I’ve never been in any fights that went any further than a couple pushes and sucker punches (this was before I took up martial arts). As I’ve progressed I’ve learned some devistating kicks that target the chest and the head. But would I ever use these kicks? In a real fight I don’t like the idea of throwing any kicks above the waist for fear that I could be tripped. I saw a fight where a guy head his legs swept at the apex of an axe kick, and needless to say he split his head open on the fall. Has anyone thrown kicks to the head in a real fight? How can one avoid getting their legs swept out while kicking
spelling
Please excuse any mispelled words or improper grammar.
I’d also like to know what people have to say about this.. I havent fought for real since junior high, but if I ever have to I’d like to know some techniques on using my legs.. As far as I know the only way to effectively use the legs is to wear steel toe boots and kick low..
I am not a kicker generally, but kicks can and do work. Your weapon selection is based on the same factors as any weapon choice: Your position, timing, level of your opponent, situation at hand and strategy choice.
One of my students used a Long Fist heart kick very effectively.
Many factors come into play. If your strategy is bad however, kicking does open you up a lot more to counter attack.
I am a big beleiver in luck. The more I work, the more luck I have.
I’m not a big fan of kicks above the groin in fights, nor am I a fan of kicks that don’t end in the floor (ones that, when disrupted, knock you over). That said, sometimes you have your opponent half-sprawled, bent over and armbarred. And that face is just there, so you kick it before hyperextending the elbow.
i like to use kicks as a follow up to another Tech
also as a finish this is because i have slow kicks
but Powerfull Kicks but quite fast Punches
in a fight well i dont like to use kicks only low ones (stomac and Below) because as i stated i am slow but when they hit
i would rather use a punch that has good range (hard to describe with my severly crippled English)becuse here in
the western Part of Norway and Especially Bergen
it rains all the time (so if you make a high kick
and the Ground is slippery well than it is sayonara) also i use only easy Kicks like front kick and side kick
i Know alot of advanced kicks
but i dont use them beacuse they put my Balance at risk i actually have more Punch combos and advanced Punches
than kicks even if i am a kicker i love to Punch
as i said i like to use kicks as follow ups
and as a finishing Blow because i feel that most
of my fight start too close too me so i cannot
kick
The Killer Bee and the Honey Bee have the exact same venom, the only difference is attitude.
Kicks
I think low kicks below the waist or to the ribs are the best solution, unless someone has been training his or her legs for a long time and have gotten iron, baseball bat legs. My long fist sifu told us that we train to kick high at the studio. But he said in a fight, we only kick about to the waist.
When a street fight is eminent, the floor is always slippery. From beer, ice, whatever. Last night I came millimeters from a fight and kicking was the last thing I would have done because by the time they are in a distance to **** you off they are at infighting range. Last night there was this guy that wouldn’t let me back downstairs with the girls I came in with. He was lying to me and said that they left. He was trying to play frat boy bouncer so I gave him the death glare and moved him tai chi style (pung). They can feel when you can and will do something and 99% of the time will back down. I’m ordinarilly a very peacefull person, but I would have dropped him with no remorse and he could sense it. I can’t stand pushy people.
I believe that the best thing for actual fights would be Tai Chi, Good hand techniques, suai Chiao, but most importantly body controls and grabbing. I’ve also noticed that whenever I’m inches from a fight the guy has 5 buddies watching so kicking is pretty much out of the question unless you had a direct linear attack with a front kick that you followed up with some mad striking.
Possibly stationary sidekicks or back kicks to the hip/midsection, but not above that.
Definately no grabbling or high kicking in these situations. I can definately see why traditional styles follow techniques with a punch to the head and are back up. If you drop someone and drop your whole body to punch there head, they will be at least temporarilly messed up so that you can deal with their friends and take off.
my view
As a quick note: I consider anything to do with the leg a kick. Meaning throwing a knee, sweep, buckle, or contact with the foot.
I am absolutly against anything the brigns my foot above my waist at any time. If i want to use a knee or foot strike to the head, then i start with a sweep/buckle/takedown to brign their head to waist level or lower. I am also a firm believer in crotch shots. Not a finish the person off, but for shock value (most of the time a crotch shot will not stop someone, and may just pi$$ them off more). It breaks concentration, draws their attention there, and 9 times out of 10, causes them to drop their gaurd for excellent upperbody shots (mainly to head and neck area).
In my experience (from what I have seen and used myself) upper body tends to be much safer and more effective then throwing high kicks.
Just my 2 cents
Assumption is the mother of tragedy. Just keep and open mind, be ready, and go full force.
kicking
Well Im suprized none of you “sifus” have said this yet, but the main factor in a technique working (assuming all things are done in a correct manner physically, i.e. youre able to do the technique with some skill..)is timing. Plain and simple.
You see, I never count out any techniques in real fighting. Why? Because I dont favor techniques either. One should neither discount nor favor any particular (singular) movement in my opinion.
In this I mean when you fight you dont throw a head kick because you like that kick, you throw it because it was advantageous to use at that particular moment in time.
Fighting deals with strategy, as well as logistics and geography. Is this person a type of person/fighter that I would benefit by kicking at him? Will I be using the kick to knock him out or to set him up? Is the area around me suitable for kicking? (as was stated before, not all environments are optimum for kicking) Now obviously youre not going to literally ask yourself these questions as the fight ensues. All of these assessments would be an inherent ability assimilated by you (hopefully) from your great gung fu training!
SO to make a long story short, one should see things (to me) as being ever flexible and dynamic. Common sense tells you that lower kicks are more economical, and safer for you, but not the only way to go. There have been examples in many fighters and martial artists around the world that can end fights with one or two kicks, and do it so fast you wouldnt know where they hit you till you woke up again.
Train hard and examine all possibilities!
good points…
Vankuen,
You make some valid points. However, my thinking is that its better to be safe. To be completely accurate, you can never tell a fighter’s abilities until the fight is over. They may not give you accurate clues until it gets serious, which then may be to late. With that in mind I FEEL that it is better go go with statistics. I try to train for every extream from being able to fight in an area the size of a phone booth or a large park with obsticle everywhere. However, i emphisize the phone booth. I do this because out of all the people you could go up again less then 10% possible less then 5% will know how to or be ablee to generate sufficient power if you come up that close to them. So I prefer to use that to my advantage since my arms are much faster then my leggs.
You also have to take into consideration that the person may have fast reflexes and good defensive capabilities. This drops the chance of landing a kick to the chest or head to less then 50%. Even the strongest kick can be blocked/deflected with little effort and little to no injury if done correctly, as well as a punch to be fair. But a blocked high kick puts you in a much worse position then a blocked punch.
So I personly would rather stick to the safe side and use my upper body, and just bring their head to my waist level or lower for any kicks to their upper body.
Just my 2 cents
Assumption is the mother of tragedy. Just keep and open mind, be ready, and go full force.
Right
Those things that you mentioned my friend are always taken into consideration:
“To be completely accurate, you can never tell a fighter’s abilities until the fight is over. They may not give you accurate clues until it gets serious, which then may be to late”
Ive found that everyone, regardless of training, will always tell you what they’re going to do with body language. The human subconcious will put off certain reactions prior to and during an altercation that give you clues as to what they are going to do and what theyre capable of. Im sure you know of what Im talking about, as there have been scientific studies done on it. Some people go as far as to specialize in that field of study, as for example law enforcement individuals would because of the whole life and death thing on the street..haha.
I absolutely agree with training to the extrememe, as being a wing chun man as well as Brazilian Jujutsu man has taught me the values of close quarter fighting.
“You also have to take into consideration that the person may have fast reflexes and good defensive capabilities. This drops the chance of landing a kick to the chest or head to less then 50%.”
I agree with what you have said to an extent. Ive found it much easier to kick someone with slow reflexes than fast ones…but like I said good timing will overcome speed. Simply because it doesnt rely on physical attributes as much as it does just being at the right place at the right time. Does that make sense? For example I tell my students who arent of the “fast” nature, that they shouldnt worry so so much about being faster or rather I tell them not to be so frustrated, and then proceed to show them the ideas of timing and how it works to their benefit be them fast or slow. I could have the fastest kicks in the world, and if I dont know when to kick and where, I wont ever land one.
“Even the strongest kick can be blocked/deflected with little effort and little to no injury if done correctly, as well as a punch to be fair. But a blocked high kick puts you in a much worse position then a blocked punch.”
Yes that is true. And thats an example of what Im speaking of. The key words are “if done correctly”. Which is the main variable that Im working off of here. All things being equal, yes, the low kicks and use of hand strikes for the upper body is plain and simple much more efficient and safer generally speaking, but the same thing can be said about the defense of those to be fair as youve stated, but I do very much agree that a countered kick will put one in a very far worse position than a countered hand attack.
All in all tigerdragon, I do not see any problems with your method of thinking, as its also a facet of mine. I dont want to make it seem like I kick everyone in the head, but rather just want to let them know that value comes in many forms.
Basically train different ways to see what works for you, and if it works great! If it doesnt, thats the time to figure it out. Once youre in the fight, its too late to wonder whats going to work because you will have to move based on reaction. By this point, you must insticively rely on your training. (not that I havent caught myself thinking during a fight, but my thinking was more along the lines of "what the hell is this guy thinking?! Does he actually think hes going to win?!) (you gotta know that last part was humor right?)
Train hard and always question the “unquestionable”
Low Kicks work the best!
In the system of kempo that I train in, we use alot of kicks to the shins, insteps, knees, outer thighs, and other leg targets to disrupt our opponent’s balance and to set up hand techniques.
Very rarely do we kick above the mid torso. It just isn’t a good idea. But thats just me.
i dont know about anyone else but i know no form of fighting and when im in a fight the firet thing i do is a kick flat footed to the chest or mid section get them befor they get you all there air is then gone and you can knee them or kick them in the face fight over …
jump kicks
I don’t like kicks above the waist except for jump kicks. A nicely placed running jump kick into the chest can send a guy sprawling. Nothing flashy, either a double kick or a straight jump kick. Kicks to the shins and lower legs are also effective.
I prefer low kicks. High kicks leave you too vulnerable.
But as Vankuen says, it the opening is there and it is safe to do so, then use the high kick.
Guns don’t kill people, I kill people
we just dealt with this in one of my classes last night. in a real fight, if you’re going to kick, make sure it counts. no flashy high kicks are gonna get you anywhere but hurt. knees and groin, but especially the knees. take out the knee, break it if you can (depending on the situation, of course). in a real street fight you want it to be over a.s.a.p. you either want to disable or completely knock out your opponent. i, for one, like kicking because it keeps them as far from you as possible. target 3 feet behind them and blast on through that knee. they can’t fight if they can’t walk. this is, of course, in my very humble (and still learning each and every day) opinion.
peace..
Martial Ethics Method
Head Kicks
Ilike to kick to the head when fighting,but rather than reaching to kick high, I would rather
use a foot sweep.This will bring their head down
to waist level so I can still keep my balance.
High or low a head kick still has the same effect 
Lausan
Thank you for the advice
I would like to thank all who posted a reply. Now that I have started training in Kung fu, I have learned a few new techniques. These techniques have allowed me to better compensate and regain balance quicker. Thanks to a beginning TKD student, I learned that a kick to shin can result in some of the worst pain ever! Thank you everybody for your posts.
Good luck in your training.
Oddly I saw on TV last night some footage of this guy who had a woman held hostage (he was brandihing a knife around). At one point, while he was looking toward the camera, a person (Identified by the show as a plain-clothes poilce man) ran the 10 ft or so over, jumped (both legs together) over a char and stomped into the guys chest on the way down (if the guy with the knife had reacted a little faster he would have gotten the knife in between them). The kick knocked the knife out of the guy’s and and the guy back off camera (looked like several feet) where other police grabbed him.