7 Ways to Killer Kicks

April 3rd, 2009 · Comments · Training Advice

Welcome back!

Killer kicks are one of the things that set the martial arts apart from other practices like boxing or wrestling. Kicking is what got me into the martial arts in the first place all those years ago. I distinctly remember watching Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” as he spectacularly kicked his way through hordes of Han’s minions, dispatching them with lighting fast round-house kicks, powerful side-kicks and devastating spinning back kicks and thinking to myself, “I want to be able to do that”. Now, after years of practice, I can do that, I can kick with the best of them, though taking on hordes of angry henchmen might still be a little out of my league; maybe, if they all formed an orderly queue!

What I soon noticed after I started training was that I had a talent for kicking, more so than punching. Kicking has always come naturally to me and I feel more comfortable doing it than punching. What I have noticed over the years is that most martial artists tend to favour one or the other and indeed it has been my experience that more people are comfortable punching rather than kicking. Occasionally you will come across someone who is comfortable switching between both, with no preference either way, which I suppose is how it should be. Regardless, I remain an unashamed kicker and always will. It’s my first love and you never forget your first love, do you?

I believe that all martial artists should be able to kick well, especially for self defence purposes. Kicks are great for street confrontations because they are fast, devastatingly effective and you can control the distance more easily than you can with punches. They are therefore a valuable addition to anyone’s armoury.

In that spirit then, I present to you seven different ways in which you can improve your kicking technique. All of the methods that follow are proven to work because I and others I have trained with have used them to improve over the years, so I hope you get some value from what follows.

1. Practice, practice, practice! I know I run the risk of stating the obvious here, but it still amazes me how many people bemoan the fact that they cannot kick properly and when you ask them how often they practice their kicking they just look at you with blank faces and mumble something like, “Now and again.” If you want to get good at anything you have to practice on a regular basis and the same is true of kicking. For years now I have been spending about twenty minutes or so on the heavy bag, before class actually starts, just kicking and kicking, over and over, hitting the bag with as many different kicks as I can in the allotted time. Really, if I didn’t write anything else here, you could vastly improve your kicking just by following this one recommendation: practice! Hang a bag up at home and use it in your spare time, even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time, it all counts. Or go to the dojo early, before class starts, and get in a few rounds on the bag there. It has been said that in order to master a technique a person must perform it ten thousand times (and probably more). That’s a lot of kicks – so get practicing!

2. Stretch. Good flexibility is paramount to good kicking performance. Trying to perform kicks effectively with tight hamstrings and tense leg muscles is almost impossible, and that applies to any kick, not just high kicks. The more flexible you are the more easily you will be able to kick, so if you don’t already do so, start stretching. There are many good stretching exercises you can do, either alone or with a partner. It does not really matter which exercises you do, as long as you do them and do them regularly, trying to extend the elasticity of your muscles each time you do the exercises. Doing them every day is ideal if you really want to improve your flexibility, but just incorporating a routine into your regular training sessions is fine as well. Whatever time you spend stretching is time well spent in terms of making you a better kicker.

3. Relax. Cultivating the ability to relax while kicking will vastly improve your technique. Too often I see people trying to kick while their whole body is tense, with the result that their kicks are stiff and uncontrolled. Some people, especially beginners, think that in order to generate power in their technique they must tense up first as if they are gathering up all that power and then trying to hurl it all at the bag or their opponent. This is totally the wrong approach to good kicking and is counter-productive to any notions of speed or power that you may have. I am forever telling people to relax before they kick, especially the shoulders. Keep the shoulders and arms relaxed. The power of your kick is directly dependent on how fast it is and the speed of your kick is directly dependent on how relaxed you are. Speed=power. You will have more success if you develop your speed first than if you try to kick the bag of its bracket all the time. So stay nice and loose and limber, be light on your feet and aim for speed. The power will follow naturally.

4. Kick of the front foot. Kicking of the front foot is more effective I believe, than stepping forward and kicking of the back foot. I often see people sparring and throwing kicks of the back foot and being really slow about it, to the point were their kick is just blocked or side-stepped, rendering it ineffectual. The reason for this is the distance the kick has to travel before it reaches its target and the resulting telegraphing to your opponent- they can see it coming. Kicks of the back foot, especially in kick-boxing or any kind of sparring, are just too slow and can be seen coming way before they ever arrive. The only time I would really use kicks of the back foot is when I have already connected with a kick or punch and I’m following it up. The initial strike serves as a good enough distraction that I don’t have to worry so much about the kick being blocked, especially since I’m stepping in that way anyway.

side-kick-karate,side kicks,taekwondo side kick

For the most part though, I believe shooting of the front foot to be much more effective. One of my idols when I was growing up was Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, an American kickboxing champion (and later actor as well). Bill was famous for his devastatingly fast side-kicks and hook kicks, both of which he did of his leading left leg. They were so fast, his opponents never seen them coming and that is why he always beat them. Ever since I realised this fact, I have been performing most of my kicks of the front foot, shooting the leg out more or less from were it is with little or no telegraphing to my opponent. The result of this has been that I have developed a highly effective side-kick that I use all the time when sparring. It’s a kick that never lets me down, offensively and defensively and people very rarely see it coming when I’m on form, simply because I can throw it from were it is with no need to cock it in any way. I just shoot it out like a bullet from a gun.

So where ever possible, kick with your leading leg (if you don’t already do so) and see how much effective it is than kicking of the back leg.

5. Work on your balance. Good balance is essential to the effectiveness of any kicking technique. A lack of balance will upset the whole rhythm and motion of your kick, rendering it practically useless and worse, it will leave you vulnerable after it has been performed because you won’t be able to regain your position again, leaving yourself open to counter-attack. The reason why balance is usually lost, especially with beginners, is from trying to kick too high. I often see people trying to run before they can walk. Unless you are unusually agile, do not try to kick above your own waist until you are actually able to maintain your balance at that level. It is fine wanting to do head kicks right away, but if your almost falling over or leaving yourself dangerously open to counter-attack, then what is the point? Kick to whatever height that you can comfortably maintain your balance and then work from there, building upon the height gradually. Again, this will only come through constant practice on the bags and in sparring.

6. Understand the mechanics of the technique. When I say understand the mechanics of the technique, I mean you must understand exactly what positions your body has to be in order for you to perform the technique properly and with strict form. The best way to do this is to break the kick down into stages in the beginning. So if we take a front snap kick as an example: step forward and raise the knee as high as possible, snap the kick out (being careful not to hyper-extend the leg) and then draw it back into position again, settling back into fighting stance. If you break all your kicks down into stages in this way, at least in the beginning while you are learning them, then you will find it much easier to perform them correctly at full speed because you understand exactly what positions your body has to be in to do the kick properly.

A common mistake I often see inexperienced kickers make, especially when it comes to round-house kicks, is not turning into the kick enough. The hips and shoulders are not fully turned and the kicking leg is prevented from making its full trajectory. The whole body has to swivel right round in order for there to be any real power in the kick, otherwise all your doing is just swinging the leg round awkwardly to no real effect. The back foot, the one that supports you while you’re kicking, has to swivel as well. I’ve seen some people try to throw round-house kicks while their back is glued motionless to the floor and they then wonder why they can’t turn themselves round enough. Everything, the shoulders, hips and back foot have to turn in unison, allowing for a smooth kicking trajectory.

So observe strict form in the beginning when you’re learning the kicks, take it slow and allow the speed and balance to come naturally. That way, you can be assured of giving yourself the best possible grounding on which to become a good and effective kicker.

7. Never drop your guard. This is the last thing I would like to mention in regards to being a good kicker. Too often I see people kicking and allowing their hands to drop down and away from them, as if this will somehow improve their technique. It won’t. All it will do is leave you open to counter-attack. What happens if your kick falls short, or it is blocked or evaded and you are caught with your hands dangling down by your sides? You are going to get hit, then aren’t you! At least if you keep your guard up at all times, keeping your body protected, if you do miss with your kick you can still cover up and defend yourself. A small point, but a most important one, and one which should be adhered to at all times. martial arts kick,martial arts kicks,high kick,side kick

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Zara

I must say for me the opposite is true: I absolutely love punching! From the first round hitting the focus-mitts it was clear this was the technique for me. Basically it’s fast, economic, relatively safe and quite effective. Mastering the art of punching is way easier than learning to kick properly and while I do think this is a skill that is important and should be taught and learned thoroughly (low-level at least) – for offense and defense – it can never replace a good punching-combo. The basics of effective self-defense and almost every true martial-art is a good solid cross to the nose or chin. It may not take him out immediately but at the very least it’ll give him pause and allow you to move in for the kill. Think about it: the shortest way between two points is a straight line, your hands are way faster and more accurate than your feet, there’s far less risk of losing your balance and you’re basically blocking his view even when you don’t connect. I agree kicking is cool and effective given the right training but in my view it’s a secondary skill really: a good strike or punch can be used in nearly every situation, for kicking you need proper distance and a stable, non-slippery surface plus it’s best to distance yourself from the opponent. I don’t like to kick when holding someone (except with a knee-strike) or being grabbed: the moment you raise your leg and he pushes or shifts his weight you’ll be off-balance and in trouble.

That being said your pointers on developing a good kick are right on: the single most important aspect of good kicking is balance, if you don’t have it you’ll be ineffective and vulnerable. A good guard is always important: in offense, defense, while kicking, punching… If you don’t keep your hands up you will get hit, that’s a given.

The last couple of weeks I’m systematically working on my kicks: while I do not own a heavy-bag there are some very useful exercises to develop good form and flexibility. The single best way to developing a good kick is to practice it in the air but in stages and fairly slowly: raise the leg as high as possible, aim and shoot, retract while keeping your balance and slowly put your foot down. Do this 20 times for each leg and I guarantee you will feel the burn. I’ve been doing this every day for about a month now (alternating types of kicks) and I’m already seeing results. In reality I’ll never use kicks aimed above the waist but it’s cool to be able to do it and it’s good exercise. Unfortunately we do not train kicks a lot at our dojo (unless to the groin in application) but it’s always cool to practice them on the heavy bag or thai-pads. This is one of the reasons why I’d like to start training in JKD: basically it’s a very practical form of street-kickboxing, it’s far more offensive than JJ and so would make a nice complement. Mix this with the weapon-drills of kali and you basically have all your bases covered. Lets hope my schedule is a bit more reasonable next year (less classes in the evening).

Neal Martin

Punches probably are more effective in self defense situations, although a lot of people can take a fair few before they go down, especially when intoxicated and they can't feel them as much. You manage to get one good kick into someones face and I doubt they'll stay standing, given that I think kicks can generate more power than punches. I'd be more inclined to use kicks at a low level in these situations for obvious reasons. If I wanted to target the face I'd use my hands or my elbows, which are very effective weapons if you get close enough to use them. Closing down an opponent altogether is probably even more effective. Most people don't know what to do when they can't hit and you can capitalize on their confusion by kneeing them or applying a throw or sweep of some sort. I like to use chokes as well. I find them very effective for controlling people.

Years ago when I practiced Kempo karate I used to do kicks in the manner you described, very slowly and deliberately. I agree it does wonders for your overall kicking skills. Kicking is a lot about control as well. With proper control you can perfectly place your foot wherever you want to or even follow a target before striking, especially useful in sparring.

As you say, kicks are just cool. They look good and you feel good doing them, For these reasons amongst others I will always practice them. I look forward to the day when I'm 75 and I can still kick someone in the head. That will be cool!

Zara

Since I’m not a boxer I’ll never use only punches in a confrontation: while this could work and it’s quite possible to knock someone out whose defense is sloppy or who isn’t very coordinated it’s just not my style and for most people it’s not a very good option. Like I said before I’m trained in JJ and this entails lots of practice in applying locks, throws or chokes. Naturally you need a good entry to be able to do this (he’s not going to give you his arm) and I found that boxing-punches make very good entries. Since coming into contact with kickboxing I train my defenses two ways: the first way is still classical JJ so atemi (hits used for distraction, not primarily to do serious damage) followed by a control-technique taking him to the ground for either a pin or a disabling strike. This is the soft way, called juho in Japanese. The second approach is simply hitting to injure or knock him out, naturally this is much more aggressive and more damaging and is called goho. What you use depends on the situation really: if it’s someone I know or he’s just not much of a threat I’ll go for a control-technique, if it’s an aggressive, strong or trained individual, he has a weapon or there are other people involved it’s better to just beat him into a bloody pulp. It’s just safer to demolish him as fast as possible and in those situations it’s your safety that is important, not his.

For the second way I picked up techniques from JKD, panantukan and krav-maga: what comes naturally for me is to intercept and punch (preferably at the same time to deny him the opportunity to defend or retaliate) then clinch and start kneeing and applying elbows/hammerfists. This approach comes from krav-maga and I like it because it’s very simple and direct and most people simply aren’t used to clinching and once you’ve got them in a good hold (I usually use a modified kumi-kata from judo: one hand controlling his arm, the other controlling his neck so he cannot turn or punch effectively). From there you can start firing away those knees: groin, plexus, thigh… doesn’t really matter aslong as you do it hard and fast and keep driving them backwards. Once he’s softened up you can let go of his neck and with that hand start hammering away at the side of the neck. Instant knock-out, even against the strongest man. Another cool way of taking him out is to simply step on his foot (the upper part, otherwise it won’t work) and push firmly onto his chest. He’ll fall and break his ankle in the process.

Naturally from that clinch-position you can also perform a throw (o-soto-gari would be most appropriate) or lock him (ude-garami from the back for example) if you’d rather control than demolish. If I ever become a sensei (god willing) this is how I would organize my curriculum: for yellow belt I’d focus mainly on boxing (defenses, attacks, conditioning) along with basic wrist-escapes and breakfalling. For orange and green I’d take the krav-maga approach in teaching defenses against all types of attacks, along with basic ground-defenses. For blue, brown and black I’d focus on classical JJ and controlling-techniques, aswell as weapon-defenses. It’s quite possible and even likely I’ll change my mind about this but in my view this would provide a basic self-defense capacity as early as possible while still allowing people to grow in the art and explore the more complicated issues once they’ve mastered the basics (winning against the common streetfighter).

I presume I’ll be using kicks more when I get better at them but for now they’re just not a very important part of my arsenal, except knees of course but for me that’s another category entirely. They’re more of a close-combat weapon together with elbows and head-buts. It is true that most people do have a preference and a natural inclination towards either hand or foot techniques, for me I think it’s a combination of morphology (I’m pretty tall and not that limber, I do have great reach and power with my punches) and previous MA-experience. It’s not very common for JJ-dojo’s to train kicking a lot and it’s only when my current sensei started his own club that more emphasis was put on that. If you truly want to learn how to kick hard, fast and accurately there’s no substitute for agility and form training at home (what I’m doing now) and taking up some type of kickboxing or karate (what I’m hoping to do starting September).

Neal Martin

I got to learn a lot of kicking techniques back when I was doing Kempo karate. I have also done a lot of kickboxing so kicking is just a natural thing to me. It's also the thing most lacking in most of the new students who join our club, even the ones with previous experience. They are usually very slow and kick of the back leg all the time. When they see how effective my technique is they want to learn it, but my technique is based on many years of practice, something most of them can't take in.

I like your curriculum idea. For developing well rounded fighters it sounds very good. The problem I have with classic JJ is that basic striking techniques are often shunned in favor of wrist locks and the like. Blocks especially are often woefully inadequate in these systems, which is fine on the mats, but not on the street. We always try to drum into new students the importance of good hard blocks (which double as initial strikes) and effective strikes. Without them there would be no opportunity to apply half the techniques that JJ teaches.

I'd like to ask, do you bother much with kata? We basically have three kata that we practice: Uke no Kata, Kime no Kata (required to pass 2nd Dan) and Nage no Kata (required to pass 3rd Dan). I love doing these katas and they teach you quite a lot about technique and the martial arts in general. All your knowledge and experience has to be brought into play to perform them correctly, especially with the last two katas.

Zara

We don’t really use blocks anymore, except as a last resort. We used to practice the traditional karate-blocks (age-uke, soto-uke, uchi-uke) but against a fast puncher who doesn’t drop his hands they just don’t work. For straight punches it’s best to parry (either on the inside or the outside, preferably outside since there’s less danger), for hooks and overhead blows a modified age-uke is still feasible but even then it’s still better to get your head out of the way and guide the attack instead of opposing. When you’re in trouble you can block (covering up to the front or side) but that’s only advisable when you’re being overwhelmed (we sometimes call the double cover the ‘oh shit position’) and it’s impossible to parry every single blow. Back in the day my old sensei taught hooked defenses (basically you sort of parry and grab at the same time) or circular double blocks (parry with the right, block with the left on his arm) and coupled with a counterpunch they work and allow you to transition to another technique but I still prefer boxing-style defenses since they offer the most protection and are generally quicker. In any case I try to time my attacks and defenses to either coincide (block and hit at the same time) or as close as possible. For real you don’t want to trade blows: you want to get it over with asap.

I know kenpo-karate is different but traditional Japanese karate is just too slow: retreat, block, counter… way too slow and when using force against force the little guy will always lose. It is possible to damage the guy’s arm with blocking but then you’d have to actually hit the arm with your fist or elbow, preferably while parrying at the same time as in panantukan. To achieve this with the forearm as in karate is difficult unless you’ve seriously conditioned your forearm or are much bigger than him. I do agree with you on your statement that JJ-defenses or blocks against strikes or kicks are usually inferior to those of pure striking-systems (no surprise there), usually uke-waza is about the weakest part of the system. Don’t get me wrong, I still love JJ but there are parts that can and should be improved and that’s were cross-training comes in. Traditional JJ-schools should pay more attention to developing decent striking-skills and adjust to the modern world: learning defenses against weak, telegraphed or slow strikes will produce low-quality defenses and it would be a damn shame to get hit or defeated just because you failed to adapt. While I think most ju-jutsuka’s will do fine against the untrained (most of them anyway, some people are just naturally gifted or very aggressive or overpowering) they will have great difficulty against somebody with even the most basic training in boxing. It’s impossible to grab a boxer’s arm, impossible, and you can forget about taking away his balance. Your best bet would be to either kick low or shoot in and take him down, if you try the traditional stuff you’ll be toast. Unless you happen to be wearing a katana or hidden weapon of course. I think this is at least one reason for the rather defensive attitude towards striking in the Japanese MA: in the old days you wouldn’t want to try to kick or punch a guy wearing a sword and if they did catch you unaware you’d want to disengage as fast as possible to draw your weapon and even things out.

As to your question about kata: in our old dojo we used to practice kata on occasion but kata were really only for the advanced students (at least first Dan). In my new club I haven’t seen it and I do seriously doubt practicing them will have any impact on your fighting-skills. Most of the techniques in kata are out-dated anyway (sword-defenses? Kneeling defenses? Overhead strikes?) and while it’s nice to respect tradition and I’m pretty sure it worked in the old days it’s really not a mandatory skill and should only be practiced by black belts who already have a solid base in self-defense. Kata are more artful and meditative than useful or practical. That’s at least my view.

As to your comment on effective defense and striking: I wholeheartedly agree. Good striking (at least with the hands) and adequate defenses are the basis of effective self-defense and the heart of the martial-arts, at least the practical ones. If you cannot defend a strike (i.d preventing it from making contact with your face) and you can’t hit hard and fast enough to contact and at least daze him you’re no good and this may be fine for a beginner but it’s completely unacceptable for someone who calls himself a martial-artist.

Yet you see a lot of this: people being sloppy while defending or just waving in the general direction of the target… this will simply not do and whenever I see that I have the tendency to either counterattack or resist any techniques he might try. Yet when I do this a lot of times I get to hear nonsense like ‘you’re resisting too much’ (duh, what do you think a real opponent will do? We’re not doing ballet here), ‘this is too difficult’ (no it isn’t, you just need practice, whining about it is not going to change anything) or ‘this doesn’t work’ (no it does, just not the way you’re doing it). It was difficult for me too in the beginning, everybody pays their dues but if you practice hard and with intention you will get there and you will be effective. However, the first step to becoming effective is to learn how to strike hard, fast and with accuracy and to react correctly and instantly to attacks. First reaction and a couple of good blows on vulnerable targets are of the utmost importance, I cannot stress this enough. This is why we do a lot of first reaction drills: you take a stopwatch and let students attack oneanother with a certain strike or hold and train interception (so just the first stage of the defense: release, evasion or parry with atemi) over and over again, as much as possible in the given time. This teaches you speed and it drills the movements into your body so they’ll become instinctive (after a while at least). Another thing I’d like to do when I’m teaching is to practice striking with contact for at least a few rounds on the focus-mitts or the heavy bag.

This is one thing we never did in our old dojo: strike or block training was inadequate and too infrequent and we always just hit the air… Last thing I heard they still do it at my old dojo and the results are disastrous: blue belts or even higher that wouldn’t be able to stand up to a good striking combo or give one back is just shameful and only old ladies, completely inexperienced people or giants will attack you with simple holds… That’s what you get when you start emphasizing artfulness or tradition over effectiveness and self-defense. Yet they feel safe, proficient and secure, go figure. The first time I ever sparred with boxing gloves it came as a nasty surprise to me that I couldn’t hold my own: it just happened way too fast, my blocks were inadequate and as a result of being way too defensive I got hit all the time. I simply wasn’t trained or prepared for it and it was clearly something I needed to work on. Thank god I found this out during practice and not on the street! Luckily my new sensei actually has experience with kickboxing so he can teach me and work around some of the weaknesses in the old system.

Neal Martin

I kind of agree with you on the blocks front. Every time we train it's always in my head that these blocks won't work on the street because you simply won't be fast enough to utilize them properly. Maybe, in the case of someone who swings a wild haymaker at you or if you're in close and someone throws a hook. But you're right, you'll never block or parry a boxer. Too fast. You just have to close them down or kick them. I always remember the very first fight Royce Gracie had in the UFC. He was fighting a boxer and the guy had the gloves on and Gracies just did a shoot and took him down. It was amusing to see this highly trained boxer squirm about in Gracies grip like a fish out of water. He was choked out in the end and wasn't very happy about it. I think he felt like Gracie had cheated or something. But you take away the punching ability and a boxer has nothing left to give.

These days I mostly train for the sake of the art. The strikes and skills I need for self defense have been developed in me for a long time now and I don't really have to work on them much. Even if I quit tomorrow and never train again I will always have that skill set (I actually quit for five years once, but in all that time I still considered myself a martial artist and I never lost the skills. I went back and was more committed than ever. I think I needed to leave in order to see what I was missing from a life, which was a lot). Self defense to me is very simple and direct and to the point, technique wise, which is why I don't put too much stock in most of the JJ techniques. I know I will never use most of them, so I just enjoy practicing them (but still maintaining the edge).

I don't think self defense can really be trained for effectively in the dojo. If you want to be good at it you have to get out there and do it, confront violence on a regular basis. There is no getting around that one. Simulation, as good as it is in some cases, is never the same as the real thing. I used to kid myself that dojo training was enough, but it isn't. To be good at self defense you have to expose yourself to the pressurized conditions of a real fight until you get used to it enough were you can handle the pressure effectively and it doesn't handle you. Exposure training. That's why so many martial artists become bouncers. To test the skills and be shocked by what works and what doesn't. Did you read my last article? I think Thompson's Fence technique is excellent. I don't know how much you know about him but he made it is mission to confront violence and overcome his fear of it, which he did through constant exposure to it. From that experience he has developed a lot of self defense techniques that have been tried and tested in real situations. I recommend you check out his books and videos. He writes motivational books as well that I found to be very useful and as no nonsense as his martial arts.

As for the kata, I do them because I enjoy them and because I like to explore the more esoteric and deeper aspects to the martial arts and training in such kata helps me do that. As I have said before in my articles, how many street fights are you going to get into in your life time, unless you go looking for them? Very few. So why stress constantly over protecting yourself against something that statistically is unlikely to happen. As I say, I am prepared for that and always will be but I don't fret too much over it anymore. I just enjoy the practice.

By the way I recommend learning kick boxing. It's very good at teaching you how to move around and work an opponet and it willimprove your striking skills, cordination and timing no end. It even helps with self defense.

Zara

I understand you’re at a level (both of confidence and skill) that you do not worry much about the self-defense application of the techniques and concentrate on the other aspects. I agree the majority of JJ-techniques will be hard to apply, especially by relatively new students (from experience I know it takes years to develop good locking techniques and even longer to be able to use them intuitively, even then I’d probably wouldn’t use them for real) and against punches and kicks. Every category of technique has a time and a place (locks are much more suited to grabbing or holding attacks, throwing or kicking is very effective against kicking and punching and kicking is best used against punches) and much of the rationale behind the technique can be explained by looking at the history of the art. If you’d normally fight with weapons (‘the sword is the soul of the warrior’) unarmed techniques will always come second (unlike Chinese MA which do rely more on unarmed combat, at least in their folkhistory) and it’s fairly useless to kick or punch a guy when he’s wearing armor. In those cases you’d want to take him down and either terminate him (by a neckbreak or by drawing a secondary weapon) or capture him by means of a pin. In unarmed combat against unarmored opponents, possibly multiple, your best bet would be simple striking techniques and quick footwork. Both in terms of ease (in execution as in learning-time) and in terms of effectiveness/legal considerations. Striking somebody in the head is fairly acceptable (especially when he just tried to do the same to you) and it will generally work, dumping someone on his head is another matter entirely. In training we are usually taught at least two ways of executing a technique: the old way which would result in death or serious injury (e.g kiri-otoshi performed with fingers in the eyes and straight down, this would most likely break his neck or damage his spine) or the modern, softer version (the same technique with a step back, guiding him down, with or without the possibility of giving him a concussion on impact or atemi and/or control (putting your knee on someone’s jaw usually does the trick). Wether or not it’s such a brilliant idea to teach these high-level applications to a bunch of beginners (myself excluded of course, lol) is debateable but who am I to question sensei’s judgment? We’re all responsible adults after all.

That is another reason why locks might not be such a good idea: if he struggles and you use force to make it work you’ll most likely break something and for some reason this looks very bad in the eyes of the court (I still wonder why there would be such a big difference in breaking someone’s nose or jaw as opposed to breaking his wrist or elbow) and this is a very real possibility when using locks in a high-stress situation. Especially when used as an initial technique (atemi being secondary, lock primary): the goal of these techniques was to cause a dislocation and pain after all, not necessarily to control him unharmed. Good and defensible applications of joint-locks are – at least in my view – controlled responses to grabs (it would be overkill to bash someone’s nose in just because he grabbed your shirt in a heated argument), as a restraining technique after you’ve already beaten him into submission or as an escorting-technique (mostly for bouncers or cops).

Leaving this rather technical discussion and going right to the meat of your respons: rather traditional MA (like JJ, even in it’s modern form) are about much more than just self-defense or fighting (unlike boxing for example) and it can be argued (like you did) that given the beneficial effects of MA-training (spiritually, mentally, health-wise) the art-aspect is more important the purely self-defense part. After all it is true the average citizen does not get into a lot of fights and it makes sense to take precautions against things that are likely or at least more likely to happen than against mere theoretical possibilities. Getting insurance against fire damage is reasonable, bolting the doors every night and sleeping with a shotgun next to the bed for fear of a crazed serial-killer bursting through the door is not. Then again: most people do start MA-training with the goal of self-defense and it would be rather dishonest to accept their money and trust and not give them what they want. Hopefully they’ll stay to learn the other perks training has to offer but I found it takes years of training in a traditional MA to achieve that primary goal and only months when you train boxing, kickboxing or another striking art (excluding most of the kung-fu styles which are way too flowery and arty-farty for my taste). Given Murphy’s law the more complicated a technique is the greater the chance it is going to fail and consequently the more training you need to pull it off outside the dojo. That is why I said if I become a teacher I’ll teach them kickboxing first, before moving on to the more complex stuff. What somewhat baffles me is that traditional arts (supposedly used on the battlefield and super-deadly) are actually less effective (in general) or at least less efficient than modern combat-sports, let alone self-defense systems like krav-maga.

For one you’d have to learn much more techniques in a traditional style than in a modern one (boxing has only 6 basic offensive techniques and about the same number of defensive ones, most traditional/Asian arts contain hundreds if not thousands of techniques), the second handicap so to speak is that the traditional techniques generally take more time to learn and more skill to execute. A boxer with six months of experience will have thrown a cross thousands of times (if not more), a ju-jutsuka will have trained a straight armbar only a few hundred times and that is if the training was fast-paced and in drill-form which is not the case in most clubs. It is said that to really master a technique you must have practiced it at least a thousand times and I think this number increases with the complexity of the technique. Does that mean I advocate quitting traditional arts and taking up modern ones instead? Obviously not since there a lot of factors beside efficiency and combat-readiness to consider but it would be a good thing to realize this potential downside and to try to remedy it as much as possible. This can be done by investing more training-hours into your art (alone or with a partner, it doesn’t really matter), by combining it with training in a more modern form (e.g combining traditional JJ with boxing) or by implementing elements from these arts into your own.

I realize I’ve already written quite a lot (sometimes I do get a bit carried away and it is an interesting topic) so I’d like to end on a more personal note. It is true for the time being I am focusing more on the topic of self-defense in my training, I think this due to a few factors which I’ll go into shortly. For one I just got involved in training others (as an assistant) and I do think it’s my duty (naturally the brunt of the responsibility lies with sensei) to provide them with most effective tools available to achieve their goal of self-defense. Besides that there is my exposure to other arts (JKD, kali) which I consider more effective in some area’s than JJ, the art I started in, and this has led me to make adjustments in my personal style (under the guidance of sensei of course) and to the resolution to become the best martial-artist I can be and this includes make my techniques as effective as possible. I think this in accord with the ancient way of bu-jutsu or the arts or skills developed for war. Don’t me wrong, I’m not aggressive or obsessed by war or violence, I just try to understand the roots and of the MA in order to grow both physically and mentally. In the old days it was simple: either you were effective (or at least more effective than the other guy) or you died. The MA continually evolved because of this principle (survival of the fittest) and while training today is no longer geared towards warfare and killing (nor should it be) and it is very good to respect and uphold the old kata and techniques I do think it’s a disservice to the founders to just mimick what they did (which obviously worked for them but not necessarily for us today) and stop this evolution. The MA are living entities and everybody must arrive at their own way and understanding of them: what works for me in any given situation? This is important and the foundation of one’s development. The rest will come, I’m quite sure of that.

As to your remark that self-defense can’t really be learned in a dojo: I agree but only partly. Dealing with stress and adjustment to the unpredictable nature of a street-fight are things that you’ll only learn when it happens for real (it’s very hard to put fear and stress into people in controlled circumstances) but it does help to come prepared. You have to learn at least some basic techniques otherwise you won’t be very effective and learning techniques and becoming good with them will increase your confidence-level which will help in dealing with danger and stress. A properly trained soldier will always be more effective than an improperly trained one, even if he’s still green and inexperienced. This does not necessarily mean he’ll perform well (a lot depends on character and previous life-experience) but it’ll increase the likelihood. At least learn how to operate a rifle, then we’ll see what you can do with it. That’s my opinion.

I did read that article, I’ll read it again and maybe comment on that one too.

Neal Martin

I see were you are coming from in regards to the overall effectiveness of traditional martial arts, especially karate and the like. They just seem too slow at times and certainly not suited to modern combat. I can only speculate that back in the day even street fighting was much more formalized and a lot less scrappy than it is now. I also think back then practitioners devoted a lot more time to their art and were therefore much more proficient in it than your average martial artist these days. I saw a film recently called Black Belt, a Japanese movie that centered around three characters who trained in traditional karate. I recommend watching it if you haven't seen it yet. The fight scenes are very good and they are as true a representation of traditional MA techniques as if ever seen in a movie. It gives you some sense of what things may have been like back then and also why the art is what it is. It suited the times.

I get the impression from your comments that you are itching shake things up as far as your training is concerned. You maybe want to modernize it a bit to suit the times. I totally understand this because I often feel the same way and if I wasn't such a traditionalist and under the thumb of my sensei (who happens also to be my father) I would perhaps shake up the whole curriculum. This is not to say that I want to create my own style. I just want to train more effectively. You have actually got me thinking about what a modern martial art (MMA) would consist of and what sort of people it would appeal to. I intend to look into this further and perhaps create some kind of blue print or manifesto in the future. I think it would make a fascinating e-book. You can contribute if you like, since you seem to have thought about it so much. A MMA would be very much as you described in your last comment, starting with basic strikes and such before gradually building up to more complicated techniques. For me though, it would still have to maintain the overall traditional ethos, meaning the philosophical and spiritual aspects would have to be kept. The philosophy would obviously have to be updated to suit modern times. Doing this would also set it apart from the likes of mixed martial arts, which is what it would be almost without the deeper elements. It would make an interesting exercise anyway.

Lastly I do agree that a trained person is more effective than an untrained one, of course they are. My point was that a lot of MA's think this training is enough to complete them as fighters, when it isn't. You still need that baptism of fire to give you that killer edge.

Thanks for another great discussion. Keep it coming, maybe on a different post this time. We carry on at this rate it will take people days to read this one post with all the comments!

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