Best Kicks?

[gong sau]

FO, dan. The topic heading is "Best kicks", and the initial question posed was "I was wondering what everyone in here thinks the best martial arts for developing kicks is?" Most of us were answering that question.

Just in case you can't READ.

[JKDChick]

Dan, I have to say, in my school most of the kick training is to develop athletisim. The kicks we get taught for 'use' are short, hard and fast. Muay Thai, some savate. The shin kick and the stomp.

(board breaks with a kick)
"Is that it? I feel like I should bow, or have honor or something."
-- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More, With Feeling"

[DanSevering]

A lot of JKD likes to isolate the range to upper-body trapping-distance, so they'd tend to use short-rage "infighting" kicks; however I think there are uses for other types as well if you vary the range more, which as been my experience in practical applications.

[JKDChick]

You should be able to flow in and out of all kicking ranges. But you're gonna use those "infighting" kicks more.

(board breaks with a kick)
"Is that it? I feel like I should bow, or have honor or something."
-- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More, With Feeling"

[Freddy]

I would still add some wing chun kicks to all of the above kicking styles. From my experince fighting on ice wing chun kicks does work okay. (It has its unique way of kicking.) Any type of swinging kicks or kicks above the waist will just make you land on your rear.

PEACE!

[noodles]

I trained briefly at a JKD school (quit because I changed jobs and cities) and we often practiced grabbing behind the head and throwing knees. I'm wondering:

1. Is this common in JKD?

2. Why hasn't anyone listed knees as effective here? Don't like them or don't think of them as kicks?

[gong sau]

noodles,

1. That's a Muay Thai move. A lot of JKD incorporates MT.

2. Knees aren't considered kicks, at least not in my book.

[noodles]

gong sau: yeah, I knew about the Thai connection, although I was a bit surprised that we never threw knees from the side as is common in the Muay Thai fights I've seen. I don't know why that is -- concerns about leaving the groin vulnerable, maybe? Like I said, though, I wasn't at that school for very long (unfortunately).

The classes I take now are in Japanese, and we refer to knee strikes as "hiza-geri", lit. knee-kick, so that's probably why I think of them that way. Just wondering what everyone else thought.

[Sheol]

noodles:

Grabbing someone's head and then kneeing them is a pretty natural thing to do. It's simply now "acceptable" because MT uses it in bouts. :) Regarding the way that a large number of JKD folks teach striking, there's a lot of concern about telegraphing. However, it leads them to a lot of linear striking. Just move naturally (a.k.a. relax) and you'll find that when you're striking, it's in an elliptical fashion. It's not telegraphic, blends well with footwork, and you'll strike with a lot more power.

[Omega Supreme]

I would say Muay Thai for power and TKD for accuracy and power of a different sort.

Most people look at TKD as this foo foo art with two guys who look like penguins on crack. Traditional TKD though does go into the power aspect of several kicks that a lot of proficient fighters have used effectively. I've always liked these two in combination. You stay conservative then you pull off a spinning kick and make them think about it.

Oh those fighters:
Genki Sudo
Chuck Lidell
Vitor Belfort
Heath Herring
Wanderli Silva
Caol Uno
Maurice Smith
Hayato Sakuri
Patrick Smith
Don Wilson
Benny Urquidez...

List goes on.

Go away I'm talking to myself