The front snap kick is THE most useful kick in a self-defense situation,
I try to hold my guard higher, but…
It’s fast, hits much harder than ANY hand technique, doesn’t compromise your balance too much, and is useful at long, medium and even close range.
If you bend your opponent over with a shot to the middle, you can pivot, kick along his body and tag his chin solid…I’ve used this move for real three times, resulting in two knockouts, and one hardhead so dazed he might as well have been out.
I won’t say it’s the only Karate kick that’s of any use in a fight, but it is by far the MOST useful, so, curl your toes back, and SLAM the ball of your foot into that makiwara or bag
To perform an “Olympic” style front kick:
- Start in a fighting stance. Hands up, feet slightly more than shoulder width apart and at a 30 degree angle to the opponent with your weight equally distributed.
- Lift your kicking leg’s knee straight up, towards your target, to the level you are going to kick to in on fluid motion with no tension in your leg.
- As the kicking thigh crosses parallel, extend the leg using the momentum from lifting the leg, with your pulled back.
- On the moment of impact, snap the ball of the kicking foot into the target while tensing the kicking leg and dropping your weight into the planted foot.
- Use your muscles’ stretch reflex to pull the kicking leg back during impact.
- Return to fighting stance.
The front kick is great whenever your opponent is straight in front of you.
Primary targets for the front kick are the groin, stomach, solar plexus and chin. The floating ribs are also a viable target if the opponent is turned sideways.
The push kick is a great tool to creating distance, scoring points, and setting up other striking offense. In my opinion, push kicks should be used more often to enhance the other attacks that can end a fight.
So the push front kick is very utilitarian, but how often does it end up winning a fight for someone? How much damage does it inflict? How often does the push kick end up being the deciding factor in a fight?
Push kicks should be used to get your opponent to drop his hands and to keep him from closing the distance. Although Anderson Silva has knocked out opponents with his front snap kicks, he has knocked out a lot more opponents with his hands.
However, MMA fighters are notorious for swinging for the fences and looking for the home run without using other offense to set up the knockout. Like much of the world, they want quick results without putting in the necessary prep work.
Due to the nature of how the kick is performed, push kicks are also risky since you can get taken down if the opponent catches your leg. Most kicks to the body can get you taken down more easily than head kicks or leg kicks because the leg is easier to grab.
So when you pair the increased risk of being taken down with the low chances of a knockout, you can see why the push kick doesn't get used more often.
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