Advice on Rear-leg kicks

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 10/26/2010 12:37pm

In june I attended Taekwondo Nationals where I hurt both my big toes ,and recently I have notice in sparring that I am relying heavily on my lead-leg. Now this normally wouldn't bother me ,but it has gotten to the point where I now feel clumsy and slow whenever I try to use my rear-leg. It not just that the speed ,power ,and timing is of but the very motion few awkward for my body.

My fear is that by adapting to my injury I my have done something to throw my body(or my fighting style) off.

More about me I practice WTF-style contiuous sparring, and I am mainly a push fighter and didn't use the rear-leg that much to begin with :but it wasn't difficult for me to do ,and I could if I needed. In order to try and correct this problem I've tried sparring without skipping or hop-step kicks and have tried to use rear-leg kicks in comination with each other.

I practice doing them and still don't feel right so any advice on re-accustoming( problably not a word but you get my point.) myself or ajusting my stance or style to use rear leg kicks is appreciated

sinserly, Korean Dragon

**Permalost** · Posted On: 10/26/2010 12:52pm

If you’ve been focusing on the lead leg for taekwondo tournaments and your rear leg kicks aren’t so good anymore, you may have angled your stance a little more. Where is your back foot pointing and where are your feet relative to yourself and your opponent? Focusing on the front leg kicks for TKD tourneys will probably dictate that you are fighting from a more sideways stance to quickly throw the front leg turn kick or side kick, and possibly pointing your rear foot backward or to the side so you don’t have to pivot it for the kick. This’ll make it harder to do a back leg kick though (and imo is a bad habit outside of tkd- your feet should point at least somewhat towards your opponent). Also lining up your feet on one line from your back foot to your front foot to your opponent is the same thing- good for scoring a front leg kick but bad for everything else. These both go hand in hand with having the hip angled away , which makes the side kick work well but that’s about it. I knew a guy who could fight with this kind of stance but he would also throw solid back leg roundhouse kicks by stepping on a diagonal angle outward and forward with his front leg.

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 10/26/2010 2:44pm

You right because of the injury to me toes I depended on my side kicks more. the positioning of my feet is both feet towards my opponent but turn slightly parallel. I also make sure to pivot but I do have a stiff upper body.

**dwkfym** · Posted On: 11/25/2010 1:21am

Keep training. More years and that "problem" will have seemed so minor.

**Bullwhip** · Posted On: 12/08/2010 3:48pm

Learn to fight on your heels.
Here is an idea. The real leg kick reach farther, so less chance you will strike with your toes. You can also totally abandon roundhouse kick and only do front kicks with the heel, exe, side and hook kicks with the heel.
People say that working around injuries can make you a better fighter.

**maofas** · Posted On: 12/09/2010 2:57pm

Hands typically set up rear leg kicks. If you don't use your hands much in TKD then your ability to set them up is more limited.

Also, straight kicks that push the other person back can set up a rear leg round kick followup pretty well, you just need to pay attention to where you step down from the first kick.

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 12/13/2010 11:03am

Originally Posted by maofas

Hands typically set up rear leg kicks. If you don't use your hands much in TKD then your ability to set them up is more limited.

Also, straight kicks that push the other person back can set up a rear leg round kick followup pretty well, you just need to pay attention to where you step down from the first kick.

True, I often like to double up on my front leg in case my opponent tries to move back a counter, so I have a bad habit of keeping too much weight on my rear supporting leg.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 12/13/2010 12:25pm

Originally Posted by Bullwhip

Learn to fight on your heels.
Here is an idea. The real leg kick reach farther, so less chance you will strike with your toes. You can also totally abandon roundhouse kick and only do front kicks with the heel, exe, side and hook kicks with the heel.
People say that working around injuries can make you a better fighter.

Fight on your heels?

"People say"...

You should probably not be posting...

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 12/13/2010 12:27pm

Originally Posted by korean dragon

In june I attended Taekwondo Nationals where I hurt both my big toes ,and recently I have notice in sparring that I am relying heavily on my lead-leg. Now this normally wouldn't bother me ,but it has gotten to the point where I now feel clumsy and slow whenever I try to use my rear-leg. It not just that the speed ,power ,and timing is of but the very motion few awkward for my body.

My fear is that by adapting to my injury I my have done something to throw my body(or my fighting style) off.

More about me I practice WTF-style contiuous sparring, and I am mainly a push fighter and didn't use the rear-leg that much to begin with :but it wasn't difficult for me to do ,and I could if I needed. In order to try and correct this problem I've tried sparring without skipping or hop-step kicks and have tried to use rear-leg kicks in comination with each other.

I practice doing them and still don't feel right so any advice on re-accustoming( problably not a word but you get my point.) myself or ajusting my stance or style to use rear leg kicks is appreciated

sinserly, Korean Dragon

I second the commentary that your stance is likely the main issue.

First off, what kicks are you trying to throw with your rear leg?

Back kicks? Round kicks? Hooks? Axes?

The success of those can vary depending on stance and set-up.

**korean dragon** · Posted On: 1/06/2011 11:35am

The main kicks I throw are front-leg side kick, hop-step side kick, back kick. I use push kick, hooks, and axes to mix things up, and mainly use a short front-leg round for close quarters or retreating.