Tricks of the Trade / Favorite Combos

[Killer Miller]

Are you sure you are talking about shotokan??? That wouldn't be very effective against any of the shotokan karate-ka I've ever seen or practiced with. Also, front leg kicks, sweeps, and inside round houses to the groin area are very common in shotokan - we block these effortlessly...

- Killer -

here is a great tip for sparring a member of shotokan: use front leg kicks on the aggressive. front leg kicks are extremely uncommon to most practitioners of the style, so during their own practice they are uncomfortable to block it. they expect a little more time between action and reaction, and being that they are the action, the reaction is that much more deadly.

[PBI]

Very interesting to see the variety of answers from across styles!

Here's another one I've been playing with that was proven very effective by the great Choke Motobu:

* During the course of the match, bait your opponent by beginning to square up from the normal, slightly angled stance used for kemai.

* Accent this by bringing your elbows/arms up a bit higher than normal, and the result is an irresistably open stomach shot for your opponent. (Or so he/she will think.)

* As they move to take advantage of the opening you have left them, allow them to commit to what will likely be a punch. When they enter, pull your lead leg back, using fast, quick hip motion, and at the same time punch with your trailing/back hand.

* The end result is that your body is pulled out of the way of the opponent's attack, and that momentum is used to power a hook (or sometimes straight, depending on timing) punch to your opponent's head.

They won't even see it coming.

[y2_sub]

One that workes perfectly for me , from the fighting stance raise ur left leg like u are going to perfom a front kick and then perform a quick , solid mawashi geri to the ribs , i normally perform the full combination like this : left front kick , hand combination , right front kick , another hand combo and then the move mentioned above . Last time i k.O.ed my opponent using that combination.

[Olivier]

One of my favourite combinations is to do a front leg mawashi geri (chudan, jodan, whichever) then following through with a punch dropping block (countering an eventual counter-attack) then a gyako zuki chudan or jodan.

Another is the classic one two, following with a front leg mawashi using the hip rotation of the last punch.

[kitsune_no_tama]

Are you sure you are talking about shotokan??? That wouldn't be very effective against any of the shotokan karate-ka I've ever seen or practiced with. Also, front leg kicks, sweeps, and inside round houses to the groin area are very common in shotokan - we block these effortlessly...

- Killer -

here is a great tip for sparring a member of shotokan: use front leg kicks on the aggressive. front leg kicks are extremely uncommon to most practitioners of the style, so during their own practice they are uncomfortable to block it. they expect a little more time between action and reaction, and being that they are the action, the reaction is that much more deadly.

lol i guess i might be mistaken to the masses. i am familiar with uska shotokan. it might be different for a jka practitioner, but to us uska we have a different approach to our sparring. we dont even try to do kicks to the groin though (we arent REALLY going to hurt anyone in the dojo are we?). sweeps are also discouraged because we do not practice on a soft floor. we learn all the techniques, but because of their effectiveness on a real assailant without the need for as much contact, we are not specifically told to use them in our sparring. because we need special equipment, like floor padding (we have almost half a rooms worth of puzzle piece padding) to practice these techniques, in our general sparring it catches the opponent off guard because they dont expect the use of it. i hope that cleared some things up.

[psychomom]

One combination that is taught in our class is a outside/in crescent kick to close the gap, and then a yoko geri (side kick). I modified this because my crescent kick is not very good, and so instead I throw a backfist with my lead hand and let that bring me into postition and create an opening for my sidekick.

psychmom

[fatehollow.ataraxia]

One combination that is taught in our class is a outside/in crescent kick to close the gap, and then a yoko geri (side kick). I modified this because my crescent kick is not very good, and so instead I throw a backfist with my lead hand and let that bring me into postition and create an opening for my sidekick.

psychmom

The backfist is actually probably a better option, since if you close distance using a crescent kick and place your descending foot forward, you can easily get sweeped or worse (particularly if you spar against kick boxers, etc.).

[yamesu]

For SD:

Front leg sweep, with a near simultanious fronthand knife hand to collarbone (break balance), followed by a reverse punch or elbow to falling opponents body.

For Kyokushin sparring:

Front leg inner thigh kick, front punch-sternum, rear punch-sternum, rear leg outer thigh kick, front punch-sternum, rear leg roundhouse to opponents ribs.

[ivette_green]

If they throw two (right, left) punches I block them both and hit them on the shoulder with my left hand. It works on a surprising amount of people.

[italian_guy]

I have a simple one back-foot mae geri chudan that then become front foot closing the distance, kitsami tsuki to face same side.