Why do you kick without retraction in Hapkido? I'm a novice martial artist so there's a load of stuff I wouldn't understand about, but 'Without Retraction' seems to me a seriously bad way to kick as an opponent can seize your kicking leg and start torturing you, or sweep away your other leg, etc. also if your kick is blocked, if you don't retract swiftly you're either going to fall or be swept around so that your back is turned on your opponent(I know from demonstrating with my sensei). shotokanwarrior
I always learned kicking with retraction. Granted, a slower retractions and more "time on target" can give you more "blow through" power but opens you up to being caught and etc. A quick retraction is safer for you and uses "whiplike" power. I use both, but retraction in my humple opinion is necessary. This is a question you could address to your master. Maybe you are doing slow retracation because yuou are just beginning... I don't know. There are some Hapkido people in the Hapkido forum with years of experience who could probably explain iot to you a bit better... or try to get a hold of Kwan Jang Nim.... a poster who has seen just about everything and can describe it pretty easily (can you tell I love his posts?) Also, check with some people like hapkiyoosool, jointlock and shadow warrior (among others).
thanks for that Thomas. I don't actually do Hapkido, i am a 'shotokan warrior' as the name implies. it was someone else who said Hapkido people kick without retraction, evidently they were talking bull. yours sincerely, shotokanwarrior Edit: Don't swear please
Yeah, they probably were shotokanwarrior, I train in Hapkido, and were taught to retract all our kicks, snapping fashion or going back to fighting stance. The only time we don't retract a kick is if were strength training our legs so we hold the kick for as long as possible
Kicking without retraction. Oh what controvertial thread this could become! The mechanics of Hap Ki Do kicking are as diverse as there are Kwans. Some do not even kick at all in technique application. Kick retraction mechanics today are often synonymous with so called "snap" kicking. In this case the knee is lifted and the leg is canted using the quad muscle, snapped from the knee to extension and then pulled back using the hamstring to the canted position (examples: front, side and round kicks). This method is seen in MANY styles including many Hap Ki Do schools which have adopted Tae Kwon Do as the source of their kicking techniques. Some schools are taught to "follow through" the contact point before pulling the leg back using the leg muscles, tendons and ligements themselves. This method can be seen in some schools in North America who teach both Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do. They claim that this "finish" differentiates the two types of kicking mechanics. This, despite the fact that they still cant and retract their kicks using their leg muscles. There are a quite a few new generation Hap Ki Do Masters and Grand Masters who subscribe to this way of thinking. The third method can be described in general as "release kicking". This is based on natural body motion and using the core of the body to kick. Similar, to the way soccer players kick. This is probably the source of "non retraction" kicking reports from people who are not familiar with the theories and mechanics of this way of kicking. A few elements of this method can be detected in a couple of Sin Moo (Jae Han Ji) Hap Ki Do and some higher level Hwarang Do (Joo Bang Lee) practitioners. Visual examples of this methodology can be seen in the movie 'Young Master', with Jackie Chan, as Master Hwang In-Shik kicks exclusively using this rare method. The source of this was the kicking folk art of Taekkon. Not the 'new" version (basically Tae Kwon Do), but the root version from Northern Korean in the mountains on China's border. It is rumoured that Master Mu-hyun Kim introduced this to certain Hap Ki Do students when he was one of the original Master Choi students. Using the hip flexers and lateral oblques along with weight transfer, a person can lift their leg and toss their foot like a rock attached to a chain. The leg muscles, tendons and ligaments are not employed in this mechanic. The foot is pulled to "release" on the chosen trajectory, extending to the limit of the elastic inherent in the human leg. Once it has reached its maximum extention, it naturally returns (no pullback using the leg itself), to a position (natural bend), from which another kick may be launched. A second source of return capabilities comes from the rebound. This concept is much like the way a ball bounces off of a wall. The ball is not pulled back to its source, it just bounces back. The demonstratable advantages of this method manefest themselves in free fighting with an increase in "knock down" power and inherent kicking deception. However, this method is more difficult to learn, particularly for individuals who have been exposed to "snap" kicking. An entire book can be written on this theory of kicking. It is more than likely the source of the reports of non retraction kicking. It would be more accurate to call it "release" or "dynamic" kicking, as it does not 'cant' in the common meaning or use "artificial snap" to return the leg. Hope this helps..
Ahhh, kicking technics. How does Hipkido handle kicking without full extension? Probing as it were with savate.
