Hello and kick question

[DWx]

When driving to the upper body with punches/strikes, the telegraphing of the rear leg is not an issue.

I don't know about that. If you were initiating a combo with a rear leg front kick I personally think telegraphing is an issue. As soon as the leg begins to move a trained fighter would know something was coming and react. You could be quick about it but they could be even quicker and you wouldn't have time to drive in with the rest of the combo. If the kick was delivered mid-combo then maybe it wouldn't be telegraphed so much but I'd still avoid it myself.

[bushido_man96]

Well, at the same time, it depends on the reaction abilities of the defender. I have always been a proponent of action being faster than reaction, so you could just end up splitting hairs. But, it could still be a concern, especially when using it to initiate a combo. Working on the initiation speed would help that.

[Killer Miller]

Nope, not an issue. When driving with punches, typically your opponents eye sight is blocked of the lower extremedies with your hands and guard position - Of course timing is everything. You lead with the forward hand when driving, which will block the eye sight, then you can do the rear leg kick and even the counter hand at the same time where they won't even know the kick is coming. It's all about timing and distraction. Of course if one's timing and technique is not that great, then any technique is going to be telegraphed...

- Killer -

When driving to the upper body with punches/strikes, the telegraphing of the rear leg is not an issue.

I don't know about that. If you were initiating a combo with a rear leg front kick I personally think telegraphing is an issue. As soon as the leg begins to move a trained fighter would know something was coming and react. You could be quick about it but they could be even quicker and you wouldn't have time to drive in with the rest of the combo. If the kick was delivered mid-combo then maybe it wouldn't be telegraphed so much but I'd still avoid it myself.

[bushido_man96]

That is a good point. Getting them thinking about one attacking tool, and then using the other, especially when changing levels of attack, is a good idea, and would cut down on the chance to recognize the attack.

[Sokusen]

Hello everyone, love the site.

I personally love the front snap kick, it's quick and it hurts. You can end a fight befor it even begins with one. If you take the time and develop the toe as the striking weopon instead of the ball of the foot then you compound the amount of damage inflicted due to the smaller surface area. Strike the inner thigh, outer thigh, the groin or floating ribs, and it feels like you're being stabbed.

[bushido_man96]

Conditioning the toe might be ok if you are going to inflict that damage barefoot, but many times in self-defense, you will likely be wearing footwear of some kind. With that in mind, I would choose not to condition my toes so much. But that's just me.

[tallgeese]

Not to mention that there is only so much conditioning that one can do. Sooner or later the little bones of the toes will start to break down on impact.

[Sokusen]

I agree, most likely you would have a shoe on in a self-defense scenario, unless you really like flip-flops. But, all the better, since now you are hitting with the tip of the shoe instead of the ball of the shoe. Is one technique better then the other I don't know. But, using a "pointy" weapon is a nice way of making a quick jab like the front snap kick into a more penetrating kick.

When it comes to conditioning, the slow pace wins the race. Learn to form the tool then slowly condition it. You go out on day one with a poorly formed tool and start slamming a pad you will break your foot. If you take your time and learn to do it correctly then eventually the pad becomes to soft and you look for other things with more resistance. I’ve been doing it for years and haven’t had a problem yet.

[Kuma]

I definitely have to give props to Uechi Ryu for the toe kick, it may take a heck of a long time to condition for it but man does it look impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfXX5aQhjc

(Watch about 0:28 of this video)

[tallgeese]

Agreed, it is impressive. I won't even argue that.

Respectfully, it's the time-benifit analasys that dosn't work out for me. I have to imagine that the slow and steady approach is indeed correct. My quibble is that it's a ton of time to commit to training a weapon that you've essintially removed from the fight 9 time out of 10 (or more) in a modern western setting. Shoes and boots are so much more likely to be used as a striking surface that it makes more sense to me to train with striking surfaces that translate easily to accomadating those.

Ball of the foot makes sense since you can present that with sneakers on. As does the heel or blade of the foot, espically if you're a boot wearer.

I'm not saying it's not impresseive, or useful. I'm just saying that it's very specialized in a set of circumstances where generalities usually work more frequently.