.

The only tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, “To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time." [/i]

10

They have there place.

High kicks have there place and shouldn’t be totally dismissed.

I personally wouldn’t want to do a high kick in a fight. I can do them but I wouldn’t feel comfortable in a street situation.

High kicks are good for training flexibility, skill and power. Good for semi contact sparring. Also if you can do high kicks fast and with ease, low kicks should be very easy in comparrison.

It also depends what you train.

If you train a high side kick 1000 times a day then if in a fight the chances are it would come out somewhere if you had a chance.

At the end of the day its down to the individual. If they are comfortable pulling them off and can do them, then go for it.

11

Why not?

I had a sifu that said I could use high kicks when i could use them just as good as my hands.
I do not prefer to use them in a real fight, but there have been times that they have had the desired effect. (I am well over 50 years old now) Arthritic hip only allows me to kick at about shoulder height, but not really fast.

12

They’re fun to do, even with my limited flexibility. But I’d be leery of trying to use a high kick in a street situation, no matter how good you are. The risk to reward ratio is just too great.

13

"What do you think about high kicks?
Are they completely useles?
They are still going to teach them anyway…
Here are some facts about them.

1.A high kick is going to leave your groin open,"

Since you are aware of this opening and the psychology that that will be one of the more likely target areas, you devise tactics that hit someone trying to take advantage of your momentary vulnerability.

Left roundhouse to right side of head, blocked by right hand/wrist/forearm/aftarm/shoulder| advantage taken by punch: pivot on ball of support leg (toes towards opponent–this also shifts your groin back, away from the punch (even though it is not a far shift if they don’t have follow through, you evaded. Also, somewhat baggy pants makes it more difficult to accurately locate the testicles to do significant damage. Not even that, finding the shifting scrotum within the hidden area behind the pants would take a descent application of kineseology and physics.

Left side-kick to face or throat, straight-on, blocked by right or left| advantage taken by kick to … you don’t want to block a side kick to the face or throat, but if someone successfully does, that person might take advantage by front rising snap kick: as the side kick didn’t get full extension,as a block would occure well in front of intended target zone, pivot on the ball of the support leg to allow the now former side-kick to become a transitory Single-leg stance which can block/redirect the take advantage kick at the middleshin/redirect at the upper shin or at the knee. Or stop/block the take advantage kick at the lower thigh…

“if your leg gets trapped,kick to knee is even more dangerous.You have lost the game.”

It’s merely a matter of knowing how the pieces move. T’ai Chi Ch’uan is based on nullification of brute force. One can find this T’ai Chi in other than T’ai Chi Ch’uan. And with the right mindset, training and practice a kick to a knee of a support leg is ineffective with appropriate bending well timed and executed.

“2.They are a lot easier to block.”

No punch is a punch. No kick is a kick. No block is a block. As a habbit over years I hit forearms of mine against concrete and stone level stuff. If you practice training your body attack weapons less than I trined my body defense weapons I might break your body/limb(s). If I am propper I will comprehend kicking–I will understand perfect technique and situationally appripriate nearly spontaneous variations, strength (power) at height, accuracy with speed. This is minimum to kick air. If I continue comprehension I would incorporate bathing of my kicks. Bathing of my foot minimum. When my strong bare effort foot to face kick as fast as my untrained punch connects, S M A S H. But there’s more. Bathing (Chinese Kung-Fu concept) would allow me stay standing after you tried to kick out my support leg knee, sweep my support leg foot or deaden the nerves in my thigh (Muay Thai like).

“3.They are said to be bad for your lower back.”

That could be the same they that says that wushu, a Phillipines invention is good Karate like Mongolias’s Aikido which was invented in 1938 by the Dahli Lama (who as everyone knows is Japanese)…

“4.You must use a lot more energy to use a high kick,it would require flexibility too.Is it worth it?”

It took months of rolling and crawling and observing experts and those more experienced than you to learn to walk. And when you too your first steps you fell a lot and leaned on stuff. You were poor at it. Answer for yourself (each one of you), was it worth it?

“5.Bruce lee said something like “to kick a man to head is like to punch him to foot”.”

When life or death and they or you are down, expect foot to head. It has been advised here to punch high kicks. Expect the unexpected and do the unexpected. I like Kung-Fu. I comprehend some possibilities, then picked stuff to do (Can’t do it all~) If I have Kung-Fu in kicking or kicks, what you thought was blocking or the simple ways to deal with anyone stupid enough to try stupid things like high kicks, could become apainfully humbling Education.

“6.It is a lot harder to go for target areas like jugular vein,temples throat,or even to solar plexus level.”

Since I can dislocate your jaw, give you whiplash, fracture your skull or turn your head so fast your brain gets dislodged I won’t cry at low efficiency of striking meridian points of your neck and head. Given that you named so many points, even if I don’t hit my choice the miss targets are major which makes striking to that area well worthwhile.~

“I hope you can crush my thoughts into little pieces.”

Merely attach them to above your shoulders, I will kick them–definite crush. ~ :~>

I No_Know

14

Yvel brought down the house of Big Daddy Goodridge in this match with one badass high roundhouse.

15

Well, I was going to start talking about what we learn in TKD. But No_Know has done a pretty good job already.

In sparring, if you just walk up to someone and high kick, they will definitely punish you (unless you used that as a distraction for something else). That is why you must set it up. A basic example (the first we are taught) is to round kick there side, they bring their guard to block it, then round kick their unguarded head. This is a very simple lead leg combo.

16

I’ve seen & know of high kicks used in real street fights.

I’ve seen high kicks use din kickboxing matches, Karate matches and NHB.

If you think they’re not effeective, it’s usually because you’re too lazy to do the work required to make yourrself good at them. stretching, conditioning & kicking. Then you have to know WHEN to use them. That’s the part you’ll need a good ‘kick’ instructor for.

17

“A basic example (the first we are taught) is to round kick there side, they bring their guard to block it, then round kick their unguarded head. This is a very simple lead leg combo.”

My only issue with such combos is the lack of power. They would be okay in a point tourney, or any other competition where doing damage is not an issue, but how would it fair in a more combative situation? in MT, the leg is returned to the ground, then rapidly fired out again as opposed to keeping the leg in the air. Also, that leaves you off balance for a longer period of time. If that second kick doesn’t have enough impact to stun the opponent, it may be lights out for you.