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Kicks: American Kenpo Karate

These basic kicks are required for promotion to your next belt. As you get better, your understanding of each should also improve.

As with the hand, we try to use the entire foot, kicking with the bottom of heel, back of the heel, ball, top, side, and instep.

Remember — get your knees up. If you throw a kick at the same time as your opponent, the higher knee usually wins. The higher your knee is, the higher you can kick. It's also good practice for hitting to the body with knees.

If you're testing for your blue belt soon, download the kicking set handout here.

Kicks

1: Front Kick

• Bring the knee up and point it at your opponent
• Then hit with the ball of the foot, pulling the toes back to insure that you don't jam them
• You can snap this kick off the target or thrust through, pushing your target away

2: Side Kick

• Bring the knee up and point it at your opponent
• Then lift up slight on your base foot so that it can rotate freely and snap your hip over from vertical to horizontal as you push out with the knife edge of the foot
• Try to strike with the outside edge of the foot only

3: Roundhouse Kick

• Bring the knee up and point it at your opponent
• Then lift up slight on your base foot so that it can rotate freely and snap your hip over from vertical to horizontal as your foot moves through an arc to strike the target
• Try to strike with the top of the foot in class
• In an actual fight, you might drive the toe of a shoe or boot into your target

4: Back Kick

• Keep your hips square to your target
• Look over the same shoulder as your kicking foot, just enough to see the target
• Your foot should go directly, in a straight line, from the ground to the target, striking with the bottom of the heel
• Toes should be down, heel should be up
• If you find that the foot is becoming diagonal or horizontal, it's because you are turning your shoulder too much, which is turning your hip

5: Spinning Back Kick

• Start in a left neutral bow
• Now move the front foot across to the right — plant it and quickly rotate your hips so that they are square to the target
• As you turn, look over the your right shoulder, just enough to see the target
• Once your hips square to the target, your foot should go directly, in a straight line, from the ground to the target, striking with the bottom of the heel
• Toes should be down, heel should be up