Yeah I was considering using it as a kick to try and drive the wind out of the guy as he's coming in if I catch him right, there's no restrictions on contact so we can kick as hard as we like.
You see a lot of 'strategic' kicking in MMA, lots of leg kicks to slow the opponent down, and body kicks to drive the wind out of them, perhaps you could employ those kinda tactics =)
Sadly we can't leg kick, only kicks above the waist, but I'll definitely look at more attacking body kicks to stop/slow their momentum.
Yeah I took a full force spinning back kick to my solar plexus at the end of last year while sparring in class and it definitely messed up my breathing.
If you look at the second half of the video I posted it shows my preferred method of front kicking (although I tend to use the ball). I dislike "snap" kicks because they don't get a lot of weight behind them and they're pretty rough on your knees.
I don't think I could get kicked in the boxing gloves for very long before looking for some Thai pads.
Agreed, I saw it and thought "what the guy can't hold pads instead?" Sifu Ben - I tend to use the ball of my foot too and yeah that does look like a better way to do them, is the guy in that video French?
Yeah, it's a Savate instructional. I always recommend that people looking to functionalise their TKD look at Savate because the types of techniques used make it conceptually like a full contact ITF TKD, but obviously the end results look very different. They probably don't have Thai pads, they probably practice impact work on bags and this is just to demonstrate practical usage.
I doubt you'll be able to employ front kick very often as you'll be fighting in a side on stance to minimise targets for your opponent. Turn square on and you'l get hit a lot. The lead leg side kick in WTF is a relatively rare beast, though becoming increasingly common I believe. It can work nicely as a stop hit to hip/ribs, but beyond that you need to start thinking about it as an offensive/set up technique. Think of it as a jab, something to pressure the opponent and/or set them up for something else. I know it won't be directly relevant, but to understand it better look at some good ITF footage that employs it. This example shows it at the start of the bout particularly. See how the front leg comes up without the back leg stepping first? The leg and knee are waist high or higher and the leg is repeatedly jabbed as the sparrer moves forward? These are the very basics you need to work on. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLNROu2Nrb8"]Taekwondo World Championships 2010 Warren Vice fighting in the final round 1 - YouTube[/ame] This has no application outside this specialised style of sparring, but spend any time under that sort of ruleset and you'll see the relevance. Hope that helps, I know WTF will be somewhat different, but this is a techniques where there is increasing cross over. Mitch
I've never understood this. Surely in an art where the main weapon is the turning kick the side on stance MAXIMISES the target area.
Only ribs and front of torso are valid targets. Assuming both sparrers stand left leg forwards (closed stance), side on removes most target areas. Back leg turning kick is the standard kick, but would strike to the back of the opponent and so wouldn't score. Place the sparrers more square on and the ribs are a target on one side, plus the front of the torso is now opened up for pesky front kicks, lead leg side kicks etc. Because ITF is semi contact and WTF wears a hogu, sparring is not about inflicting serious damage per se, it's about scoring points. This is not to say that you can't win by knocking your opponent out in WTF, or that an ITF guy can't crease you up with any of his kicks, just that it isn't the primary goal of tournament sparring. Just my thoughts Mitch
I see what you mean about kind of jabbing out the front leg as I move, Mitch, I'll try that more in class to see how I go, one dude did that to me last year but he wasn't kicking he just raised his leg and was hopping towards me then he'd put it down and kick me with his back leg, judging by how often he did it I'd say it was habit for him. I still have to work on being more side on, unlike my last fight, but I'm a southpaw and so far I haven't come up against another one so more often than not we're in open stance, I can fight with either leg forward if it ends up that way but if I force myself to go to orthodox stance it feels weird and I get all mixed up with attacks. I know that knocking your opponent out isn't the main goal of sparring (although it can end a match fast if you have more than one) but sometimes it seems to become the main goal, one of our 1st dans was in a tournament a few years back when he was a red belt and he beat his first opponent and afterwards the guy was sitting with his club mates and the mate was telling him "that guy just got lucky today, any other day there's no way he would've beaten you" etc, without realising our guy was sitting behind him and he had to fight him next, when they got onto the mat our guy won within 30 seconds of the first round by KO, he didn't say it but I think he did it to prove a point.
KO is always an option If you are going to lead leg jab like this you must kick as you move (unless you're really good) or the opponent will just jam you up. You need to keep each kick waist level or above and show them the sole of your foot so they have to circle to avoid it and can't come over the top. Then you drop the front, roll the hips over and hit them with the back leg turning kick As a SP I'd say stick with it and learn to deal with open stance, don't compromise your natural movement unless you have to. To be clear though Vitty, I've no experience of WTF (beyond my Instructor being a former Olympic competitor who changed codes) and am no great shakes at ITF-style sparring either, so listen to your instructor and folks like Liero here on MAP who are more experienced in that world than me. Mitch
Even though you might not have any experience with WTF style sparring I still find some of your advice helpful, as well as others who have more experience like liero etc that have posted here and on the video of my last match. At the moment my instructor is getting me to work on perfecting my spinning hook kick and axe kicks and in class I like to try and spar against the black belts to try and get better in my sparring, when I started they wiped the floor with me pretty easily but now after a year I'm more able to hold my own in most situations, although so far I've been dropped by a spinning roundhouse that got between my ribs and drove the air right out of me, a spinning back kick that put my on my face lol, and I nearly got KO'd by a spinning hook kick that I didn't see coming until the last second, but hey, no pain no gain. I find being a lefty can help at times as some people aren't used to it and it takes them a little bit to get used to kicks coming from the right instead of the left.
Agreed, only way to do it is to go against guys that I know could belt me and just hope I come out okay.
I remember one of those from the days when we didn't wear headguards. SMACK! You OK Mitch? Yeah I'm fine. *crumple* Mitch
Haha been there, we were doing spinning roundhouse drills and it was like SMACK, when I hadn't tensed him: You okay man? me: Yeah I'm good.. *takes 3 steps back and goes down on my haunches*
