Hello and kick question

[DWx]

Welcome to KF oneheart.

The front kick is pretty versatile, there are loads of uses. The groin, as has been mentioned, is one spot. Solar plexus, shins, under the chin, philtrum/nose are what I'd consider the normal targets. Or you could kick the kidneys from behind the opponent. Get them in the ribs if you were standing at the side and their arms were out of the way. As bushido_man96 suggested you can use a varient to push the opponent too. Works great if you get them in the middle of the chest. Only drawback to the front kick is that to get a decent amount of power you have to bring it through off the back leg and you can see it coming. Can't really use it if your opponent is side on either. Still a pretty useful kick though.

[oneheart]

This sounds like a description of an already-used kick, the instep instead of the ball of the foot for impact, and even, if close enough, the lower shin instead.

Is this correct, OneHeart?

Well I didn't think I'd made it up first, but yeah that sounds right. Though the shin would have to be really close in I'd imagine.

[joesteph]

What I've seen over the past 4 decades is that MANY practitioners of any Martial Arts, beginners even up to high black belts, still PUSH with the front kick, whether it's snap/thrust, instead of KICKING.

Bob, in the June 2000 issue of Black Belt, there's an article by Floyd Burk, "Joe Lewis Teaches Five Battle-Proven Strategies for the Ring." On p. 53, there's a series of four photos with Joe Lewis using a front kick as a "Stop Kick," setting his opponent up for the low roundhouse that follows. It's at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=is8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=Black+Belt&lr=&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPA53,M1

What do you think of the reference to a "Stop Kick"?

[bushido_man96]

Nice article. I really like Joe Lewis's stuff, and I think that using the front kick as a stop kick is a good strategy. But, I think it is important to really learn to time the kick. I think that often someone will shuffle the back leg before lifting the front to stop kick. This is ok, if you are looking for some range, but the stop-kick isn't really a range kick; its to stop an incoming opponent. If you step in and kick as they come in, you may jam yourself up.

[JusticeZero]

What I've seen over the past 4 decades is that MANY practitioners of any Martial Arts, beginners even up to high black belts, still PUSH with the front kick, whether it's snap/thrust, instead of KICKING.

Many styles consider the primary benefit of a front kick to be in generating space, with the shock of impact being a nice bonus.

That said, if one likes front kick, then by all means work on perfecting it. It's a completely reasonable technique to chose as one of one's few signature movements, in my opinion. It is a good thing to specialize in a couple of solid bread and butter techniques above and beyond one's commitment to learn the full curriculum; I've often heard of those who are highly regarded for fighting skill speaking of spending two or three years just studying one single technique in depth.

[JusticeZero]

Only drawback to the front kick is that to get a decent amount of power you have to bring it through off the back leg and you can see it coming. Can't really use it if your opponent is side on either.

Mmh. I'd think that you can make a decent amount of that power back with good use of chambering and the hips, but i'll admit to not being completely conversant in how -exactly- a Karate stylist of any given lineage does a front kick as compared to any other given front kick. Further, if you chamber high, you should be able to drive into the floating rib area of someone side on, going over their knee and thigh. You don't -have- to just sweep up like you were kicking a soccer ball off the floor.

[DWx]

Only drawback to the front kick is that to get a decent amount of power you have to bring it through off the back leg and you can see it coming. Can't really use it if your opponent is side on either.

Mmh. I'd think that you can make a decent amount of that power back with good use of chambering and the hips, but i'll admit to not being completely conversant in how -exactly- a Karate stylist of any given lineage does a front kick as compared to any other given front kick. Further, if you chamber high, you should be able to drive into the floating rib area of someone side on, going over their knee and thigh. You don't -have- to just sweep up like you were kicking a soccer ball off the floor.

Sorry I was assuming that the person would be guarding. Yeah you could get the floating ribs but if they had their arms ther you'd struggle to find a way in. You could use it but personally I'd use a different kick and attack more viable targets. And you are right about generating power off of the front leg, you can do it. Just the way I've been taught to do front kicks, there is a limited amound of power you can get off of your front leg, to fully utilise the hip snap and body mass IMO you'd need to bring the kick through off of the back leg.

[tallgeese]

I always throw the front kick with the toes pulled back and try to make contact with the ball of the foot. Never with the top, no matter where I'm throwing it. It makes it harder to break the little bones that are so exposed at the top of the foot.

Groin and shin are almost always a snap kick. To the body, usually as a kick as sensei8 commented on. There are some good things to be said for throwing it as a push. This is often handy to clear distacne from a far clinch. Just a slightly different application.

[bushido_man96]

If you really work hard on a front leg front kick, you can get some power in it, but for the most part, I agree with DWx that it is easier to generate power from the back leg. Stepping the back leg up to the front leg, or past, and then kicking with the front leg can give it some more power, but it becomes really telegraphed at that point.

[Killer Miller]

Front snap would typically be to the lower area to apply shock to the target, followed by a punch/strike.

Rear snap would typically be used when driving the oponent backwards with a driving rear leg kick followed by driving punches and strikes. When driving to the upper body with punches/strikes, the telegraphing of the rear leg is not an issue.

- Killer -