I've been thai boxing for a few weeks now my and when i do a round house kick with my front foot i can't get near the power i get with my right leg. and i'm not sure sould i swich so that my stance has my front foot becomes the rear foot when kicking with my front foot? or bring the my front foot right up when kicking a round house kick?
Here is how I teach the lead leg "switch kick" Imagine your stance is straddling a line - West to East (you're facing North) 1. Bring the lead (left) foot back to the W-E line 2. Move the rear (right) foot forward to the W-E line (both feet are now pointing in the direction of the kick i.e. NE) 3. Kick I like this quick skip as it creates a little distance towards the target too.
Naturally your lead leg kick is not as powerful as your rear leg kick. Thats physics. The switch kick is a good way to compensate, but it still will not give you the same amount of power you'll get in a rear-legged kick. Switch kicks are great, I *love* using them, but you HAVE to set it up correctly or you're going to get tooled. A switch kick is a telegraphed kick. You need to mask what you're doing to pull it off. Throw a Jab at the bridge of your opponents eyes as you're performing the switch, so as to draw his eyes towards your hand and force him to deall with that while setting up your kick. Do NOT get into the habit of switching stances to throw a more powerful kick from the other side. An opponent will pick up on this IMMEDIATELY and will then know where your kicks are going to be coming from, which will defeat the purpose of you kicking from that side. My personal recommendation would be for you to explore the use of this "weaker" kick. Who cares if its not as powerful as your rear legged kick? Its much faster! Start experimenting with it to see how you can make use of this speedier kick. And don't let the supposed lack of power fool you. A lead legged kick can be plenty powerful. I have dropped opponents with a well-placed lead roundhouse kick. You simply need to figure out how to use the lead leg properly. Khun Kao
Aha, im nowhere near experienced as some of the thaiboxers on this forum, but i find the lead leg roundhouse very effective as a sort of "detterent". It also takes peoples concentration away from your back leg. A few swift front legged roundhouses are quick, and they hurt. This leaves the opportunity to follow through with your rear leg, and use your rear leg in combinations, or when your are better positioned. Front legs are also good for kicking to the back of the legs if you can poition yourself. just my opinion, feel free to correct me
