jump kicks; when did you learn them?

[Brandon Fisher]

I have seen some Shotokan dojos teach Yoko Tobi Geri and Mae Tobi geri but they are not used alot.

[PlasmaShock]

my sensei would probably like to teach his higher students more advanced moves but he is recovering from a busted knee. its healing well so he will probably be able to jump on his leg in about a year or 2. im one of the highest students(4th kyu) in his beginners class plus i already know how to do jumping kicks. i just can't jump high .

[bushido_man96]

my sensei would probably like to teach his higher students more advanced moves but he is recovering from a busted knee. its healing well so he will probably be able to jump on his leg in about a year or 2. im one of the highest students(4th kyu) in his beginners class plus i already know how to do jumping kicks. i just can't jump high .

Sorry to hear about your sensei. I hope he recovers quickly.

I can't jump very high either....the secret is to tuck your trailing leg when you jump. It give the illusion that you are jumping higher than you actually are. I have gotten some ooohs from some people by doing this; I am a heavy guy, and are surpised to see someone like me jump like that. The secret is the knee tuck.

[Jiffy]

I've now been doing Karate for 19 years. I have not learned a jump kick yet (except the one at the end of Kanku Dai), nor do I wish to.

I figure if I need to jump to hit the guy, I'm aiming too high.

[Zorbasan]

coming from TKD, jump kicks were developed to dismount attackers from their horse esp the spinning ones. so unless you have somoene on a motorbike charging you, you dont need super height on your jumping kicks.

what is good for a jump kick is distance, i can make up a good 2 or three metres from 1 step with a nice jump front kick. you may not hit with it, but the oponent will be worried about the kick to try to attack back than if you just made the distance up by stepping or rushing them.

[P.A.L]

In traditional Karate (Shotokan) we do not teach or learn flying type of Jump kicks. Our concept is that "one" foot is always in contact with the floor/ground...

- Killer -

same with us, but we practice the technques against them, We jam into it with our elbow and forarm while sweeping the back leg from the side, it work great againt jumping mawashi geri or double jumping mawashi geri since you don't even have to body change, last time i saw it ,the guy got knocked down because of hard landing .

[lordtariel]

I started doing them around 7th kyu. We were doing them more as exercise drills rather than putting them to practical use though.

[bushido_man96]

I like to do them because I think they are fun. I don't do them for self-defense purposes, nor do I do them often in sparring.

[Zorbasan]

a jump kick is a great first move for sparring. ive done it quite a few times that i have just launched my self and done a flying sidekick and freaked the oponent out. from then on you can fake the launch and get them with a lot of techniques.

[bushido_man96]

That is a good strategy, Zorbasan. I may have to give that a try.