Hey! Nice to see you, my friend. Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts. Today a
simple exercise to help you nail down the difference between a round kick and
a side kick. I bring this up because when I work with new students and sometimes
older ones they get excited, they throw their foot, I say hey was that a round
kick or a side kick?And they don't know or they confuse one with the other. Now
in a real life self-defense situation, do I care what you call your kick? Of course
not. I just want you to get home safely. But when you're training, you have the
time to slow down, make a specific choice, and coordinate your body so that if you
want to do a round kick, it's a round kick and if you want to throw a side
kick, it's a side kick. Hold it-- before we get , already know you're going
to see someone in the comments say, hey that's not a round kick! Hey that's not a
side kick! I get it. There are many ways that you can throw a round kick-- I've
already done a video on that. And what I call a side kick, someone else might call
a back kick or loopy loopy do kick. It's all good. For now, can we just agree that
a round kick is going to be something that has a circular path to it that
comes around the body and that a side kick is something that's going to come
out on a straighter line to the target? If we can agree on that, then shall we
proceed, my friend, posthaste, to the exercise du
jour.
Okay, here we go. First, find a wall. If you've seen some of
my other videos you know we've already used the wall to help us line up our
punches we've also used the wall to help us straighten out our jabs so now let's
ask the wall to help our round kick and our side kick we'll do this in four
stages stage number one the round kick I'd like you to back up to the wall I
don't want you to lean on it but see if you can just brush the wall with your
left shoulder I'm also gonna put my left foot right next to the wall now no big
deal pick up that chamber and touch the wall
if you'd like to use your instep if that's your thing well then do that if
you'd like to flex your foot and think more about the ball of the foot that's
fine too the problem that we're trying to solve is we don't want our foot to
come out too late if you get really exciting you pivot too far and then you
try to stick out your foot well then your round kick ends up off the line of
the target so the wall is really great and making sure that your chamber
whether you lead with the knee first or you lead with the hip and make sure that
that foot comes up early in enough time to make that kick so just play with this
and again you don't have to start super high just do what you want
brush your stance whatever that stance is for you and then just put on a round
kick great and put her round kick great so far so good
Stage two the side kick this time instead of brushing up against the wall
with your left shoulder I'd like you to brush up with your back even better
brush up with the back of your right shoulder so that already put you in a
nice pivoted position now from here same thing just pick up your chamber and
stick out your kick if you'd like to make this a nice pair since we were
tapping the wall with the front of our foot last time same thing here pick up
your chamber and just tap it with your heel almost like a little bit of a hook
kick there no problem now what's the problem that we're fixing this time this
time I'm trying to make sure my foot comes out later in the pivot the mistake
with the side kick would be that you get excited
you starts to get your foot too early and it comes up from this side of your
body from your butt towards your belly now it's becoming like a flicky round
kick so what you're trying to do is make sure that your chamber is already in
place and your foot is either in line at the earliest with your hip or across a
little bit and then the foot comes out straight so again the wall is so helpful
with this because the wall if I'm a back up against the wall I cannot bring my
foot up behind me I can't bring it up early and if I just touch my right
shoulder back here and do the chamber my foot has to come out this way now
whether you want to make that he'll pick up and drag right across the wall so
you're forming your sidekick this way or you like a little bit more of an open
chamber or even a really open chamber where your foots away from the wall and
then come back to the wall either way is fine but just play with this positioning
of starting with your right shoulder brushing the wall chamber and stick that
out stage three now let's alternate between the round kick and the side kick
one-for-one this will really help train the brain to feel and see the difference
between these two kicks so starting back with your left shoulder brushing the
wall hold it you are gonna practice this on both sides of your body right right
all right well for now I'm gonna start with my left shoulder throw your round
kick great and reset back up against the wall chamber for the side kick and
continue throw your round kick come back throw your side kick
it's rific now I should say that I don't see this exercise as a speed drill
clearly and I don't see it as a power drill I don't even see this as a balance
drill meaning if you want to use the wall right now to help you stay up maybe
kick a little higher you're safe the wall can help you here I think of this
as a grooving drill you're training your brain to feel the right timing and the
right positioning for a good round kick and a good side kick
so take a breath take your time line yourself up
and just have fun with it see if you can challenge yourself a little higher a
little stronger see what you can do the wall will help you hey are you still
watching this video I love you okay Stage four let's add a spin start off
with your normal round kick then let that foot drop right next to the wall
and look where you are in a perfect position for a spinning side kick or a
spinning back kick or even a hook kick the wall will let you try them all
that's the big idea here think of the wall like a training wheel when you're
riding a bike use the wall to help you work out a strong confident feeling when
you're working out these more complex motor skills of course there will be a
stage five did he say stage five yes there's a Stage five Stage five would be
of course to stop brushing that wall step away a little bit and see if you
can still make the same good feeling with your technique that you had with
the wall don't forget that part okay I hope that exercise helps you out
use the wall and rule them all if you like this video thanks for subscribing
to the channel and sharing with a friend Until next time, let your smile be your
shield and your sword. Keep fighting for a happy life.