Mawashi Geri Vs. Traditional Round Kick

[tufrthanu]

I was just wondering what people thought of these two kicks both as kicks themselves and tactically. Note: this topic does not include discussion of the Muay Thai style straight leg round kick. Thank you.

Difference between the two kicks that I have noticed:

Mawashi Geri: Base foot toes are pointed 90 degrees from opponent, torso is bent so that the front faces the opponent, essentially kick is a front kick while bent to the side, requires flexibility in groin/hamstrings.

Traditional Round Kick: Base foot toes pointed 180 degrees from opponent, torso faces side on and leans directly away from opponent, kick is much more similar to high side kick in final position, requires flexibility almost exclusively in hamstrings.

I personally have problems performing mawashi geri and my styles tend to use the traditional round kick which is what I use. It appears mawashi geri might be a quicker launching kick; whereas, the traditional round kick seems to be tactically safer due to the torso being more distant from opponent and not facing front on.

What do you guys think?

[StrangeBacon]

It depends how adept a person is at each kick, i find dropping the opposite shoulder to the leg as a mawashi geri is peformed lends to more power and greater stability, there are other ways of performing it such as keeping straight on and pivoting around the knee but i personally prefer the former due to the body being in a more preferable position for stepping through with another technique.

I cant really comment on the flexibility in the hamstrings as i've always been able to do full splits and kakato geri's to jodan height so its never bothered me.

Try to imagine you're looking at the opponent with an eye in your left shoulder as you do a right leg mawashi geri and instead of pivoting (whether you do or not) get the knee up and fire the kick from there, i find the position is more effective in opening up the hips and being able to get the kick out there faster.

Sorry if i ended up rambling just my 2c.

[sojobo]

Hello,

I have voted for Mawashigeri – simply because this is what we do in our dojo.

For clarity, the kick I would refer to as mawashigeri is like this.

If I have understood correctly the op's description of "traditional round kick" is like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vC0ZEuFyA&feature=fvw

They are two very different approaches with arguably different results.

Ultimately I guess you should do it the way your sensei wants it done.

sojobo

[tufrthanu]

Yes Sojo those are the different kicks that I am speaking of.

[Nevinyrral]

I voted mawashi. For me its easier, more natural and stable than this other kick. For me its hard twisting my leg 180 degres

[mr_obvious]

I didn't vote, because both are effective, in different ways......depending on what you're hoping to accomplish. I'd say #1 is more powerful, #2 more surgical when executed as described. As often happens, the choice which to deploy, depends largely on your posture prior to executing (taking time to position feet, in opposition to an experienced fighter would telegraph intention, me thinks).

[sojobo]

I didn't vote, because both are effective, in different ways......depending on what you're hoping to accomplish. I'd say #1 is more powerful, #2 more surgical when executed as described. As often happens, the choice which to deploy, depends largely on your posture prior to executing (taking time to position feet, in opposition to an experienced fighter would telegraph intention, me thinks).

Hello mr_obvious,

I was also inclined to "no-vote" because a very talented karateka can pull off both. However it is my opinion that option 1 (mawashigeri) is a far more complicated kick to perform well than option 2.

Ime, the people that can do #1 well can do #2 as well, however not the other way round.

Therefore, in terms of effectiveness I was thinking a long the lines of training the hardest way in keiko in order to give you the best coverage (in terms of results) in kumite.

What do you think?

sojobo

[tufrthanu]

Sojo I can concur that the mawashi geri can be hard if you've never trained it. My hips do not like that kick at all and one instructor that I have worked with to quicken my kicks has me doing a hybrid version of it, halfway between mawashi geri and a front snap kick. The other one on the the other hand seems extremely natural to me.

[joesteph]

For clarity, the kick I would refer to as mawashigeri is like this.

If I have understood correctly the op's description of "traditional round kick" is like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vC0ZEuFyA&feature=fvw

I've seen both these videos, the first one just today to understand what tufrthanu was referring to with mawashi geri, but the second is not what I'd call a traditional roundhouse, so I'm not debating what someone else calls a "traditional" one. The woman in the second video is demonstrating the martial art her father developed, and I've done it that way when taking classes in Jeet Kune Do, plus there's a YouTube video called the "Screwdriver" that does it that way as well.

Here's the traditional roundhouse as I know it:

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

The traditional video's good, because it explains the right and wrong of performance for power.

[sensei8]

Shindokan teaches the "traditional" as viewed in the aforementioned posts, therefore, it's the only method we use in the execution of the roundhouse kick.

I selected the "traditional"!!