Kicks

Drunken monkey, your explanation was well done. Your kung fu is good on this subject.

Yikes...brings back bad memories. When I was a 2nd dan I was in a tournament and had to fight a 5th Dan and owner/instructor of a TKD school in the area. I was warned that he fights dirty. He'll punch to the face if he thinks he's going to lose. (BTW. we fight bare knuckled under WTF rules). Within the first 30 seconds of the first round he knife hand chopped me to the neck. I fell down gasping for breath. I'm on all fours choaking and the ref walks over to me and starts giving me an 8 count. I thought to myself "I've never had an 8 count and I'm not going down with one." So I got up to finish this match. Oh, the ref forgot to issue a penalty (1 point deduction)!! I was determined to show this guy I could beat him fair and square. I fought on and played by the rules, even though he tried several swings to my face in round two. I won on points. Shortly after that my neck began to swell. I could hardly talk. I couldn't eat or even swallow my own saliva. I was a mess. I lost my voice for 3 or 4 days. The doctor said I had damage to my left vocal cord. My voice changed and was garggled and lose of control. I ended up having to go to hehab; speeh therapy, to learn how to speak again. I'm better now. His students saw him fight me. They all quit, and his school closed down.

Since my style doesn't allow sweeps I have to use an Avoid and Attack technique. One of the 5th dans I spar with uses the front leg side kick about 90% of his attacks, so I get a lot of practice against it. I sometimes do a cut kick; a low side kick to his leg as he begins to execute his kick. Or I'll slide back, causing him to miss and I counter-attack when he rechambers. Another technique to to step out 45 degrees with your front leg and quickly pivot and throw a side kick with the other leg. ie: left leg is forward. Step out 45 degrees to the left with left leg, quickly pivot on left leg and throw side kick with right leg. The pivot puts you in the proper position to kick as well as turn your body around so he can't score if he happens to beat you to the kick. Good luck! Train hard, train smart, train happy.

I'm still looking. A few moths ago I did find a few clips of the Olympic weight selection trials and downloaded them. Now I'm trying to find the website again. There were three matches. If I find it I'll let you know.

Side kick! One of my favorites! I find the side kick and the back kick produce the most power delivered to the opponent' body. I've tested the different kicks on one of those gadgets that measure the amount of force applied when kicked, and side kicks and back kicks were my best. They have also been the only kicks that I've been able to use to knock down an opponent much bigger than me. I do three variations of side kicks in competition: 1) Skip side kick. Rear leg moves forward and lands in spot where the front foot was, while at the same time lift the front leg with knee chambered in front of body. Thrust front leg horizontally into the opponent's mid-section, striking with the heel. 2) Running side kick. Rear leg steps in back of front leg, going beyond the placement of the front foot, into an X stance. Lift the front leg with knee chambered in front of body. Thrust front leg horizontally into the opponent's mid-section, striking with the heel. Most powerful of the side kicks. 3) Lunge side kick. Lift front leg with knee chambered in front of body while at the same time push off with rear leg. Thrust front leg horizontally into the opponent's mid-section, striking with the heel. "Lift the front leg with knee chambered in front of the body" means you have to place your knee near the knot of your belt. You need to pivot on your supporting leg to obtain this position. By doing so you clear the gap (the distance between fighting distance and attack distance) and have more distance to generate power. If you lift your leg with your knee in front of you then you may end up getting blocked or hitting your opponents legs, and you'll have less power. The first two are easy to learn, but the Lunge side kick takes a lot of practice to perfect and get quick at, but it's very deceptive. I use these kicks to attack and to defend. Attack when your opponent is in the process of a stance change. If your opponent likes to maintain a closed stance, then you do a few stance changes, get his timing down as he reacts to your change, and throw the lunge side kick when he is in the middle of his stance change. If your opponent likes to fight from an open stance and use his rear leg for power roundhouse kicks (I love fighting this type of fighter!), simply nail him in the middle of his rotation. POW! I don't do point sparring, but I know you can fake a back fist to the head and throw side kick when your opponent lifts his arm to block the head attack. Side kicks are also very good just to keep your opponent away from you. When I see that my opponent is getting too close and getting ready to attack, I'll throw a side kick just to back him off. I don't care that it doesn't score. I'll hit him in the arm if I have to, just to back him off and keep him from attacking and possibly scoring on me. This disrupts his game plan and he has to think of something else to do. Look at photos of my daughter at the 2004 AAU Nationals at http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit04a.htm. In the second group of photo she fight a bigger girl. Two photos show Shannon using side kicks that would knock the bigger girl backwards and off balance. Shannon then followed up with a flurry of kicks to score. The third set of photos shows Shannon nailing a girl over with a side kick. Right G95champ! My master instructor cracked three of my ribs with a side kick. Now I wear a hogo. Check out my photo of me doing a side kick to the jaw of my opponent in the finals at the 2003 USTU National Championships in the photo section of this forum. It's not too clear a photo, but you'll see his right knee up, his body arched backward, and his head looking at the stars. Markusan has very good advice about practice. If you hit with the ball of your foot you lose power when your foot bends back towards your knee. Practice slow kicks in front of a mirror to see that your technique is correct. Your forms (kata) will improve too! Jerry wrote Be careful Jerry! I started using these in 2001 and it injured my right leg hip flexor. The pain was so sever at time I couldn't even lift my leg to put my shoes on. I had to go through physical therapy for weeks and I still have some residual pain. Other photos of me using side kicks can be seen near the bottom of http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit02.htm I was long winded here, but I hope this helps.

Outline and photos of my 4th Dan test can be seen at http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/test/mafit4dan.htm

what's "uki" and "uke" ?

I got the nick name Kicks back in 1995 when I first got interested in sparring in competitions. I would throw a flurry of kicks at my opponents when attacking and on counter attacks. I once had an opponent tell me after a match that he got to a point in the fight that he didn't even want to throw any kicks at me because every time he did I would slam him with multiple kicks.

Of course I'll be pulling for Steven Lopez (2000 gold medalist) and Nia Abdallah in the Tae Kwon Do event. I've met Steven and have photos of him competing at the 2003 USTU Nationals at the bottom of http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit03.htm My daughter attended a seminar by Jean Lopez (Steven's brother) at the 2004 AAU Nationals. Jean is the coach of the US team in Athens. See a photo of Jean and Shannon at the bottom of http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit04.htm

ROFLMAO !!!!! I've got tears in my eyes from laughing so hard! Great line!

"My wife ran away with a cop last week. I was trying to out run you becasue I thought you were that cop trying to give her back." Police: This is a one way street. You: But I was only going one way. Police: This is a one way street. Didn't you see the arrow? Y: Arrow? Heck, I didn't even see the Indian. Police: What's the rush, buddy? You: My wife's going to get pregnant tonight and I wanna be there when she does.

Have you asked your instructor about it? I find it best to ask when in doubt instead of come up with wrong conclusions. Also, you should always know what to expect when entering a tournament. Those who are game-wise (I just made that up) and know the rules and how to use them to their advantage often have an edge in competition.

Greetings, I compete under WTF rules. There are techniques that I use in competition that I would not use in actual self defense. It goes the other way too. There are techniques that I would use in an instant on the street, but would get disqualified in competition for using. In competition you should have a few basic techniques that you have mastered that you can "go to" when ever you NEED that point. But since so many atheletes are competing these days, many can easly see the more common techniques coming at them. Players now have to try to develope new techniques or combinations that surprise the other player. While these may be good in competition where safty rules apply and fair play is encouraged, these would get you killed in street combat. The more "triditional" martial arts would apply there.

Me, my son, and my daughter are active competitors in USTU and AAU Tae Kwon Do tournaments. We mainly do the Olympic style (continious) sparring. USTU doesn't have point sparring. AAU has both types. We also do the the Chang-Hon, the TaeGuek, and the Palgwe family of forms. We have competed and won at the local, state and national levels. We have a TKD page at http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit.htm with sections on Physical Fitness, Tournament Trainning, and our tournament results with lots of photos.

Greetings, Being new to this site I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a newly promoted 4th dan in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. I got involved when my children became interested. What I found most enjoyable was competing in Olympic style (continious sparring) competition. I've met some very nice people, many willing to share their knowledge and spirit of the martial arts. I am an instructor at the dojang I attend. I teach advanced ranked youths tournament sparring. My son and daughter are my assistant instructors. We compete in USTU and AAU sponsored tournaments. We each have won many State Championships and a few National Championships between us. Most recently I have won gold at the USTU Nationals in New Orleans and my daughter won gold at the AAU Nationals in FT Lauderdale. My son won gold at the AAU Nationals when held in New Orleans. I have a Physical Fitness and Tae Kwon Do Trainning website at http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit.htm I hope I can bring something of value to this forum. Kicks

Greetings, When I first started competing I did some speed and reaction drills based off a video called Beyond Speed, distributed by Health For Life. Check out this website: http://www.martial-arts-fitness.com/healthlife/speed1.html It worked for me. I have my own website that has some speed training drills. It's mostly intended for students who are wanting to begin a training program for Tae Kwon Do competition. I probably should set one up a little more advanced for those who are looking for drills to enhance their already established training routine. Good luck with your training.