| I learned this type of kick some forty years ago in the | | | | sure you get the knee high enough so that the foot |
| Kang Duk Won Korean Karate. This was the | | | | comes in straight, and doesn't slide up the front of the |
| forerunner of Tae Kwon Do, and the unfortunate truth | | | | target. If you are doing a side kick, make sure you turn |
| is that these kicks aren't practiced anymore. Why, I | | | | the hips so that the weight of them really slams into |
| don't know, because this type of kick is the hardest | | | | the target. If you are doing a wheel kick, make sure |
| kick, the fastest kick I know. | | | | you get the hips up high enough so that the kick can |
| I call this move, no matter what type of martial art you | | | | fly in truly horizontal. |
| do it with, the pop kick. Whether you do a wheel, a | | | | The fourth technique would be a spin pop to the rear, |
| side, or a snap, the basic principle doesn't change. You | | | | and uses the side kick. You would practice all four |
| replace the left foot with the right foot, and place the | | | | kicks against a wall, learning how to lift legs |
| right foot on the target...this all has to happen | | | | simultaneously, and place the feet on the wall and the |
| simultaneously. | | | | ground at the same time. You don't have to hit the wall |
| By same time I mean that the left foot and the right | | | | with power, save that for a bag, control will actually |
| foot start together, and the right foot hits the ground at | | | | give you more power in the end. |
| the same time the left foot impacts. By doing it in this | | | | We used to have all kinds of set ups for these |
| fashion the whole body gets smaller at the same time, | | | | techniques. We would slap the attacker's guard hands |
| then the whole body explodes. This causes a very | | | | as we pre-stepped, and the we would do it subtle, and |
| pure energy pop in the energy center, which is a point | | | | then be in the kick before the target knew we were |
| a couple of inches below the navel, which is also called | | | | on our way. As we practiced the explosion would get |
| the tan tien. | | | | finer and more pure and more full of energy. |
| In addition to the purity of explosion you will feel in the | | | | Make sure you use this technique in a variety of |
| tan tien, which will tend to concentrate energy in the | | | | stances, and you will have a much larger arsenal of |
| kick, you will experience a sudden weight on the | | | | martial arts weapons. This is a great technique to |
| support leg at the same moment you experience | | | | practice, and it is born of the successful merger of |
| weight in the kicking leg. This sudden weight tends to | | | | karate power and TKD kicks. Japanese martial arts or |
| make the explosion of energy even more pure and | | | | Korean martial arts, this is the hardest kick, and the |
| violent, and yet tends to control it precisely. This will | | | | fastest kick, and perhaps the most effective leg |
| supercharge your technique. | | | | technique I know. |
| If you are doing this technique with a snap kick, make | | | | |