Yeh the mechanics of kicking high and kicking low are pretty differant, at least for MT.
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.
Gad, I hope you are correct
Way back two pages ago in this thread (just check out the Masaki Sataki if you don’t have the time (or dial up).
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.
Has anybody said “of course high kicks are useful - a single high kick can incapacitate someone completely” yet?
No.
I prefer being sarcastic when dealing with stupid questions.
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.
avoiding high kicks != antigrappling
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.
High kicks have been scoring KOs for a long time already.
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.
if u aint got no talent an skill…u shouldnt risk doin a high kick any damn way. especially in a street fight
Kicking at any target is going to make you easy to knock over, not just kicking at the head. You’re still standing on one foot even when you’re kicking the leg.
I think you can make a pretty good case that a high-kick makes you easier to knock over than a kick aimed at the waist or legs, since the leg goes higher and stays up longer. This just means that high kicks need a bit more set-up or timing.
I only ever see people getting knocked over when they do a kick where they’re foot gets caught on the person’s shoulder, like axe kicks or when people don’t bother to bring their leg back after the kick.
Agreed, when the fighter throwing the high kick knows how to throw it (at what range and with what set-up) they almost never seem to get knocked over (Ken Shamrock, you go away now). Grappling doesn’t automatically negate high kicks. Need I direct the sceptical to Cro Cop, Lidell, and lots of other MMA fighters who simply do not get taken down as a result of high kicks.
They are also train in grappling, have excellent takedown-defense skills and are the some of the best proffessional fighters in the world today. Which is why they often make high kicks work.
actually, they make high kicks work because they’re really good kickboxers.
My point was these guys make high kicks work because they are the best fighters alive on the planet. Plus they are trained in all ranges of grappling including groundfighting. WHich means that even if they get taken down, they know how defend and fight on the ground. It’s not a problem for them.
For most of us, high kicks would not be the best thing. Right now I’m at work in an office wearing a suite and dress shoes. If I was to be attacked right now by the asshole who broke the copier, head kicks are the last thing I would be using.
I guess you’re not very good at head kicks.
Better than you at them I can tell you.
Videotape yourself high kicking a bag or during sparring.