Side Kick versus Thai Roundhouse Kick

Hey all, just wondering what you think on this question...
Is the side kick or roundhouse kick more effective, in an overall sense, when sparring/fighting? (for the sake of this thread, we'll say that the midsection is the target)

Now there are probably a few threads on this that I'm not aware of. If so, direct me, but if not, let's discuss this. Being a former practitioner of TKD (famed for its kicks) and a current student of Muay Thai, I've always been especially adept at roundhouse kicking, in both styles. My TKD side kick isn't too shabby either.

To me, I think the roundhouse kick causes more damage. Particularly due to the fact that the shin is what makes contact. It becomes more of a 'slicing' motion that the side kicks 'smashing' effect. Also, it seems to be easier to execute quickly than the side kick. To me, it flows into combos a lot easier and a superior gaurd can be maintained. Also, depending on how far you lean backwards with your sidekick, it is debatable that the roundhouse kick has a superior level of balance. However I am aware that the sidekick has strong points and the roundhouse kick has negatives (spinning out of control comes to mind...), but overall I'd say the roundhouse kick is superior. Then again, it may all depend on the situation, who you're fighting, what the floor surface is like, what you had for breakfast, what your favourite colour is, whether or not you take sugar with your tea... But let's all pretend for a moment that we're looking at the two kicks in a general sense. To speculate with scenarios is just boring.

Post away.

 

To many factors to answer that.

 

I think that a lot of people undertrain there sidekick and that is the reason it's not seen in tournaments as much as the roundhouse. I mean no doubt the roundhouse has loads of good points but I think that if you practiced the side kick for even a quarter of the time you practice the roundhouse it might have usefull applications as well.

 

Two different kicks - two different uses. Might as well say which is the better tool hammer or screwdriver.

It depends on what you want to do.

 

Okay, let's say you want to kick someone and hurt them. And you're at an angle to do both kicks.

I know it's all situational, but this is just for fun.

 

Still to many questions,

What clothes and footwear have I got on, How big is the other person, what angle are they on relative to me, what targets are exposed, how much do I want to hurt them, how much injury do I want to cause, how alert is the other person.

Why do I want to kic rather than punch etc etc etc

 

Argh! You're being too blurdy analytical >_<

You could be naked in the snow battling a midget in wooden shoes for all I care! I'm just asking which you think is superior. Oooookay?

Geeeeeez, you people

 

I agree, there's no need to make it that complicated.

The side kick is generally considered too slow and impractical for ring fighting, whereas the roundkick isn't. Therefore, most people would say that the round kick is significantly better. Some people do use side kicks in the ring, but not as much as they use round kicks.

Personally, I think the side kick is pretty powerful, but difficult to pull off. Also, it can be easy to turn it into a pushing motion that might not do a whole lot of damage, whereas the round kick always has a nice whack to it that will really hurt your opponent. So, I would say round kicks are safer, and can do more damage with less practice, but side kicks can be useful in some situations.

 

If I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose the round kick. No question. I too came from taekwondo. And I've got a fair amount of experience with both kicks. Here's my reasoning (based on my experience; as always your mileage may vary):

1) Harder to zone away from. It's an arcing kick. So to diffuse the force in it, you can either move away from the force of the kick or into it. Since it's arcing, that requires some lateral movement. The sidekick is linear, so to move away means moving straight backward. In my experience, people have a much harder time with lateral movement than they do moving straight backward. To me, that means there's less chance of the opponent doing what's necessary not to get hurt.

2) The hip movement in a round kick seems to lend itself more to the type of combinations I like. (Note I said combinations I like. That was specifically so people don't come back at me with a list of combinations off of the side kick. I know they exist. I spent 5 years doing them in taekwondo and still have a few that I use.) The hip motion off of a good jab/cross flows nicely into the round kicks (front or rear leg). The recoil after I've landed a round kick flows nicely into a hand followup. I don't feel that as much with the sidekick. The way the sidekick is recoiled, I feel like I'm giving too much of my back to the opponent. And I don't want chain punches in the kidney nor a 200-lb. grappler on my back. (Another note: That's particular to a certain style of sidekick. I know other styles throw sidekicks with less hip commitment, which will affect the validity of that point.)

3) Wider margin of error. If an opponent does have good lateral movement, and they sidestep my sidekick, then they've either got my back, dead bang, or they've got into my midsection and I'm not in a great position to do anything about it. If, on the other hand, someone moves in on my round kick, I could land with anything from the instep of my foot to the top of my shin and still do some appreciable hurt. If they step backward, I'll probably miss, but at least they're far away to give me some opportunity to recover.

There. That's my thoughts. I like the sidekick. I use the sidekick. But in terms of overall usefulness, I find more use in the round kick overall.


Stuart

 

If by effective you mean which one will cause the most damage, given your target i would go for the sidekick. Otherwise, what apOweyn and AZeitung said

 

As a Southern CMA guy I would say I prefer the roundhouse kick anyday. It keeps my root nice and safe, while delivering something painful to my opponent's thighs or midsection.

However you can see alot of CMA guys not doing a "side kick" per se, but rather a "stepping kick" with the foot turned out, meant to crush the knee.

 

screwdriver

 

Here in Hong Kong as of late the fight scene is getting better by leaps and bounds... in recent months we've had some spectacular shows... nakmuays (fighters) like of:

- Buakkaw Por Pramuk
- Jean Charles Skarbowsky
- Nathan 'Carnage' Corbett
- Mohamed Magamedov
- Orono Majestic
- Neungtrakan por Meung Ubon

(If you know your MT fighters you know that line up is killer!)

and a whole host of undercard fights. So you can say that Hong Kong is getting solid exposure to Muay Thai fights and fighters with wildly varrying styles. Into this mix we are getting many fighters coming down from China.... especially Fujian. These fighters often come with a very different training background than do many of the Thai nakmuays or the western nakmuays. Many of the fighters come from a San Shou rules background or a San Da background. This is a style where side kicks are common.

This means that we get to see more sidekicks thrown than you would see on the average fight card in Thailand. With fighters coming from Russian and from Korea we get to see kicks that most other Muay Thai fights don't get exposure to. Who can forget Magamedov's two part kick that is the bain of MT fighters?! From what I've seen in the last several promotions is that overall the sidekick is usually telegraphed all to hell. Therefore making it fairly easy to avoid to someone with enough ring experience.

However - we did recently have a Hong Kong fighter (KF-1 champ) who went up against one of the Fujian Champions. He was completely dismantled by sidekicks! I mean he got skewered. The Fujian fighter was smaller and lighter but he certainly didn't miss a chance to fire thundering sidekicks to the midsection of the this Hong Kong Muay Thai fighter. It was quite interesting... as this young kid from Fujian had his number coming and going. It was quite impressive to see.

So you're never gonna get a definitive answer to the question of which is better or 'superior' - there are too many variables. The sidekicks that worked on the local HK KF-1 champion wouldn't have a hope in hell of working on Nathan 'Carnage' Corbett or Buakkaw Por Pramuk...

Watch any of the big San Shou/Da rules promotions from up in Beijing... you can see the Chinese guys bouncing across the ring on one leg hoping to get off a side kick... in San Shou it works... but it's rare that it works with Nakmuays.

 

Personally I score often with the side kick against other point TKD sparrers. Simple, quick, pick up lead leg side kick right below the defenders elbow to land on their belt or just above.

For power, again I have to vote for side kick. I can break about twice as much with the side kick vs. the round.

All that said, I'm a TKD guy so my round kick is with the ball of the foot.

 

Nice dude. Were those kung fu folks fighting under San Da rules, or just straight up San Da kickboxers?

 

Often the fighters from China show up with little or no verifiable fight record. Sometimes it's due to the usual BS of the fight game... a case of keeping the odd's at the bookmakers all good.

Other times it's down to a breakdown in communications/language between promoters/managers etc.

I would seriously doubt they were anything other than San Da kickboxers though...
KF just doesn't wash very well in a combat sport environment even what you see in San Da rules kickboxing bear little resemblance to anything you see in the majority of KF.

 

ROTFLMAO!!!

 

Tell that to Buakaw. >_>

 

Come off it guys. The man just said that his sidekick was more powerful than his round kick. He even went so far as to detail that he wasn't using a muay thai style round kick. Give the man his due.

 

side kick hands down if you can do a front leg sidekick right you'll be able to hit the guy for some decent damage when hes coming in before he can even land anything

to all you who say the roundhouse is more powerfull: not even physics are on you're side. with the roundhouse even a MT roundhouse you're main power is coming from you're leg where'as when you do a sidekick you're whole bodys going into the kick you bring you're leg up and then shoot it out sure it's not that powerfull if you can't even pivot you're foot (and to those who say you could trip try working on it a little more I can and have pivoted in shoes multiple times with no problem) but when you do your able to balance and putpower from you're whole body into you're kick

also to those who say roundhouse is faster: WHAT?! how can you say that? a front leg sidekick is probably the fastest kick I have. not all sidekicks are with the back leg you know