Troubleshooting the Front Kick if you can't seem to balance correctly upon impact
Face off with the kick shield and kick it with a regular front kick. Most often you'll find if you're off the target you've got a tendency to spin and the target wobbles. You'll find the support leg experiencing a lot of torque-ing forces.
I've noticed that this happens especially for the Do-san back leg front kick because many people pull the knee up straight towards the target and then fire off the kick. This means that, if you draw a line from the back foot to the target, it comes up a little away from the supporting leg.
Troubleshooting this, you can raise the knee and apply inside tension using the inner thigh muscles - this draws the striking knee closer to the support leg. Any front kicking action then is applied from closer to the COG and centreline - in fact the whole body shifts closer to the support leg. This reduces spinning forces on the rebound, and allows you to strike with better hip power.
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2 comments:
I've done a front kick both ways.. When kicking with bringing the striking knee closer to the support leg, I found that the connection caused some discomfort in my hip. When kicking straight ahead, my hip was fine, but then I had the whole spinning/twisting problem.
My solution: Go inbetween.. send my knee a little closer to my support knee, but not all the way to center.
That's exactly right - and why I don't micro-manage 'angles' or distances in regard to 'the proper way of doing' stances. The tension bridging the legs using the inner thigh muscles can be done without the knee fully going towards the support leg. So long as there is a good balanced amount of tension - you will have a modicum of control over the trajectory of the front kick.
Colin
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