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Another kick that crosses over all kinds of martial arts be it mixed or traditional is the round kick.  This is also one of the hardest kicks to execute.   You can put all the training in the world into this kick and when your under pressure it can still look awful. 

   A proper round kick starts not with the leg you are going to kick with but with the leg you are standing on.   The first thing to do is to rotate the foot that you will be standing on.  This is usually your front foot.  If your front foot is your left foot you want to rotate that foot as far to the left as your ankle will allow.  If your right foot is in front you want to rotate that foot as far to the right as possible.  The next step is to lift the striking foot up behind you.  This next step is the difficult one.  You have to spin on the foot your standing on and bring your striking leg around to the front.  You can stop spinning when your heel of the foot your standing on is facing your target.  At this point you should have your heel facing the target and your striking leg should be up with your lower leg parallel to the floor.  The final step is to extend the striking leg and hit with the top of the foot or if your in Muay Thai you actually hit with your shin.  Ideally because of your foot position on the ground you should be able to throw two, three, or even ten kicks with the same leg.

   This is how to execute a perfect round kick.  Unfortunately this is not what a lot people have in their repertoire.   Many people make the mistake of not rotating the foot they’re standing on.  This causes either a loss of balance or it cause their butt to stick out and then can easily be thrown off balance and the option of kicking a second time is completely lost.  I have seen this not only in Traditional Martial Arts tournaments and in Mixed Martial Arts bouts.  Competitors under pressure have a tendency to strike with the side of their foot or leg.  Another major cause of this problem is that people try to kick to high.    This kick is usually only used in point tournament sparring possibly in MMA.  This kick should never be used on the head in the street. This like the front kick should be used low and the target should be the thigh or the knee.  If your opponent is turned side ways then you could kick them in the groin or the stomach.  People see this kick executed on T.V. and in the movies and forget it’s the MOVIES!!!!!  

   So, remember to practice executing this kick properly.  Target the head in practice but know if you ever have to use it to defend yourself the knee is the perfect place to kick.  

   Click in tomorrow where I’ll be talking about street fighting. Does MMA prepare you for it?     

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