It seems most TKD schools teach that the heel should be the striking area with back kick but my instructor says to strike with foot sword. This seems much more difficult to me but he says that to strike with the heel is a donkey kick. Does anyone agree with this and can you tell me the difference between the two please?
Difference between back kick & donkey kick?
- Thread starter Claire
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terrylamar
Blue Belt
If you kick with the blade of the foot you must turn your body past 180 degrees and seperate your knees. The is a spinning side kick.
If you turn 180 degrees, chamber, knees brush and you kick with the heel, that is a spinning back kick.
I don't know what a "donkey" kick is, I assume you turn 180, knees brush and you kick with your heel, you don't chamber. Your leg pretty much comes straight up.
I think most back kick will be somewhere between the back kick and the donkey kick. Instead of getting a true chamber before kicking you will be moving your kicking leg back while bending it and the straightening it while impacting the target.
My thought anyway.
Many instructors will teach that the proper tool for back kick is the heel, and then modify the heel to the footsword as the student improves in ability and understanding. The footsword near the heel is the proper tool for a back kick - but there are people who were taught heel for various reasons (translation errors, miscomprehension, poor explanations, etc.) who then passed on heel to their own students.
While many people teach side kick as a forward turn (keeping the eyes on the target), and back kick as a rearward turn (turning the back to the target before reacquiring the target after the head turns), that is a simplification for junior students who are just learning the two kicks. In a back kick, the hips are square to the target; in a side kick, the hips are turned slightly toward the target; both kicks use the footsword as the tool.
I will qualify this, however, by saying that other styles teach side kick differently than we do, with the kicking foot being parallel to the floor; we teach it with the kicking foot perpendicular to the floor (heel pointing to the ceiling, toes pointing at the floor); later we teach side kick with the foot parallel to the floor as a variation on the basic perpendicular foot position. For people who teach the foot parallel position as the primary form of the kick, terrylamar's description is correct.
This is, of course, one of the basic problems with such questions: different styles, different organizations, even different schools may have a different interpretation of even basic techniques, so that multiple explanations can be equally true.
While many people teach side kick as a forward turn (keeping the eyes on the target), and back kick as a rearward turn (turning the back to the target before reacquiring the target after the head turns), that is a simplification for junior students who are just learning the two kicks. In a back kick, the hips are square to the target; in a side kick, the hips are turned slightly toward the target; both kicks use the footsword as the tool.
I will qualify this, however, by saying that other styles teach side kick differently than we do, with the kicking foot being parallel to the floor; we teach it with the kicking foot perpendicular to the floor (heel pointing to the ceiling, toes pointing at the floor); later we teach side kick with the foot parallel to the floor as a variation on the basic perpendicular foot position. For people who teach the foot parallel position as the primary form of the kick, terrylamar's description is correct.
This is, of course, one of the basic problems with such questions: different styles, different organizations, even different schools may have a different interpretation of even basic techniques, so that multiple explanations can be equally true.
I posted this on your other thread relating to back kick:
Back kick 1 is actually a 'Back Piercing Kick' and this uses the heel end of the foot sword. Similar in end product to a side kick and often called a spinning side kick in some systems. Terminlogy is Dwit cha Jirugi
Back Kick 2 is a proper back kick & thrusts straight back with no spin, an uses the heel (bottom part).
There is also a back snap kick which comes straight up behind (think donkey) and this uses back heel (Dwitchook)
-- The Donkey Kick you refer to is a Back snap Kick
Stuart
- Thread Starter
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StuartA,
Thanks for your help with my confusion between back kick and similar ones and the striking areas. Yes you had answered in my other post but at the time I didn't fully understand but do now. Thank-you!
Thanks for your help with my confusion between back kick and similar ones and the striking areas. Yes you had answered in my other post but at the time I didn't fully understand but do now. Thank-you!
