The Way of Least Resistance

In my recent article " The roundhouse kick and traditional martial arts " I wrote the following: "So how does an art like karate treat the mawashi geri? What does it do to make the movement less "risky" and more "applicable" in civilian defence?  It makes the movement less of a "power" movement and more a conservative one. It throws the kick as a snap ." In the early days of debating with combat sports fans I lost count of the number of times that I heard this argument: "If it worked so well, why don't we see it in MMA?" Well, as with the front snap kick , I knew it was only ever going to be a matter of time.  And now, in the space of one week, we've had two separate knockouts , both with the trademark karate mawashi geri keage (roundhouse kick using a snap).  The only difference between these and the kick usually taught in karate dojos is that the instep was used instead of the ball of foot (but then again, t...

Here are a couple of questions that were recently posed on the Traditional Fighting Arts Forums by "Kframe".  I thought it would be useful to post them here along with my answers: "Ok, now here is a great question with regards to the round kick and movement.  We all know that moving up the circle past the apex will cause the round kick to lose a lot of power. How far does that movement have to be fore it starts losing power? How much power does it lose in the first few inches past the apex?" A roundhouse kick loses force exponentially the moment it passes the apex.  How much is lost in a few inches?  It isn't easy to say definitively, but I'll give it a go in a minute (I'd need my brother to do some more precise calculations). Let's just say that even a few inches and I think you'll have lost more than the kick was worth.  That's exactly why the Muay Thai defences below involve body shifting sideways (ie. "taisabaki" or ...

Chuck Norris' roundhouse The roundhouse kick - made infamous by Chuck Norris - is a martial arts staple.  You see it in practically every movie.  It occurs in every round in every MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, Chinese san shou and kyokushinkai "knockdown" karate fight, just as it occurs in non-contact sport karate. And it is also seen being practised in countless dojos/guans/kwoons/studios/gyms across the world. Yet some will be surprised to note that it isn't exactly a "traditional" technique at all.  For one thing: It does not occur in any traditional kata/xing/pattern/form predating the 60s. Now I don't believe it was because folks back then "lacked the technology".  I'm sure the roundhouse kick probably existed in all ancient fighting systems. After all, its most basic incarnation is the simple kick to the thigh with the instep - the "soccer kick". It is easy to learn and easy to land. It is arguably the most natural ...