Roundhouse kick=useless on street?

[bushido_man96]

Oh, no, I don't think so. Think about throwing it to the upper thigh (Muay Thai style) or into the knee. I don't think I would thow it head level, but definitely to the leg.

i disagree , many other more accurate and quicker moves can be done in a less time frame and be much more damaging.

Which moves are you thinking of?

[yingampyang]

Oh, no, I don't think so. Think about throwing it to the upper thigh (Muay Thai style) or into the knee. I don't think I would thow it head level, but definitely to the leg.

i disagree , many other more accurate and quicker moves can be done in a less time frame and be much more damaging.

Which moves are you thinking of?

well it really all depends on what your opponent knows, if he looks like a close range fighter then i would get him out of his comfort zone, and still from a long distance i would use either quick blocking moves from shotokan or i would try and confuse him with moves from capoidea , buts then agian capoidea is just fancy stuff that wastes energy and time. im a quick fighter and deadly accurate so i would finish it off with a mixture of kung-fu and shotokan, which are styles that i mix with my JKD.

[bushido_man96]

Other moves will work, sure. However, the round kick can still be useful as well.

[yingampyang]

Other moves will work, sure. However, the round kick can still be useful as well.

yes that is true , and if you are use to using the kick then it would be better for that person.

[Montana]

The roundhouse kick is good for "soft" targets, like the sides/back of the knee, inside/outside of the thigh, groin, stomach and ribs (we don't do head kicks). It's great to get a person to lower their hands, take out a knee, whack the groin, knock the wind out of them, or bruise a rib.

[lupus yonderboy]

I believe anything can be useful in street defense if learned how to apply properly. I think we must remember that martial artists used to use all of the super-fancy movie-looking moves in defending themselves and they lasted like that for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years (depending on the style).

None of the above paragraph is true.

Don't underestimate any kind of technique. It can always be used.

Not true...

One just has to remember the words of Bruce Lee:

"Biting is a great way to defend yourself in close quarters. Bite if you have to. But do not plan on biting; that is a good way to lose your teeth."

"Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup...Be water, my friend."

that statement doesn't support your above statements at all.

Meaning do the roundhouse kick of any kind if you have to. But be sure to adjust to what would work against your oponenet

Adjusting to what works against an opponent will get rid of over half of the flashy, spinning kicks you talk about in your first paragraph. Those things don't work.

Bruce also said "Keep what is useful, get rid of anyting that isn't" (paraphrashed.) So he obviusly knew some techniques are worthless. Why do you insist they aren't?

("become the cup") and do not ever just do some kind of fancy kick because you want to. Because unless you get really lucky, it's a good way to get killed.

But didn't you just say in your first paragraph that all those fancy moves have an application? I'm sorry, I'm not following you well..

[LLLEARNER]

What about the legal ramifications of using kicks in a fight? Somebody told me a long time ago that punching someone is assault, but kicking them is assault with a deadly weapon. Of course, this could just be myth. Can anybody clarify this?

It is all situational dependent. If the force you are applying is reasonable to stop the attack then you should be ok.

[LLLEARNER]

I just heard a story from my friend at school today. His father, who is a very experienced martial artist, was mugged by several people at once one time (my friend says he was there when it happened) and one of them tried to come at his father with a pipe, and his father boke the man's jaw with a roundhouse kick.

Pipe = deadly weapon. Multiple attackers. Not their problem if they played stupid games. If one is justified in using another deadly weapon (gun for example) to counter the aggressors deadly weapon then a foot to the face is justified. He met force with reasonable force.

[MAfreak]

while its unwise to use high kicks in self defense it must be ok to use kicks in general.

many people think way to much about "is it legal?". come on, we talk about self-defense. at first survive, and then you can think about the consequences. the other way round may kill you or bring you in a wheelchair or whatever. better the evil attacker suffers this fate than you.

[Slab]

My instructors always warn me/our students against roundhouse kicks, just in the chance that the person who is attacking you is an experienced fighter. The reasoning is that the roundhouse telegraphs too much, and there are various counters, and things to do to stop one. So we tend to favor the "wheel-kick" where the knee comes forward, then you switch your hips to deliver.

That being said, I think a low roundhouse to the knee or inside/outside of the leg works great in a pinch.