Advice on Kicks

I don't know about you, but the kicks in Shotokan karate have been far from easy for me to get right. Even now, they are one of my weaker areas. This could be because I'm just naturally like that or lack of practice in my earlier days of training, or a combination of both. One of the things which has happened recently is that certain techniques which I've known for a while and had trouble with executing accurately have begun to fall in to place.

 My Sensei often reminds me to have less physical tension in my body when doing karate; I think now I'm more relaxed than I was as a brown belt, (now that my 1st dan grading is out of the way) which could explain why certain techniques have fallen in to place- it's made a difference and now I realise how much unneccasarry tension I previously had along with how negative an impact it was various techneques!

 Here, I've listed some of my worst kicks and useful things I've picked up about how to execute them correctly as readers might find it useful. If you do try the kicks with my advice in mind, it's worth stretching first and not pushing your body too hard to start with to avoid injury.

1.  Yoko Geri Keage

This is a kick which has only become more easy for me recently. It looks like it should be easy, although  the angle of the hips is just downright awkward, which impacts on the rest of the kick if it's done incorrectly.

. The angle of the hips when executing Keage is similar to that of Mawashi-geri; one has to turn the hip (nearest the kicking leg) over( this was something of a revelation to me!). The images below are my attempt to get across this similarity.

Keage

Mawashi-Geri

.It's the outside edge of the foot that's the striking area for this kick,so it should face down when the knee is first picked up with the sole of the foot facing the inside of the supporting leg, then it's in the right position for when the leg is fully extended.

2. Ushiro Geri

This is definitely a tough kick to get right, and I know it's not just me; I've seen many other brown belts struggle with it. I'ts all very well doing it from a standstill, but the difficulty kicks in whhen one has to do it from Zenkutsu-Dachi. My previous post, 'complex mistakes' talks about this in more detail

.

. When the leg is fully extended and about to  be drawn back before returning to Zenkutsu-dachi, look over the shoulder out of the corner of the eye nearest the kicking leg, (left leg-left eye, right leg-right eye). It means that it's easier not to turn the body too early, which normally happens if you turn the whole of your head fot this part of the kick. The kick is finished properly and it dosen't become a sort of 'ushiro-geri-kekomi'.

.Break it down in to several parts so it's more manageable. Different things work for different people, but pesonally, I favour:

1.Turn to face the back from Zenkutsu-dachi
2.Lift the kicking leg, not fully extended yet,but with the knee bent and the heel tucked in.
3. Fully extend the leg,the body shouldn't be turned at this point.
4.Draw the leg back in and turn the body forward.
5. Return to Zenkutsu-dachi.





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