Jumping double front kick

[Shotokan-kez]

Hi guys. The Jumping double front kick is really bothering me. The main times i have to do it is when i'm performing the kata kanku-dai. I find it especially difficult to also put the block in at the end of the kick, without wobbling, at the end of my kick the block seems weak and there doesn't seem to be much power right throughout the whole technique. So anyone else ever had difficulty with this move in kanku-dai, and how did you overcome it?. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Kez

[Leopard claw]

Keep practicing it, you will get it down. I think the kick you are talking about is called morote tobi geri

[Shotokan-kez]

Thanks leopard claw. I'm ashamed to say i don't actually know what that kick is called.

[juey palancu]

I had similar trouble with that technique in Kanku-dai back when I learned it, until my sensei pointed out that i have to land with squared hips, since it is an 'offensive' block. Case solved. Never lost my balance again there.

[Leopard claw]

No problem Shotokan-kez, we all go through that learning new stuff. There's no need to feel ashamed, give it a few and you will have it down in no time!

[bushido_man96]

When I struggle with moves like this, it find that breaking them down and practicing the component parts helps the best. For example, practice jumping and chambering each of the kicks.....only the chambers, though. Jump high, and concentrate on where your knees go. Do that maybe 10 times, maybe more. Then, when you are comfortable, you may just add one kick until you have it down, and then add the second, or throw in both if you feel confident. Then practice sticking the landing, and then the block afterwards.

Remember all of the set-up phases, like chambers, jumps, and keep your body position in mind. Hope this helps!

[Shotokan-kez]

Thanks Bushido, great tips there I'll keep at it of course and hopefully get it right soon. It's a great kata, one of my faves just that move is letting it down a bit.

[cathal]

Hey, we call it neon-geri. I practice this kata a great deal as my sensei says that it will be "my" kata. I had the same issues as yourself for these techniques. I overcame my frustration with it by practicing the first kick by itself as it seems to be the key to the entire sequence.

For my dojo the first kick is rather like a jab. Fast, powerful, and subtle. (So subtle that at first many karateka miss it and merely raise their knee, then do the second kick only.) The key to getting the technique down is the knees. Get your knees up as high as you possibly can as you jump up. The first kick is aimed "chudan-ish" so don't snap out for a Jodan level kick.

The second kick comes fast & strong as well, and is aimed Jodan level. Again, get that knee up and drive the hips forward to gather the momentum.

As you transition into the second kick your left hand circles around your right hand, as if to break the opponent's hold on your right wrist. That right hand comes down into a powerful "stopping" backfist, and only then do you kiai (in my dojo anyway). What I mean by the stopping backfist is that upon landing you take all of that kinetic energy, and focus your mind on that backfist...the rest of your body merely stops and this helps transfer all of that tremeandous power. In a way you get the same feeling when you start off Bassai Dai, that first move is fast & strong and then you simply stop...moving all that momentum and kinetic energy into the opponent. Kind of like running into a wall.

So then you pause for a 2 count, then finish the kata.

[Sohan]

When I struggle with moves like this, it find that breaking them down and practicing the component parts helps the best. For example, practice jumping and chambering each of the kicks.....only the chambers, though. Jump high, and concentrate on where your knees go. Do that maybe 10 times, maybe more. Then, when you are comfortable, you may just add one kick until you have it down, and then add the second, or throw in both if you feel confident. Then practice sticking the landing, and then the block afterwards.

Remember all of the set-up phases, like chambers, jumps, and keep your body position in mind. Hope this helps!

Good advice as always, bushidoman.

With respect,

Sohan

[Brandon Fisher]

I agree 100% with Bushido man. Break it down, practice each part of it over and over until you are comfortable with each part and then put it all together. That movement is known as Nidan-Geri in most Okinawan / Japanese systems. It took me quite sometime to do it solid so be patient and practice hard.