# The Kicks or the Punches?



## exclusive (Aug 15, 2010)

Just a question to ask what you prefer in sparring ..I prefer kicks but i use my fair share of punches too :karate:


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## Tez3 (Aug 15, 2010)

I have no preference, when sparring I do whatever is needed to fight, kick, punch, takedown, choke, whatever.


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## MBuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I think that TSD is a more foot centric art in general.  Every school that Iv'e been in has emphasized the feet - it may be because of the cursory link to Tae Kyon...


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## Tez3 (Aug 16, 2010)

MBuzzy said:


> I think that TSD is a more foot centric art in general. Every school that Iv'e been in has emphasized the feet - it may be because of the cursory link to Tae Kyon...


 
Our TSD has always been more Shotokan orientated so kicks and punches equally focused on.


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## Hudson69 (Aug 16, 2010)

I will use whatever but kicking is a little easier for me timing wise.


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## exclusive (Aug 16, 2010)

MBuzzy said:


> I think that TSD is a more foot centric art in general.  Every school that Iv'e been in has emphasized the feet - it may be because of the cursory link to Tae Kyon...



Ours kicks are emphasized but hand techniques are worked too


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## Manny (Apr 20, 2011)

I favored the kicks because I do TKD and will stay in the mid-long range distance, however when I get close I use my fists.

Manny


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## seasoned (Apr 20, 2011)

Feet to close distance, then hands. Hands and feet work together.


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## puunui (Apr 21, 2011)

exclusive said:


> Just a question to ask what you prefer in sparring ..I prefer kicks but i use my fair share of punches too :karate:




Kicks, of course, as I would think or least hope most Korean Martial Arts practitioners would answer.


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## DMcHenry (Apr 23, 2011)

Kicks, but sure like to use my hands too. Hands can also help set up the kicks and vise versa.

I think students should be well ballanced, but since kicks are much harder to learn and get good at most classes I've been in focus on developing good kicking skills more than hand techniques.


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## puunui (Apr 23, 2011)

DMcHenry said:


> Kicks, but sure like to use my hands too. Hands can also help set up the kicks and vise versa.




I have students who are very active in MMA stuff, and so the strategy we have worked out is to kick long, out of punching range. Many, or I would say most strikers who use kicks and punches are most comfortable in what we would consider punching range, meaning their kicks are thrown at the same distance as their punches. We take people out of that comfort zone and kick long, outside of their punching distance, which pretty much takes away their kicks too. So we stay outside and kick, they get pounded because they have distancing issues, and they out of frustration or survival lunge in and then we go to grappling range. So we only have two ranges, kicking and grappling, no punching range because our theory is anyone can get lucky with a lucky punch and most are comfortable in punching range.


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## OldKarateGuy (May 14, 2011)

If you mean "point sparring", our organization tournament rules heavily favor kicks, athough the sparring rules are generally pretty unrealistic. This (favoring kicks, not necessarily unrealistic rules) would be expected from most of the Korean arts, I would think. It is not atypical to see at tournaments, even among black belts, two competitors who are close and well within punching range, instead trying to leverage some short range kick up to head high. Since the rules preclude grabbing a leg and sweeps, students can indulge in all sorts of kicks which would be extremely dangerous to try in a real fight. 

At our school, we clearly differentiate between point sparring and real self-defense fighting, and in fact, make them two separate classes. Point sparring classes include lots of spin kicks, high kicks and the like. Real world fighting class includes serious, heavy, usually low, kicks to the leg and groin. It also includes kicks against an opponent on the ground or with his/her back turned. 

I personally favor using hands over feet in terms of frequency, but I try to teach something more balanced.


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## kbarrett (Nov 26, 2011)

I like my hand techniques the best, which includes elbow strikes and spinning hand strikes, as for kicks, well I'm not a great kickers to begin, but there are a few kicks (which includes knees) I do like and I usually use my kicks to set up my hand strikes. 

Ken Barrett


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## Kaygee (Jun 3, 2012)

At my school, when we spar, we are constantly reminded that we have hands and that Tang Soo Do is not Tae Kwon Do!


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