Defending the inside leg kick.

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 2:21pm

It sounds like you are throwing your counter kick with the same leg that was your opponents target. If so, that isn't exactly what I meant.

Imagine two orthodox fighters. Your opponent kicks at the inside of your front leg. You shuffle back but move the front leg more than the back. This will narrow your stance momentarily and allow the kick to go right by. As soon as his kick goes by step forward at an angle with your front leg and throw a back leg round kick to the back of his front leg or ideally back of both legs depending on how far back you shuffled.

**Sang** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 2:35pm

Or a boxing combo, doesn't really matter what you throw as long as you are quick enough to take advantage of that second window before they recover from the missed kick.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 2:41pm

Originally Posted by Dargentus

Drilled a couple of the suggestions there for about an hour after weights. I kinda felt that a quick shimmy back with the leg and then a cut kick off the same leg felt the most natural after only a short while and I felt a lot of my favourite combinations 'flowed' better from it...Ill work on it and try it in sparring come the weekend.

Omega what like swivel my hips so my inner thigh doesn't face the kick? talking out of my ass now but I'm thinking that could work if he's fast or close in...

Cheers guys you've given me something to study at least. I've just always felt thats a bit of a hole in my defense. Taking shots is fine but it should never be the first option....

Ta.

You've got the right idea; I use this when I want to wade into the attack.

**Dargentus** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 2:46pm

Ya thats exactly what I was doing...and now that I think of it i was getting my partner's front thigh rather than his back legs. Doh. But I'll give that other one a good drilling tomorrow and I'll see what I'll make of it.

Sang;Ya I was tending to respond with hands more they just felt a bit faster.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 5:58pm

keep in mind that Omega in an indestructible tank and some kicks to the top of the thigh have probably never slowed him down. Mere mortals like you and I might want to stick with things where we don't take kicks on the muscle.

My top 3:

standard inside shin block with lead leg. Seriously, this is the easiest and there's really no issue with doing it as long as you're not picking your foot way off the ground.

pulling your lead foot up and back, rocking back slightly, and catching the kick on the point of your knee. This is easy, less painful than shin/shin (though honestly shin/shin doesn't hurt too bad if you're doing it right), and since it's not a straight on block allows you to continue your forward motion.

stepping your leg back and out of the way. It can work fine if they're kinda slow, and you avoid damage completely and can return with kick or flying knee.

I'm really just not a fan of taking kicks on any kind of muscle because even a couple nice shots to the quads are going to significantly impact your mobility.

**ArtOfDefense** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 7:03pm

Originally Posted by WhiteShark

It sounds like you are throwing your counter kick with the same leg that was your opponents target. If so, that isn't exactly what I meant.

Imagine two orthodox fighters. Your opponent kicks at the inside of your front leg. You shuffle back but move the front leg more than the back. This will narrow your stance momentarily and allow the kick to go right by. As soon as his kick goes by step forward at an angle with your front leg and throw a back leg round kick to the back of his front leg or ideally back of both legs depending on how far back you shuffled.

My counter is similar to this, except:

Do a quick backstep with the lead leg, and use your rear hand to scoop up and lift the calf of the leg coming at you. Hold for half a second, then punt the fucker when he tries to pull it down.

**Khun Kao** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 7:27pm

I personally just check the kick with my lead knee most times. If they're using that to start a combo, I just transition from the knee block right into a lead leg push kick.

Or I just step back with the lead leg, almost switching stances. I just bring the foot back, but I don't do any weight transfer or change the positions of my hips/shoulders. Then I immediately fire a roundhouse kick with the leg I had just stepped back with.

Stepping down into a Cross after the knee block works pretty well, too...

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 8:53pm

Originally Posted by ArtOfDefense

My counter is similar to this, except:

Do a quick backstep with the lead leg, and use your rear hand to scoop up and lift the calf of the leg coming at you. Hold for half a second, then punt the fucker when he tries to pull it down.

Reaching that far down can be really dangerous. I try to not catch anything below my belly button. Otherwise you have to break cover for too long.

**dwkfym** · Posted On: 6/30/2010 10:10pm

I personally really like the thigh block and that was the first leg kick defense I was taught. I have huge legs but short arms so usually thats the only way I can follow up immediately with my punch.

This is nice, a lot of very high level posters on this thread and I am humbled that I even opened my mouth. lol

**Bugeisha** · Posted On: 7/01/2010 6:19am

Originally Posted by WhiteShark

It sounds like you are throwing your counter kick with the same leg that was your opponents target. If so, that isn't exactly what I meant.

Imagine two orthodox fighters. Your opponent kicks at the inside of your front leg. You shuffle back but move the front leg more than the back. This will narrow your stance momentarily and allow the kick to go right by. As soon as his kick goes by step forward at an angle with your front leg and throw a back leg round kick to the back of his front leg or ideally back of both legs depending on how far back you shuffled.

This.