Kick without losing balance: a small trick

How to kick remaining stable: a few simple tips

In this tutorial, we want to share a few effective tricks to immediately improve our balance while kicking (read also How to kick (simple explanation)).

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).

Balance in dynamic contexts (read The concept of Dynamic Equilibrium) is the typical characteristic that distinguishes the amateur from the expert fighter: in fact, it allows us to always be in control of our defensive and attacking actions.

The problem with leg techniques is that, even after years of (superficial) practice (read Bad martial arts instructors: the real consequences), if we do not understand how to manage our balance in relation to the body mechanics they involve:

• On one side we are forcefully limited to low kicks
• On the other, kicking higher, we risk that kind of instability easily exploitable even only by an intermediate-level opponent

A note by Master Kongling – The reason why we insist so much on this topic is that, if we truly want to implement lower limbs in real scenarios, we need (at least) to learn to correct the typical mistakes that everyone does (let’s do it before they become chronic).

Kicks: the 2 principal causes of unbalancing

These are the 2 most common mistakes that we need to fix:

1. When we balance on one foot we only use the leg on the ground to maintain our balance
2. When we strike, we are (instinctively) afraid to get our head too close to the adversary and therefore, we tend to keep our weight on the leg farthest from the target

These 2 behaviors convert into keeping the center of gravity out of place (read How to improve balance: tricks and exercises) and the consequences are that:

• Even a finger would be enough to drop us
• We expose ourselves to a very easy possibility of being tripped
• In a dynamic context, we can fall even alone
• …

A note by Master Kongling – To deepen this topic, we can also read Learn how to kick: the most common errors.

The correct way to manage balance while kicking

We have seen the errors, now let’s understand what we should do:

• We have to use the movement itself as a tool for balancing; if we focus on static balance we are forced to try to control 360° of possible directions, instead, if we choose only one (with our entire inertia), we will have to focus only on that and no one would be in condition to easily contrast it
• We have to concentrate our weight on the leg that kicks instead of one the one that stays on the ground (this also increases the effectiveness of the attack, read How to release the maximum power of a punch or a kick)
• We have to direct our kicking foot toward a chosen stable landing area (assigning it the right amount of leaning force)
• We have to liquidly involve every part of our body (through the correct muscle chain, read Use the body power: the muscle chain) in view of a general, constant and harmonic flow
• We do not have to be afraid to (eventually) get close to the opponent during the “landing”
• We have to avoid unwanted vibrations, to assume a body state that, at the same time, is solid but relaxed (read Combat interactions: from the strong blow to the light touch)

Especially in the learning phase:

• We have to “forget” the support leg (the one on the ground)
• We have to “actively” decide where to land (instead of trying to maintain a starting position)

Measuring the quality of our change

Let’ train for a few weeks focusing on the tips we just listed and then, let’s compare our old way of kicking with the new one: let’s evaluate the differences (read also How to know if a combat technique works or not).

We will rapidly realize that:

• We are more stable
• We have fewer distance-related hesitations
• We do not need to make useless recovery steps after landing
• We hit with more precision and power
• We are able to decide to land forward, backward, everywhere we need
• …

And with the time:

• We will gradually become able to kick at the height we want
• We will gradually become able to execute complex, multiple and combined kicks in “total security”
• …

Final notes

A few conclusive thoughts:

• Balance is one of the most important skills for a fighter but when it comes to good quality kicking, it is naturally not the only one (read The characteristics of a good kick)
• To know if we are in a condition to effectively use kicks in a real confrontation, let’s read The use of legs in a real fight
• If we feel unsure about the quality level of our kicks, let’s follow a rational preparation path by reading How to prepare legs to kick effectively
• All the core practices of 6 Dragons Kung Fu has been studied to deeply develop the right dynamic equilibrium for combat, to deepen them, read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///
• …

In the next article of this series, we will see the secrets of a perfect front kick (read The secrets of a perfect front kick).

In-depth video courses

• Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – All the basic practices to develop real martial skills
• The basic kicks: how to – All the most important kicks of our combat system
• Static and dynamic balance: how to – A specific path to work on high-quality balance for combat

In-depth articles

• Combat skills: what we will learn – What our Kung Fu focuses on in terms of fighting capabilities
• How to start practicing from scratch – The 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s path, from 0 to 100

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

• Do you bend the body backward while kicking?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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