Karate Front Kick

Make a Perfect Karate Front Kick!

The Karate front kick looks easy. You see people do it in the movies, the bad guy always falls down, so what’s the big deal?


karate kick

The big deal is that you don’t master an art…you master basics.
It is not the number of Karate kata, or taekwondo patterns, or Kenpo forms that you do that is important, it is how well you know and can do your basics.
So here is the basic, easy front snap kick. Do this a few times, and then we’ll take a look at what it is going to take to master this beast.

karate kick

Stand.

karate knee

Raise the knee.

front snap kick

Kick.
Return the foot to the floor and repeat.

Not bad, eh?
Well, actually, it is bad. Terrible, in fact.
So here is the skinny on how to master this kick, and get ready to get your fanny kicked, because it is going to take excruciating attention to detail.

karate front stance

Take a front stance.
Arms up in the ready position.
So far so good.

knee strike

Bring the knee up.

karate front snap kick

Extend the kick.

Now, do the following items. I would suggest working on one at a time, then working on the next one, and the next one, and then repeat the whole list, again and again and again.

1. Be able to kick over a chair.
2. Tuck the knee enough so that the foot describes a straight line (or least a gentle arc) from the floor to the impact point.
3. Keep the leg loose till the end, then tighten just the foot.
4. Turn the hips slightly into the action.
5. Tilt the hips slightly into the action.
6. Keep the arms in front, and don’t let them flop. They should remain relatively motionless.
7. Breath in as the leg comes up to the tuck position, breath out as it extends.
8. Turn the support foot slightly out.
9. Sink the weight down the support leg as you reach impact.
10. Keep the knee of the support leg slightly bent.
11. Angle the foot down and the toes up so you can kick with the ball of the foot.
12. Practice this kick using the heel.
13. Bring the foot back to the floor and place it down softly (with no sound).
14. Don’t stop in the tuck position, the kick must be fluid with no jerks.
15. Make the kick a whiplike motion.
16. Practice both with a snap (a flicking motion where the kick is retracted quickly), and a thrust motion, where the leg is locked out for a moment.
17. Practice kicking heavy objects.
18.Practice the kick out of the back stance, the horse stance, the kneeling stance, and every other kind of stance you can think of.
19. Practice kicking in other directions off the stance.
20.Relax.

Okay, twenty small items, and you’ll become aware, as the years progress of other things you should be including in your basic list.
Now, let me tell you what it is all about.
Do you have to think when you use your fork?
I hope not. I hope you just pick it up and stab those peas efficiently and zingo bingo, you are well fed.
That’s how your kick has to be. You can’t think about it; you can’t think about these twenty items.
You have to do the twenty items until you no longer have to think about them, until they are all blended together into one lean, fast, mofo of a kick.
You have to practice until you don’t think, and your leg is just a loose noodle that can conk a cougar mid leap.

Here’s a little vid snip I did a while back.

The simple truth is that if you can’t knock the other guy out of the scene, then you need to practice your Karate Front Kick.

teach karate

The Karate Front Kick is the meat and potatoes of good self defense techniques.

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