High round kick in CMA?

[Walter Joyce]

Lets also note that in mma there are people who win by knockout with kicks to the head, so its not totally far out or anything .

My point exactly.

[Wuyizidi]

Lets also note that in mma there are people who win by knockout with kicks to the head, so its not totally far out or anything .

My point exactly.

That's fine in a modern combat sport, where it is illegal to counter with anything destructive to the supporting leg or groin. I studied with Japanese monks for three years, and we regularly practice those counters. John Wang is right, the CMA attitude toward kicks is summarized by one simple sentence "hao tui bu guo qi" - good kicks don't go higher than the knee. The bigger the movement, the longer it takes to complete, the riskier it is for a counter. You don't punch people on the back of the foot, so why try to kick them in the head, when there are so many other good targets close by? Many of the best kicks of the past - powerful, compact, quick low kicks that can destroy the knee joint or the shin bones from various angles, cannot be used in modern combat sports.

The other relevant issue here is there is a difference between training and fighting. In Muslim Tan Tui for example, there are seven basic kicks. But the basic liu tui routine has 9 - two of them are flying kicks. Those two don't get counted as kicks because they are only for conditioning, not for real fighting. We practice them because they demand a much higher level of conditioning. Again John touched on this point when he pointed out empty hand training is considered foundation training for weapons training. This has always been true - at any era, martial art is about fighting with weapons. So we do a lot of empty hand training just to build up the power and stamina necessary for more advanced weapons fighting. Running and crawling are part of martial art training to, but that doesn't mean we have to use them in actual fighting right?

Wuyizidi.

[Ian]

John Wang is right, the CMA attitude toward kicks is summarized by one simple sentence "hao tui bu guo qi" - good kicks don't go higher than the knee. The bigger the movement, the longer it takes to complete, the riskier it is for a counter.

Punchy front kicks to the gut are good. They're fast, and they'll drop a person. So will kicks to the liver. So will snap kicks to the chin or nose.

[Ian]

Some amazing kicks here.

[DeusTrismegistus]

My teacher has always taught roundhouse kicks, he calls them circle kicks. They are part of a hybrid shaolin system he teaches. Don't know if he ever encountered them in his traditional training.

As far as use, its no different than any other move. When you have it set up perfectly, there is absolutely nothing your opponent will be able to do to stop you from hitting them. My teacher uses and teaches high roundhouse kicks. He also makes it very clear that the move is risky but effective and the key to success is proper timing and set up, just like any other move.

[CaliG]

Speaking of round kicks!