MA training without kicking is easy

[Kung Fu Wang]

If I do 200 kicks, next morning I'll feel tired. But if I only do 1000 punches, next morning I don't feel tired at all. It seems to me that the amount of energy that you may spend on kicking can be 3 times or even 5 times more that you do on punching. When you are young, you may not notice the difference. One day when you get old, you will feel big difference.

Also, only when you kick, you can realize your flexibility and balance. You don't need any stretching for punching. But you do need stretching for kicking. You don't need single leg balance for punching. You do need single leg balance for kicking.

Do you share the same experience? What's your opinion on this?

 

[Hot Lunch]

Yes. This is why "leg day" the gym is often feared - and skipped - by many who are on a workout routine.

Is our ability to kick coincidental, or is kicking specifically one of the tasks our legs evolved to perform?

I think it's the former. That could be why it's a real workout to use your legs for anything other than locomotion.

Our arms and hands, however, were designed for versatility. Which is probably why we can do so many different things with them and not be exhausted.

 

[windwalker099]

Do you share the same experience? What's your opinion on this?

Not really...found it
depended on the style, and method used to train it...

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Not really...found it
depended on the style, and method used to train it...

But all MA systems have kicking.

 

[drop bear]

Yeah. It is a trick you do while fighting if you are tired. You kick less

 

[windwalker099]

Also, only when you kick, you can realize your flexibility and balance. You don't need any stretching for punching. But you do need stretching for kicking. You don't need single leg balance for punching. You do need single leg balance for kicking.

Do you share the same experience? What's your opinion on this?

But all MA systems have kicking.

It depends on the system, style or method.

for example

In Ben Lo's classes...
37 step taiji

everything was done on one leg,,, his training method quite severe.

Prof. Zheng taught students in China differently from the way he taught students in the United States. When he taught me, he was very strict, especially when he was younger.

My legs would be so sore that, when I went to bed at night, I had to use my hands to lift my legs onto the bed. He was kinder with American students. He got softer as he grew older. The Professor also said in the Thirteen Treatises that practicing taiji made him softer.

In Ben's classes,,,sometimes it would be hard to drive home at night, the legs would be shot from the training,, unable to push the brake or gas in the car....

 

[Bill Mattocks]

If I do 200 kicks, next morning I'll feel tired. But if I only do 1000 punches, next morning I don't feel tired at all. It seems to me that the amount of energy that you may spend on kicking can be 3 times or even 5 times more that you do on punching. When you are young, you may not notice the difference. One day when you get old, you will feel big difference.

Also, only when you kick, you can realize your flexibility and balance. You don't need any stretching for punching. But you do need stretching for kicking. You don't need single leg balance for punching. You do need single leg balance for kicking.

Do you share the same experience? What's your opinion on this?

My style doesn't do high kicks in general. Nothing above the waist. Nevertheless, I now find it difficult to do many kicks, mostly due to balance issues. Age takes its toll.

I would not consider kicking in a self-defense situation. I mean, maybe, if the opportunity presented itself, but it's hard to imagine it.

 

[Hot Lunch]

I would not consider kicking in a self-defense situation. I mean, maybe, if the opportunity presented itself, but it's hard to imagine it.

I could. You're going to learn early on in the fight whether or not you can go toe-to-toe with a particular individual strictly using your hands. If I can, sure, I'll stick with the hands. Otherwise, it's time to kick or grapple.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

I've only ever thrown straight kicks when I've had to fight (A long time ago...), partially because that was the only kick I knew, but I still wouldn't trust my roundhouse enough to throw it in anger, although I'm told it would be fine.

 

[windwalker099]

I could. You're going to learn early on in the fight whether or not you can go toe-to-toe with a particular individual strictly using your hands. If I can, sure, I'll stick with the hands. Otherwise, it's time to kick or grapple.

A kick has to have :

stopping power as in Thai kicks,,,
or whipping power as in TKD

Each effective within a given range and context...

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I think this depends largely on what type of kick you're throwing, and what you're comfortable with/good at.

If I'm mixing spinning kicks into my training, and going full speed, yeah those will tire me out more quickly. If I'm throwing teeps or low roundhouse kicks, that's probably tiring me out at the same range as continuous hook punches would.

If I'm doing kali footwork and strikes, I can do those all day long.

If I add in sprawling randomly during mitt work, that gets me quick. Because I'm not good at it, and my body isn't adapted to using those specific muscles.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

If I'm doing kali footwork and strikes, I can do those all day long.

Kali footwork is AWESOME.

 

[O'Malley]

Yes. This is why "leg day" the gym is often feared - and skipped - by many who are on a workout routine.

Is our ability to kick coincidental, or is kicking specifically one of the tasks our legs evolved to perform?

I think it's the former. That could be why it's a real workout to use your legs for anything other than locomotion.

Our arms and hands, however, were designed for versatility. Which is probably why we can do so many different things with them and not be exhausted.

Could also be because legs are heavier than arms and you actually have to lift them up to kick.

 

[isshinryuronin]

My style doesn't do high kicks in general. Nothing above the waist. ... Age takes its toll.

Unless one is a very accomplished kicker with quick feet, high kicks leave your groin open and give the opponent the opportunity to move in and catch you one-legged. I have experienced both these results - one very painful, the other very embarrassing. One can risk this in sport but it's dangerous in real combat. I believe this is why pre-sport Okinawan karate usually has a low kick doctrine.

If you can manage one decent high kick from a safe distance, just showing it once will make the opponent consider you may do it again, forcing him to stretch his defensive posture a bit more. You can also fake a high kick to set up a low attack.

I would not consider kicking in a self-defense situation. I mean, maybe, if the opportunity presented itself

I see no downside to low kicks. It's a shame to let 2 potential weapons lie dormant. Various kicks to the legs, especially knees, are very effective in conjunction with hand attacks. And I think many opportunities exist against untrained fighters or others with weak/extended stances.

Just think how fun karate would be if we had six limbs. It would be like three-dimensional chess.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I see no downside to low kicks. It's a shame to let 2 potential weapons lie dormant. Various kicks to the legs, especially knees, are very effective in conjunction with hand attacks. And I think many opportunities exist against untrained fighters or others with weak/extended stances.

I just don't think of kicks, which is my own fault, but I recognize it. I've always been an inside fighter and a counter puncher, hard to change now. I've seen cops who use sweeps to just run up and take a suspect down in one second, which is amazing. I've never been able to manage it. About the only thing I could imagine myself doing is a knee strike in a clinch or perhaps a kick using the recoil to trip/throw against the back of the attacker's legs. I just don't keep kicking foremost in my mind.

 

[drop bear]

My style doesn't do high kicks in general. Nothing above the waist. Nevertheless, I now find it difficult to do many kicks, mostly due to balance issues. Age takes its toll.

I would not consider kicking in a self-defense situation. I mean, maybe, if the opportunity presented itself, but it's hard to imagine it.

If you were good at it. I think it would be phenomenal because very few street fighters are going to have the tools to defend it.

In a grappling scenario you can kind of take or risk a kick to the body or leg, wrap it up and start to engage a positional battle.

Less likely to try that with a head kick.

Sort of kind of lower risk. Provided you are not stretching yourself in half to do it. (Which is my problem. I don't spend enough time on it. And so it is such a production to do it. That the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Sort of kind of lower risk. Provided you are not stretching yourself in half to do it. (Which is my problem. I don't spend enough time on it. And so it is such a production to do it. That the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Stretching is lifelong process. If one starts when he is young, he doesn't want to lose it when he gets old.

I like to use chest level kick for defense (leg is longer than the arm). I use knee kick and foot sweep to attack.

I like foot sweep the most. Even if I may not sweep my opponent down, as long as I can put him in defense mode (not thinking about to attack me), it will be to my advantage.

 

[Hot Lunch]

If you were good at it. I think it would be phenomenal because very few street fighters are going to have the tools to defend it.

If you can land it. Your foot eye coordination will never be as good as your hand eye coordination, and this becomes even more true when you kick high.

Even if you land that kick, you still have to be able to recover and get that foot back on the ground without losing your balance and falling over.

It's a risk all the way around.

 

[Xue Sheng]

If I do 200 kicks, next morning I'll feel tired. But if I only do 1000 punches, next morning I don't feel tired at all. It seems to me that the amount of energy that you may spend on kicking can be 3 times or even 5 times more that you do on punching. When you are young, you may not notice the difference. One day when you get old, you will feel big difference.

Also, only when you kick, you can realize your flexibility and balance. You don't need any stretching for punching. But you do need stretching for kicking. You don't need single leg balance for punching. You do need single leg balance for kicking.

Do you share the same experience? What's your opinion on this?

Well, sometimes you might

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Well, sometimes you might

If anybody can stand in the golden-rooster stance with the lifting knee this close to his chest, he should give himself a 100 score.

If your knee can point upward (instead of pointing forward), you can kick high. People can try it. It's not easy.