Doing a side kick the "right" way

[bushido_man96]

Cung Le has used a side kick to pretty good effect in his fighting venues. He has spent years honing it, though, and I think it is used mainly as a setup. It also does a good job of stopping an advancing opponent.

[Throwdown0850]

Cung Le has used a side kick to pretty good effect in his fighting venues. He has spent years honing it, though, and I think it is used mainly as a setup. It also does a good job of stopping an advancing opponent.

Yep yep. agreed

[joesteph]

It also does a good job of stopping an advancing opponent.

Yep yep. agreed

We were doing side kicks today against the body/kick shield, and it was a lead leg side kick, not the rear leg that's been most of the discussion in this thread.

If the proximity of the adversary makes using the lead leg the better choice, then the snap front kick that was observed (with the leg chambered like a front kick, but fired off as a side kick) can come into play. That might fit in with stopping the opponent.

When I block a kick with my leg (lifting it, not jamming his kick), I've responded with a front snap kick from that already-chambered position. I wonder, if the angle's right, that a side snap kick couldn't be used from that position, with the blocking/chambered leg in a sense being the lead leg?

[joesteph]

Last night, my teacher introduced us to an optional way of doing the side kick.

She's been strict that, in the art, we lift the rear leg up like a front kick, but turn the body sideways, so that when we kick out to the front, we snap the kick out--a side snap kick, as opposed to a side thrust kick. The supporting leg's foot is still turned away from the target, and the preference is to have the heel strike.

But last night the optional change she introduced was small but important. We must still raise the rear leg up like a front kick, but at a 45 degrees angle to the body turned sideways. We then follow through as above. After some practice, I asked her if it were for speed, and she said it was faster, such as in sparring. After practicing more, I asked her if it were more accurate, and her response was that it depends on the individual as, of course, our bodies are all not the same.

This was an important improvement for me in the side snap kick, not just in speed, but I felt better balanced, and became more accurate when striking the kick shield.

[sensei8]

Isn't it interesting to see just how many different ways there is to do a side kick? It's kind of cool! After all, imho, it's just a side kick and there's no reason to make a mountain out of a mole-hill...Up, Out, Back, and Down...that's a side kick...or...any kick for that matter.

[bushido_man96]

But last night the optional change she introduced was small but important. We must still raise the rear leg up like a front kick, but at a 45 degrees angle to the body turned sideways. We then follow through as above.

I'm having some trouble visualizing this, Joe. Could you give another example of how this is going? Sorry to be difficult...

[joesteph]

When someone does a side kick, say to kick with the right leg, the body is turned so that the right side is facing the opponent/target while the kicking leg (the right leg) is in chambered position. When doing a side snap kick, the kicking leg (in this case the right leg) is chambered like a front kick, the lower leg hanging straight down in the chambered position, with the outer side of the thigh and lower leg "facing" the same way as the right side, against the opponent. Then the kick is snapped out at him, with the supporting leg's foot turning so that the heel is aimed at the opponent.

But instead of having the chambered kicking leg close to the side of the body, Brian, my teacher had us have the "front kick position" of the chambered leg midway between the side of the kicker's body and the location of the opponent. That "diagonal" position is the 45 degree angle I referred to.

In both the side kick we've been doing all along and this 45 degrees placement, the kicking leg snaps out at the opponent, but the speed of executing the snap kick, and I've found for me the accuracy of the kick, is increased using the latter.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks, Joe. That helps. It sounds interesting, too.

[FushinRyu]

my style does it a bit different. you lift the leg as if you were doing a front kick, and at the very end you turn to the side and strike with the heel and the blade of the foot, using your hands to protect the face with koto uke and i guess "chudan barai".

[Jim Hew]

Hey there,

Im new here... But thought you all might enjoy seeing the way(S) that one of my old instructors used to do side kicks. They definitely were THRUST kicks... and very fast.