Front kick, ahp chagi, mae geri

I was enjoying another impromptu garden session the other day and I found myself practicing and studying front kick. My kempo teacher introduced me to an interesting (but probably not new) concept of following through front kick with shoulders 'cocked' in their original starting position so that upon landing you are ready to deliver a powerful punch. Below the mannequin kicks off the rear left leg keeping left shoulder back, lands forward onto left leg and can then rotate body round to deliver effectively a reverse punch (although it is off the front leg technically)

I measured the distance from my front toe to the effective target which for me was 80cm.



The second option I was playing with was the good old reverse front kick, powerfully delivered. Follow-up punches weren't as powerful as above but can be very rapid. Effective distance from front toe to target was 110cm.





Lastly I practiced a lunge kick with a hopping step: this involves a regular front kick from the back leg, as above with much power and forward momentum which 'hops' you forward into the target. As can be expected this thrusts you forward more than the previous two techniques and my measurement was 140cm.




See also Sparring Strategy.

Midday training

Well it's all well and good me blathering on about training but the only way to train is to get on and do it! And as Nakayama says in his solid training manual 'Dynamic Karate', "the ultimate goal of karate should be the attainment of a developed moral character built through hard and diligent training", I set to do some training.

I warmed up with some aerobic activity and then rotations (it's good to think of muscles like chewing gum: it's more mobile if you warm them up first) I practiced simple punching. My main aim was to initiate the punch from my waist rather than my shoulders. So as an exercise to see my punch driving straight out from my side rather than flicking the elbow out I stood next to the bookcase so my arm had nowhere to go!

Following this I did simple mae geri (or ahp chagi in Korean) keeping my shoulders as they were during the kick to facilitate a follow up punch with the weight of my body behind it.

I finished up with some dynamic tension techniques and some breathing.

Feel better now.

Gonna have my noodle soup soon....