Front kick

[DWx]

The same chamber is useful to confuse your opponent. However I was told by our master specifically not to use the same chamber. His reasoning being that you won't get the most effective kick that way. He talked about the position of the knee in relation to the target. If the the chamber is too low (knee in line or below the level of the target) you are kicking upwards rather than forward, you also don't engage the top of the leg so much and kick only with the lower half. This can't be avoided when doing kicks to the head (you probably want to come under the chin anyway) but for mid/low section it is less effective. Chambers which are too high force you to move down onto the target which screws up the kick because you're trying to move the opposite way to how the leg is going. Try chambering mid-section and then kicking someones shin, just doesn't work well. Also a waste of time and energy raising the leg up when you want to do a low kick. At the sort of speeds you can get with a lower front kick, I don't think confusing your opponent with a chamber is really that cruicial.

[bushido_man96]

Perhaps not it self-defense. But in sport, it tends to become a strategy game, and that where ideas like this come about.

[DWx]

Perhaps not it self-defense. But in sport, it tends to become a strategy game, and that where ideas like this come about.

Ok I guess so if we are talking sport, you'd only really be kicking chest level with the odd high kick and those two chambers are fairly close.

[Kuma]

The same chamber is useful to confuse your opponent. However I was told by our master specifically not to use the same chamber. His reasoning being that you won't get the most effective kick that way. He talked about the position of the knee in relation to the target. If the the chamber is too low (knee in line or below the level of the target) you are kicking upwards rather than forward, you also don't engage the top of the leg so much and kick only with the lower half. This can't be avoided when doing kicks to the head (you probably want to come under the chin anyway) but for mid/low section it is less effective. Chambers which are too high force you to move down onto the target which screws up the kick because you're trying to move the opposite way to how the leg is going. Try chambering mid-section and then kicking someones shin, just doesn't work well. Also a waste of time and energy raising the leg up when you want to do a low kick. At the sort of speeds you can get with a lower front kick, I don't think confusing your opponent with a chamber is really that cruicial.

Actually, in some instances raising the kick chamber higher then bringing the kick down can increase power from my own observations. Take gedan mawashi geri for example. By raising it more towards chudan level, with a twist of the hips it can come crashing down on the outer thigh at a 45 degree angle, significantly more punishing than just a straight in gedan mawashi geri. The super flexible can do the same for even jodan mawashi geris (the infamous "Brazilian kick").

[DWx]

The same chamber is useful to confuse your opponent. However I was told by our master specifically not to use the same chamber. His reasoning being that you won't get the most effective kick that way. He talked about the position of the knee in relation to the target. If the the chamber is too low (knee in line or below the level of the target) you are kicking upwards rather than forward, you also don't engage the top of the leg so much and kick only with the lower half. This can't be avoided when doing kicks to the head (you probably want to come under the chin anyway) but for mid/low section it is less effective. Chambers which are too high force you to move down onto the target which screws up the kick because you're trying to move the opposite way to how the leg is going. Try chambering mid-section and then kicking someones shin, just doesn't work well. Also a waste of time and energy raising the leg up when you want to do a low kick. At the sort of speeds you can get with a lower front kick, I don't think confusing your opponent with a chamber is really that cruicial.

Actually, in some instances raising the kick chamber higher then bringing the kick down can increase power from my own observations. Take gedan mawashi geri for example. By raising it more towards chudan level, with a twist of the hips it can come crashing down on the outer thigh at a 45 degree angle, significantly more punishing than just a straight in gedan mawashi geri. The super flexible can do the same for even jodan mawashi geris (the infamous "Brazilian kick").

My Japanese isn't so good but is mawashi geri a roundhouse? In that case I would say a higher chamber can be advantageous. What I said above was what I was told for front kicks only.

[JusticeZero]

The super flexible can do the same for even jodan mawashi geris (the infamous "Brazilian kick").

Not being a Karate stylist (and in fact not even having a basic grounding in it) I went searching for which kick this was. Appears to be a high martelo, that is, a kick striking in line with the knee with at least some of the power of the kick coming from the straightening of the leg, which impacts the target laterally.

The dynamics of that kick are in my experience quite a bit different from those of a ponteira, which I am certain is the typical 'front kick'. I am uncertain whether they would be considered the same in a discussion of chambers. A downward drop of the foot while striking in a ponteira would make it more closely related to bencão, a forward heel THRUST kick and yet again a very different kick in function. A sufficiently high ponteira/front kick would make it into an axe kick; we don't train those, and do not have a name for it that I am aware of offhand, but it seems to be a very different kick which uses a different striking surface and power generation.

Out of curiosity, what makes that kick "Brazilian"? I would think it would be more Thai than anything, if I were to hazard a guess.

[Kuma]

Yes, mawashi geri is a roundhouse. Just saying that sometimes a high chamber can benefit you.

And it's because the Brazilians in Kyokushin tournaments pretty much introduced it to the tournament circuit.

[bushido_man96]

Perhaps not it self-defense. But in sport, it tends to become a strategy game, and that where ideas like this come about.

Ok I guess so if we are talking sport, you'd only really be kicking chest level with the odd high kick and those two chambers are fairly close.

When I chamber for round kicks or side kicks, I try to keep my chamber at waist level, or a bit higher, if I can. From there, I can deliver a kick to the mid or high section, whichever I choose. You can also go low from there, too, and I don't think that it makes for too bad a kick.

If you ever watch some of Van Damme's movies, you will see that he tends to do a hybrid type of chamber for his side kicks, round kicks, and hook kicks; they all seem to come from the same starting point. Not that it is right or wrong; just an observation.

[hx35543]

You need to remember that Van Damme was a dancer and his moves in his movies are over pronounced for the show of it.

It takes both strength and flexibility to be able to extend your leg straight out from a standing position without the snap of a kick to help it along. I have been an avid weightlfter for the better part of 20 years with pretty good flexibility (as it is necessary to have a full range of motion for good muscle structure) and still found it very hard to simply extend my leg straight out from a standing position.

[joesteph]

You need to remember that Van Damme was a dancer and his moves in his movies are over pronounced for the show of it.

I didn't know that Van Damme was a dancer before martial arts.

It reminds me of David Carradine, with a dance background, whose interview for the series Kung Fu included a spontaneous jump kick by Carradine (not a martial art one; one that a dancer would do) that likely clinched it.