Are high-kicks really useful?

**Anna Kovacs** · Posted On: 9/19/2006 9:50pm

Yeh the mechanics of kicking high and kicking low are pretty differant, at least for MT.

**Hannibal** · Posted On: 9/19/2006 11:13pm

I think it all comes down to the individual.

If your someone who is flexible and can kick head high without warming up, then I suppose head kicks work.

For the rest of us, head kicks are a high risk option. So personally, I would try something else like the good ol' clinch and takedown.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 9/20/2006 11:55pm

Originally Posted by Kidspatula

Ronin who? I don't think Ronin is dead, Pat.

Gad, I hope you are correct

Originally Posted by Kidspatula

What vids?

Way back two pages ago in this thread (just check out the Masaki Sataki if you don't have the time (or dial up).

Originally Posted by patfromlogan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZwp6_s65LM&NR - the end of the vids...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FOLW...elated&search=

The first is a set up based on combos and getting the guy to drop his defense. The second is a real fast sneaky kick, looks like he's pretty close to the guy and just flips a roundhouse in quickly to end it.

And here's a blurry look at some Andy Hug fights. Hug was a Kyokushin master and K1 champ. Note the spinning back fist at 22 seconds in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHoTq...elated&search=

And here's a very short fight of Andy and Masaki Sataki:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiU5L...elated&search=

Originally Posted by Kidspatula

Ya know I hear this line of thinking a lot, but I don't think it quite works like that...

Originally Posted by AnnaTrocity

Yeh the mechanics of kicking high and kicking low are pretty differant, at least for MT.

True that the body mechanics and movements for the (somewhat) stepping across center line downward body behind it shin to the thigh mt roundhouse and a roundhouse to the head are rather different. What the kajukenbo people mean is more that when you practice you extend your range as much as you can and then strikes within that range come easier.

***JohnnyCache*** · Posted On: 9/21/2006 12:37am

Has anybody said "of course high kicks are useful - a single high kick can incapacitate someone completely" yet?

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 9/21/2006 9:29am

No.

I prefer being sarcastic when dealing with stupid questions.

**DojangRat** · Posted On: 10/22/2006 3:28pm

i know a TKD blackbelt who got into a fight and tried to throw a high kick, the leg was grabbed and the other guy just made of him, so then he tried to kick with the other leg and ended up falling over.

**BFGalbraith** · Posted On: 10/22/2006 3:48pm

Originally Posted by DojangRat

i know a TKD blackbelt who got into a fight and tried to throw a high kick, the leg was grabbed and the other guy just made of him, so then he tried to kick with the other leg and ended up falling over.

You bring up many interesting points here:

~Those high kicks in the video posted towards the beginning of this thread were not primariy TKD kicks. I did do a little TKD, and I've never KOed someone with a TKD type kick. Kickboxing kicks are a whole different story. Just because it is a "high kick" doesn't mean it has KO power behind it... in fact mostly it's a very specific type of high kick that usually has enough power to KO somone (a kick boxing round kick to the jaw, or maybe comming over the shoulder into the neck.) Check out the video an notice about 80% of those kicks are the same type of kick - and that they are not your typical TKD "round house" snappy-slappy kicks.

~If someone knows how to grapple, keeping your kicks low will not keep you on your feet. Your TKD friend was proabably on his way to the ground even without his TKD kicks. When I was kickboxing I could sprawl fairly well, and the most I've been able to stay on my feet with a grappler (state level competetor in high school wrestling who had never encountered a kickboxer before) comming after me was about 2 minutes. Some TKD guy (or other martial artist) who doesn't do any clinch training at all is headed for the ground at the beginning of a fight if a grappler wants to take it there, even if all he uses are punches. I am sure this fun fact has been covered numerous other places in bullshido: anti-grappling strategies are far from fool proof, and "avoiding high kicks" hardly counts as a comprehensive antigrappling strategy anyhow.

**Popcracklesnap** · Posted On: 10/22/2006 5:08pm

High kicks have been scoring KOs for a long time already.

***JohnnyCache*** · Posted On: 10/22/2006 5:47pm

Originally Posted by DojangRat

i know a TKD blackbelt who got into a fight and tried to throw a high kick, the leg was grabbed and the other guy just made of him, so then he tried to kick with the other leg and ended up falling over.

I know a TKD guy who got in a fight and kicked the guy once in the head and ended the fight.

This is what we call the fallacy of testimonial evidence. We're now both right.

High kicks are hard to land, but effective when they hit. If you reject them out of hand, you're rejecting a tool. Likewise, if you count on them when you shouldn't and discount how hard they are to hit with, you can be in some trouble.