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It’s not fair to say that MMA and TMA are completely different. They are both in fact martial arts.  They both require full concentration of both mind and body.  They also both require total commitment.  You can’t haphazardly engage in either one.  I would like to take the next couple of blogs to discuss the techniques that have worked effectively in both MMA and TMA.  I’d like to start basic with the front kick.

   The front kick has been a staple throughout martial arts.  It is a techniques you learn as a white belt in any martial arts form you decide to engage in.  It is an amazingly versatile kick.  It can be targeted anywhere on the body from the shin all the way up to the nose. (depending on your flexibility)  To perform a front kick the first step is to life your knee in the air as if you were marching.  From there you want to strike straight out in front of you with the lower half of your leg.  Ideally you want to strike with the ball of your foot.  You can strike with the heel or the flat footed.  All three of these striking areas are acceptable.  One of the things to remember with a front kick is that you do not want to push with your foot.  You want to know your distance and strike full force with the kick. Always, always remember that you want to bring your foot back to where it came from.  Do not leave it out there for someone to strike or grab. 

   This technique has saved countless lies and will continue to be used by everyone.  Somethings to remember about a front kick are that even though you can kick a man in the head eight times out of ten you won’t.  Most assailants on the streert are looking for a strike to the head, be it a punch or kick, because that’s the target area they are concentrating on.  It takes longer for your leg to reach a man’s head than it does your fist and your opponent is watching for it.  So, you want to try and keep those kicks low.  Even though in most Traditional Martial Arts you practice to kick high ideally you don’t want to kick a man any higher than his stomach.  The knee is actually the best place to kick.  If you take a man’s ability to walk he can’t run after you.  I have seen front kicks thrown at the head but this is generally just in point sparring or Tae Kwon Do tournaments.  In MMA the front kick has stopped a barrage of attacks simply by lifting the leg and giving the opponent a “fence” to work around.  I have even seen men knocked to their butts with a single front kick to the stomach.  I have never seen any man kicked in the head in any MMA fight unless they were already on the ground. 

   Click in tomorrow where I’ll be discussing the front punch.  See you on the blogging network then.

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