How to kick (simple explanation)

Master Kongling All, 6DKF techniques basic techniques, Karate, kick, lower limbs, Shaolin, striking 0

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Learn how to kick in the most simple and direct way

In our Kung Fu, there is a wide variety of kicks (with different types of impact, loading, breathing, trajectory, etc., read All the fighting techniques of 6 Dragons Kung Fu) and in this tutorial, we will try to explain one of the most importants, useful to understand all the others: the front kick.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

Before proceeding, it must be said that the principles of the technique we are going to describe have references to a wide variety of martial arts (Shaolin Quan, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, etc., read 6 Dragons Kung Fu: what does it teach?) but it is not specifically connected to any of them.

A note by Master Kongling – Maybe the most similar kick is Karate’s Maegiri but as we will see, many substantial differences remain, read also What is the relation between Karate and Kung Fu?).

How to perform the front kick

The preparation:

Let’s imagine being in a normal guard stance (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///); especially for a beginner, during the whole movement, it is a good practice to never lower the defense (this guarantees a minimal safety in case of failure of the technique)
In this example, we have a backward leg and an advanced one; our goal is to attack with the front one (let’s imagine the right but naturally everything is specularly valid)
Let’s relax the leg that we are going to use (especially from the knee down); in 6 Dragons Kung Fu we call this “liquid state” (read The secrets of tactical combat interactions), it avoids useless vibrations granting therefore access to maximum speed, power and precision
Let’s concentrate our weight in the area of the big toe of the backward foot (in this example, the left; read also Kick without losing balance: another trick)

The loading:

To start the movement let’s detach our right foot from the ground; the idea is to let it assume a position perpendicular to the floor (it has to look downward)
Let’s continue the detachment from the ground by vertically lifting the knee of our right leg toward our chest
Let’s inhale for the entire rising motion, as if we were attracting upward our right knee (read The 6DKF’s combat breathing)
While doing this, the back leg should (slightly) bend in a natural way and without moving our weight backward; let’s remember that during a fight, we never have to keep even only a single limb fully stretched (that way impacts are in fact absorbed very badly)
While raising our (right) knee, let’s not move our leg forward and let’s try to bring it as high as possible
Especially if we are beginners, in this phase it is fundamental to focus on maintaining our body in line with a center of gravity slightly moved forward (read How to improve balance: tricks and exercises); the simplest way to do this is to bend ahead
During the entire process, the back leg (the left) must be well anchored to the ground (as if it were welded to the soil; this guarantees a more balanced and secure strike)
Reached the maximum height with the knee, the forward rotation of the lower part of the attacking leg begins (it has to rise)
It is exactly while the (right) foot starts to ascend leading to the target that we have to start to exhale

A note by Master Kongling – Substantially our breathing must cover the entire kick: we inhale to charge and exhale to attack).

The impact:

There are no and there should not exist side vibrations in this type of kick (for balance and non-dispersion of the kinetic energy); the force only moves vertically from bottom to top (from the ground towards the target, read also How to release the maximum power of a punch or a kick)
The typical target of this strike is the central line of the adversary’s body (genitals, stomach mouth, chin, etc.)
The whole movement must be like a whiplash, whose energy reaches its peak on the impact part (no flow interruption)
In our Kung Fu (with equal loading), this kick can be thrown from bottom to top or more frontally; if we want to hit from bottom to top, the contact part is what goes from the ankle to the back of the foot (the top part, far from the toes); if instead, we want to hit more frontally, the contact area becomes the one below the base of the toes; finally, if we want to hit through the back part of the foot, we have to use the lower part heel (the one we normally walk on)
In some rare cases, the tip of the toes (normally on the side of the big toe) and the foot knuckles may also be viable impact parts but only for those who have a high-level specific impact conditioning (as for Shaolin monks, read Martial arts conditioning: improve resistance); if (after long preparation) we can strike with toes, at the last instant, we have to stiffen and turn them up; with the knuckles, we have instead to close the toes as a fist; said this, it must be stressed that both these practices are extremely dangerous and should be avoided even by advanced practitioners (in fact, if we do not calibrate the power of the blow in reaction to our level of resistance, we risk breaking them)
Last but not least, especially with kicks, we have to focus on the idea of hitting over the target, implementing the muscle chain (read Use the body power: the muscle chain) and releasing our momentum directly inside the opponent’s body; only this way we will have the opportunity to release the maximum energy and / or reach our target (even if our opponent steps back a little)

The return:

Let’s never stay in extension for longer than necessary (the lower limbs are heavier / longer and therefore slower than the upper ones, the adversaries can easily capture them, an authentic disaster)
The basic return movement is simply the same as the attack one but in the opposite direction (it is like its rewinding);
Despite what we said, didactically, it is important to learn to land forward; only when we will have good stability we will be allowed to decide what to do in relation to the dynamic needs of the fight (eg. land with the leg back, forward, adding another kick, changing stance, etc.)

Execution details:

During the rising of the knee, to increase power and speed, we can push the back foot (and especially its toes) toward the ground
To further increase the power of the kick we can also counterbalance the uprising of the foot moving down our torso vertically (as for the levers principle)
In situations of extreme safety (eg. when the opponent is totally unable to react) it is possible to lower the guard and strengthen the attack by adding the force of a backward push through our arms (from the guard position backward to beyond the hips, as if we were getting up off the ground)
In any case, during the kick, the guard must alter its shape so as not to hinder our action
Excluding the case of tactical feints, in real combat, the entire movement must be executed opting for the maximum speed / acceleration we can express
We have to see the entire movement as divided into 2 phases, a compression and an expansion; first we gather our body and then we throw it explosively in the direction of the opponent through our leg (but always without ever flinching)

A note by Master Kongling – Some people teach similar techniques with the kicking feet parallel to the ground (instead of perpendicular) during the loading sequence: it is not completely wrong, it can increase the speed (reducing the friction of the air) but it decreases the power reducing the muscle chain implementation (in the subsequent part); we can adopt this alternative version if we want to attack at a short distance, at a low / middle height and /or if we want to hit with the heel.

Final notes

A few conclusive considerations:

If while kicking we lose the balance (eg. backward), it means that we have distributed our weight incorrectly and therefore that we are not ready to use this kind of technique in combat (read The use of legs in a real fight and Use of legs in a street fight)
This type of kick may potentially have a little backward loading but it does not need it (any charging movement telegraphs to the opponents our intentions and should be avoided)
If we intend to use power to exercise this kick (eg. sequences of 25-100) we should opt for a soft target and not for empty blows (in the long period we risk damaging our joints)
Our front kick is a basic and fundamental technique (which actually includes many others; the extended explanation of this move is inside our Core Course (but only at the advanced level, too many details are counterproductive without a solid base)
…

A note by Master Kongling – If you understood what we said in this tutorial means that you can efficiently follow our Core Course because its explanations are all shorter, simpler and accompanied by the most common errors (read The Core Course structure).

In the next article of this series, we will see other lower limb striking techniques (some faster, some more unpredictable, some more powerful, etc.).

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – The core conditioning to build real martial skills for combat
Basic free hand fighting techniques – All the basic combat techniques of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
The basic kicks: how to – Our fundamental kicks (from “Basic free hand fighting techniques” video course)
Advanced speed and reflexes training – How to gain real combat speed and improve our reactivity
Breathing methods and exercises – The secrets of gaining power, economizing energies and much more
How to develop a good timing – A conditioning path to learn when to hit to reach our targets
How to use feints in combat – An advanced video course about realt time deception in combat

In-depth articles

The characteristics of a good kick – A checklist to learn to throw perfect kicks
How to prepare legs to kick effectively – The type of exercises to perform to condition legs for kicks

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

In your opinion, what is the most important part of a kick?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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