No shadow kicks

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Dana Sheets
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No shadow kicks

Post by Dana Sheets »

Nothing like Chinese language euphamisms for making something simple sound mysterious.

The snap kick...seems like folks always want more power and and up shoving something that should be whipped. When you shove your balance goes forward - affording the opponent hte opportunity to steal your balance. Granted - you'll hit harder, but there's greater risk.

Whip crack snap - and your balance stays over your hips.

Watch Mary Boltz's tapes she called the groin kick technique "kin tekki geri" Which seems to translate as "groin sprinkles kick."
8O

Really groin wave snap kick...

I do the same for the side snap kick - but I've seen folks do more of a shove for that one too.

shove vs snap - two good tools but I think two very different tools.
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Sochin
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Post by Sochin »

The two kicks are so different and useful, I teach them as different kicks, the snap and the stamp, (called euphymisticly, a thrust kick).

We separate them by how the knee is used; they are quite different and have quite different uses.

The snap to lead with speed, the thrust to devour with power!
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RA Miller
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Post by RA Miller »

I separate snap, thrust and stamp.

Snap, the knee is essentially pointed at the target and the foot snaps up.

Thrust, the knee is raised slightly above the target (or above the line leading from the hip to the target) and the knee snaps down, the hip thrusts forward as the foot goes forward, meta tarsals in line with the tibia.

Stamp, weight is positioned over the target as the foot comes down, body weight focused through the heel.
Stryke

Post by Stryke »

My definitions the same as Rorys .
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

Good points.

Another important consideration when using these kicks in 'real time' is to visualize who and what the target is, and how the target is behaving.

Snap kicks_ yes and No.. as mostly in a fight the 'target' may not feel them as much as we think.

As Maloney points out_ we need time on target for stopping power most of the times.

If we watch Kanei Uechi Sensei's kick, as I have seen him do it in person at the Mattson academy back when he visited several times, we will understand those powerful mechanics.

Not necessarily duplicate them, as his front kick is like nothing I have ever seen since.

Another 'sledge hammer' kick I witnessed was by Shinjio sensei when he broke 5 boards with his sokusen in
Boston.

Bob Campbell's front kick, done with his controlled weight behind it and 'finely timed' _ would lift opponents off the floor.

He did just that in a 'street fight' that ended with one kick lifting and flying a punk backwards, this being witnessed by a police officer in Boston.

Another similar mechanics kick, is a choice weapon of Carlos Ciriza. His kick aims for your spine through your belly.

The power and knock down is astounding.
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MikeK
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Post by MikeK »

Stryke wrote:My definitions the same as Rorys .
Same. Must be some Shoto in him. :lol:
I was dreaming of the past...
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Sochin
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Post by Sochin »

"Stamp" is a highly specialized technical term for the technique of doing a thrust kick straight down into a rib or ankle, or spider etc. :)

Oh, and a snap kick lifted me off the floor and set back a foot or so when I was the demo uke for the instructor of a seminar I attended. We knew each other but had never trained together. I saw a change in his eyes just before he demo'd a (undefended) snap kick to my stomach, just enought time to know it was going to hit and to get ready. When I landed in balance and ready, he looked at me with an "ah, so" look and wandered off.
Valkenar
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Re: No shadow kicks

Post by Valkenar »

Dana Sheets wrote: I do the same for the side snap kick - but I've seen folks do more of a shove for that one too.
When it comes to the side kick, are you talking about a shove in terms of the path the foot takes (thrusting) or more the weight shift? A crucial difference, to me, is the way the knee works. In a front kick it hinges in the direction you're snapping, whereas in a side kick the hing points away from your target. Now obviously the knee does extend in the process of thrusting, but it doesn't have that same kind of hip-reinforced snappiness I associate with a front kick. But maybe you have some resolution to that.

My uechi-style side snap kicks have never been very good. At first I did a side snap kick basically by rotating the femur in the hip socket, but I didn't like the way it put stress across the joint rather than along it the way a front kick will. Now I pretty much only do the side kick as a thrust. I'd be interested to see/hear more about how you do make a sidekick snappier.
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Dana Sheets
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Post by Dana Sheets »

My understanding of the Uechi side snap kick is that the hips stay square to the front and under you, the knee points at the target and the blade edge of the foot whips out and back.

To find the motion you basically pick your foot up out of sanchin and hold your knee above your belt and leg your knee be the hinge. The foot should easily swing back and forth between your centerline (even all the way to your other leg) and then out to strike. I find that folks who rotate their hips up are looking for a thrusting power that just isn't in this kick as I know it.

An analogy of why I think lifting the hip is incorrect is that it would be like lifting up your shoulder to make your backfist stronger. For a proper backfist the shoulder stays down and you use the hinge of the elbow for the strike - with everything nice and relaxed. Same for the kick.

What is especially nice about this movement is that the return of the kick gives you an excellent reaping motion you can use to rip someone's leg out from under them. Since you body is still all nice and aligned (hips square and under and all that) it becomes an easy way to disrupt their balance.

The main secret to this kick working as a hing motion is your stretch. If you can't hold your leg out for a heel thrust kick at full extension then you'll probably have difficulty making this kick work as well.

Then to get the extra whipping snap once you've got everything relaxed and aligned you use the contraction of your supporting leg along with the compression of your upper body. A little signature Nakamatsu fajing. :)

This is a great kick for attacking the inside of the knee of the supporting leg of an advacing attacker, the inguinal crease, and the inside back of the knee. At a lower angle they are wonderful reaps at the ankle.

I like to think of it as the lower body version of the eye flick - a distracting setup technique that opens the door for the finish by either displacing their balance or disrupting their momentum.

So what most folks call a side kick (yoko geri) I think of as a side thrust kick. Sokuto Geri, to me = side, knife edge, lower area (knee level) kick. This isn't really a kick that works well for me higher up - but maybe that's just a weakness in my training.
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Dana Sheets
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Post by Dana Sheets »

On this page, while there are no pictures, the kick is referred to as a "knee joint kick"

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/org/karate/rightframe.html
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