Do High Kicks work in Combat ?

[holyman]

Has anyone used high kicks to knock KO someone ?. If so was it a street situation ? in the Dojo ? .

Geoff Thompson is against high kicks in street fights. He says a back roundhouse should never be used.

Also why do say kick boxing is a good fighting system when it is actually a sport ?. I read somewhere on the forum a kick boxer was fighting 6 guys at once to prevent this woman from being assaulted. So how come kick boxing works if it is a sport ? I am confused

[Garland]

High kicks work...IF they connect. If you can get someone to drop their hands or nail them as they shoot...in a street fight, a good policy regarding kicks is probably to work their legs and knee caps. A Thai kick to the back of the leg, or a stop to the patella and then to rake the shin all the way to the instep works, to set up a whole barage of high-line attacks. One hit COULD end a fight...but it's not very probable...better to be thourough and just HIT anyway possible as hard as you can until they drop...and then follow with stomps or soccer kicks to the head, limbs, teap (a Karate front kick or even an AXE kick if you angle the heel up right, oddly enough, can WORK and work wonders here) their tailbone...whatever, and then run.
On a similar note...I don't think it's good policy to grapple somebody in a street fight because it leaves you open to attack from other assailants, but police come alongs ("bargaining" positions), or chicken wings, hammer locks, and some Kali breaks might work, so long as your not prone or kneeling.

[Garland]

So how come kick boxing works if it is a sport ? I am confused

Karate is a sport, Tae Kwon Do is a sport, wrestling is a sport, boxing is a sport, shooto is a sport, and their are jiu jitsu competitions which I think make it a sport...POKER is NOT a SPORT!
Every sport has applications in combat. EVERYTHING...from water polo to shot puts to 50 yard dash (especially the 50 yard dash).

Reminds me of a story Guro Inosanto told at a seminar..something about how somebody at an army base (I think) challeneged all of the boxers, and martial arts guys and said that he could beat any one of them if he chose the terrain. Turns up the guy was a top notch water polo guy...ended up dunking all of them.
Moral of the story...don't start a fight in a swimming pool with somebody who plays water polo.

[Uber_Tap]

Hi Kicks can work in combat, but the risk is to high. Think how vulnerable you are when you have your leg extended high enough to kick someone in the head. Sure there is a possibility that you can catch them on the chin and end a fight, but that a small possibility and if you miss you are vulnerable to a lot of counters. The likely hood of getting a shot straight to the man-berries is a real concern when you kick high, not to mention how easy it would be for someone to drop you on your head.

[EmptyneSs]

high kicks do have their place, but u have to set them up. u cant just go up to ur opponent and try to kick his head off. u have to hit him with shots that will open him up, or lower his head and put it in perfect kicking range. using kicks can leave u vulnerable, thats y use them when ur oponent has opened up and is in the more vulnerable position. for example, u can hit someone in the belly so he bends foreward a bit, bringing his head down and in better range, then kick it. ur u can sink somene with a hard leg kick, and when his body lowers, then u can kick his head, and so on. there are many ways to do this, and it can work and it is devastating.

[Tom Yum]

http://www.mikemiles.com/video/kiatsongritthomson.mpg

kiatsongrit is no joke. This spinning back kick must have done some damage!

[IronFist]

Yeah, accidently KO'd a mate with kick whilst werwere sparring would never ever consider doing this in a street encounter.

On the otherside of the coin, if you have the ability to high kick and do damage then why not.

Has anyone used high kicks to knock KO someone ?. If so was it a street situation ? in the Dojo ? .

Geoff Thompson is against high kicks in street fights. He says a back roundhouse should never be used.

Also why do say kick boxing is a good fighting system when it is actually a sport ?. I read somewhere on the forum a kick boxer was fighting 6 guys at once to prevent this woman from being assaulted. So how come kick boxing works if it is a sport ? I am confused

[NYCMonkey]

High kicks? Well, there are much more logical strikes to take (generally, your foot would be the closest weapon to his head if he's on the ground you're going to stomp his face in, otherwise, use a different tool). Shit happens, and I'm sure it's been done, but it's one of those one ina million types of things or if you're incredibly well trained you have the slightest chance to pull it off. But generally speaking, why you'd neglect all the other probably more available tools at your dispoable is beyond me.

[shirase]

im just curious holyman but have you been living under a rock for your whole life? because you have tons of questions, some of which are pretty ridiculous. Anyways, I should answer your question. High kicks can be pulled off, especially to finish the fight after a few good punches/elbows/knees/low kicks. If you have lots of timing and skill, then you can even pull it off in a combo. Watch some videos of Ernesto Hoost fight, he is crazy at finishing the fight with high kicks. I remember seeing him do a couple hooks and uppercuts then launching his shin into their head. Good stuff good stuff. Anyways, for self-defence I wouldnt recommend trying to pull off a high kick unless your fully confident it will work, or if you want to amaze your attackers before dropping them to the pavement. Keep in mind that in most situations where you are attacked it is high stress and alot of adrenaline is running through you, so doing fine motor tasks like doing high kicks are much more difficult and are much less likely to succeed.

[Tom Yum]

im just curious holyman but have you been living under a rock for your whole life?

heheheh......no time for national/regional jokes about the Appalachian mts.

[cakegirl]

I have a friend who has ended a multiple attacker situation on the street with a high kick. He's a karate champion, but freaked out when a group of guys attacked him, and did what was "instinct", which was a roundhouse to the head. He was wearng boots, and hit the leader of the group in the head, knocking him out. Then, while the rest of the group were stunned for a few seconds while their tough buddy was crashing to the ground, my friend ran away.

So they do work, but it highlights a problem with some martial arts training, which is that if you focus only on the sport aspect, that's what's going to come out in an actual self-defence situation. My friend is lucky, in that he's got legs like tree trunks and that one kick worked, but if he'd been some other student who was smaller or less strong, it could have been all bad...

Cakegirl

[Maulinator]

It all depends on the situation. Hopefully your training has put you in the 2% of the population that can actually fight.

Does a high kick work? Absolutely. Does it work all the time? No. Anything is possible when it comes to fighting - it's not the offense you put out - it's who makes a mistake first.

The thing to remember is that even if you train "street defense", it's still "sport" to a certain degree. You still follow rules and guidelines in training so as not to injure your training partners (because then you would have no one to train with right?) The only time you can execute certain "dirty tactics" is in an actual factual street fight. The only difference between any art is the type of techniques you learn and train for.

You really just have to asses the situation:

What works for YOU? - something that works for a 6'2 guy will probably not work the same for a 5'5 girl. Specifically, what techniques can you actually pull off in a hard, as real as it gets sparring session especially against a trained, resisting opponent. If you can pull it off in sparring, it's likely you can defeat the rest of the 98% of the population that doesn't know how to fight. One thing though - as Bruce Lee says, the most dangerous opponent is one that is untrained. You never know what to expect.

What is the percieved threat? - are there weapons involved, multiple attackers, some one who you may know has training, or is it your drunk buddy getting rowdy?

What is your goal? - is it a life and death situation, are you protecting someone else, pride maybe? Are you subduing someone or killing them?

[music guy nick]

Never seen anyone connect with a high kick to the head in a real street fight, but i have seen it in taped fights before. However, I have seen several straight kicks to the chest/stomach area knock several people on there azzes before.

[NYCMonkey]

While it's important to never throw anything practical out of your arsenal, the highest I am likely to go would be like a push kick to the stomach/sternum, and when I've tried in no consent scenarios, I've fell to the ground quite a few times. I mean, never say never, true enough, but more likely than not I personally keep kicks for the legs to sort of 'knock the tree down' or get a good flinch to open up something better i.e. a swift kick to the shin etc.

[jonutarr]

check out bumfinghts 1 at the 45min mark
there's one most perfect streetfights ive seen
i would of liked to see him with someone more his size though,
a burtal thumb to the eye then the KO head kick,
bumfights.com you can order the video,
some other streetfights are on it but its
mostly just sick people doing sick things