Category Archives: Kicks

Using the Mirror

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Brea Shaolin Kung Fu - Using the Mirror

Brea Shaolin Kung Fu – Using the Mirror

The mirror can be helpful for developing your kung fu ability.

Before or after class, you typically have time to practice anything you like:  kicks, stances, forms, chin na, san shou, etc.  By paying attention in class, you see how higher rank perform certain movements.  Perhaps you had a movement that was taught or corrected in class by Sifu.  The mirror let’s you judge for yourself just how well your movement stacks up.  Is your technique well balanced?  Are your stances low and strong?  Are your kicks and punches fast and sharp?  Is your posture correct or are you leaning, tense or just off?  The mirror and your honest judgment will give you the answers.

During class, the mirror is helpful in a different way.  Like the above, you can measure how high, fast and powerful your kicks are getting, how your stances compare to the rest of the class, etc.  However, during class, the mirror can be used when being taught new movements and greater details of old movements.  You can see multiple angles via the reflection and see things you might not have seen otherwise.  The mirror can also provide you with better peripheral vision to ensure you don’t hit or get hit by others.  It can even help you see others if you get confused or stuck – hopefully that doesn’t happen.

The mirrors can do all of that for you and more – the only thing you need to do is use them properly (i.e. not a great idea to look at yourself in the mirror when sparring and definitely not when you are standing at attention).  And one more thing, clean the sweat off of them after class every now and then.

A Low Ceiling

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Brea Shao Lin Kung Fu - Low Ceiling

Brea Shao Lin Kung Fu – Low Ceiling

One very effective way of lowering your root, creating power, and becoming more effective in sparring/fighting is to imagine that the ceiling of the room you train in has been lowered to about a foot or two shorter than your height.  An actual room like that would be hard to come by, so you’ll just have to visualize it when you train.  You would literally have to lower your head and bend your knees just to get in the room.  Imagine it.

When practicing kicks in this room, your stances will have to start low so your head doesn’t hit the ceiling.  When executing the kick, your stances must then stay low – don’t pop up!  This means you must sink your weight throughout the entire kick.  This will help your kick become even more powerful.  It also makes you difficult to sweep to the ground if your kick is caught as your center of balance – your root – makes you very heavy to the opponent and you have much greater balance.

Practicing single-step movements and forms in a room with a low ceiling also requires a great number of changes so as to not bang your head.  Let’s disregard movements that require standing at full height, jumping kicks, etc.  Focus on the majority of the movements that require stepping, turning, twisting, switching stances, punching, kicking, etc.   Like with the kicks, performing these movements with such low stances will create enormous power and stability.

During sparring, San Shou and even when implementing Chin Na, keeping low will provide a new perspective to your training.  Don’t mistake keeping low with being slow.  Your legs will burn for some time by keeping so low and that might seemingly slow your movements down.  Realize, however, that it’s only temporary due to your legs being gassed.  As you continue with this type of training, you will become incredibly stronger, your body looser, and those two things will help you move far quicker than before.

This new way of training will likely have an almost immediate impact on your skill level.  You will become a much more solid and smooth martial artist.  However, this type of training takes a good deal of focus and willingness to suffer – your legs will undoubtedly go through a great deal of growing pains.  But, if you care about progressing in your kung fu, it’s worth the pains.  In class, take a low stance in kicks, single step, forms, etc. and use the mirrors to try to maintain the height of your head through whatever you’re working on.  If you’re not in a position to look at a mirror, simply envision yourself doing what you’re doing and keeping your head on a level plane.  Do not bend your back to make this happen.  There will be times when movements dictate a higher or lower stance, so allow for them when they occur.  Otherwise, try to keep low, stable and supple.

Crescent Kick

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The Crescent Kick (or Outside Crescent Kick) is a specialty kick that is limited to attacking an opponents head and arms/hands.  For this reason, it must be practiced as high as possible to ensure speed, power and balance.

Crescent Kick

  • From a forward bow stance, move your weight forward onto your front foot and turn the hip of the back foot across the body.
  • Pick up the back foot and with a generally straight leg, bring it up towards it’s opposite shoulder.  As it approaches the top of the shoulder bring it across the body and back down.
  • The non-kicking foot naturally turns and grinds into the ground – mostly on the ball of the foot.
  • Both hands should be hit at about head level to prevent potential injury to the lower back.
  • Contact is made with the outside of the foot.
  • Always try to deliver 100% of power and speed to each kick during practice, as well as kick as high as possible.
  • Power, speed and balance are generated from proper form, strong “core” and leg muscles, and a relaxed body.  Those characteristics are attained by practicing the kick thousands and thousands of times.

Side Kick

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The Side Kick is one of the most powerful kicks in our arsenal.  Due to its form and power, this kick is difficult to block and is best avoided by moving out of range or to the side of the kick.   The Side Kick’s targets can be as low as the foot and as high as the head.

The Side Kick:

  • From a horse stance, move your back foot forward behind and in front of the forward foot.
  • Place it down with the heel pointing toward the target.  As you are shifting weight forward onto that leg, pick up the knee of the forward leg.
  • Kick out the foot of the forward leg and counterbalance by gradually moving your torso backwards.  At full extension, the body should be a straight line towards the target.
  • The higher the knee is lifted, the higher the kick can go.
  • Contact is made with the heel of the foot and at full extension of the Side Kick – the heel is higher than the toes.
    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu - Heel
    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu – Heel
  • Always try to deliver 100% of power to each kick during practice, as well as kick as high as possible.  If you can kick high with power and balance, then you can certainly kick to the lower and mid-range targets with confidence.
  • The Sick Kick is effectively used at a downward angle to crumble an opponent to the ground.
  • Power, speed and balance are generated from proper form, strong “core” and leg muscles, and a relaxed body.  Those characteristics are attained by doing thousands and thousands of them with purpose and a pursuit of perfection.

Turn Kick

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The Turn Kick is typically one of the more difficult “beginner” kicks.  I use the word beginner because it’s simply one of the kicks taught to new students.  It may take years to gain proficiency with this kick, however.  The kicks range is typically from knee to head.  It can be thought of as the leg’s equivalent to a hook punch as it is coming from the side.

The Turn Kick:

  • From a forward bow stance, move your weight forward onto your front foot and pick up the knee of the back leg.  As you are shifting weight forward, TURN (hence the name Turn Kick) the waist to parallel the target while releasing the kick and extend the leg completely (avoid cutting the kick short.)
  • The non-kicking foot turns and grinds into the ground on the ball of the foot.
  • The hip of the kicking leg is forward of the hip of the standing leg – the hips are parallel to the target.
  • The same arm as the kicking leg counter-balances the kick by going the opposite direction of the leg.
  • The higher the knee is lifted, the higher the kick can go.
  • Contact is made with the ball of the foot.
    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking - Ball of Foot
    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking – Ball of Foot
  • Always try to deliver 100% of power to each kick during practice, as well as kick as high as possible.  If you can kick high with power and balance, then you can certainly kick to the lower and mid-range targets with confidence.
  • Power, speed and balance are generated from proper form, strong “core” and leg muscles, and a relaxed body.  Those characteristics are attained by practicing the kick thousands and thousands of times.

Heel Kick

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The Heel Kick is often learned in conjunction with the Snap Kick.  Much of the action of both kicks are the same.  There are a few differences surrounding the purpose of the kick.  As the Snap Kick is like a straight punch, the Heel Kick is like a push.

The Heel Kick:

  • From a forward bow stance, move your weight forward onto your front foot and pick up the knee of the back leg.  As you are shifting weight forward, release the kick and extend completely (avoid cutting the kick short.)
  • The hip of the kicking leg is forward of the hip of the standing leg.
  • The higher the knee is lifted, the higher the kick can go.
  • Contact is made with the heel of the foot.

    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu - Heel

    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu – Heel

  • Always try to deliver 100% of power to each kick during practice, as well as kick as high as possible.  If you can kick high with power and balance, then you can certainly kick to the lower and mid-range targets with confidence.
  • The Heel Kick is often effectively used at a downward angle to crumble an opponent to the ground.
  • Power, speed and balance are generated from proper form, strong “core” and leg muscles, and a relaxed body.  Those characteristics are attained by doing a whole lot of them in class day in and day out.

Snap Kick

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The Snap Kick (or Back-leg Snap Kick) is likely the first “fighting” kick a new student learns.  Although it is one of the less complicated kicks to learn, it is very powerful and effective in a fighting situation.  Like most kicks, it can be delivered to targets as low as the shins and knees and as high as the head.  It is the leg’s equivalent of a straight punch.

The Snap Kick:

  • From a forward bow stance, move your weight forward onto your front foot and pick up the knee of the back leg.  As you are shifting weight forward, release the kick and extend completely (avoid cutting the kick short.)
  • The hip of the kicking leg is forward of the hip of the standing leg.
  • The higher the knee is lifted, the higher the kick can go.
  • Contact is made with the ball of the foot.

    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking - Ball of Foot

    Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking – Ball of Foot

  • Always try to deliver 100% of power to each kick during practice, as well as kick as high as possible.  If you can kick high with power and balance, then you can certainly kick to the lower and mid-range targets with confidence.
  • The Snap Kick can also be “double” kick, where the first kick is targeted low to the shins or knee and immediately followed up with a higher kick to middle or high targets.
  • Power, speed and balance are generated from proper form, strong “core” and leg muscles, and a relaxed body.  Those characteristics are attained by doing a whole lot of them in class day in and day out.

Stretch Kick

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The Stretch Kick is one of the first kicks new students learn.  It is not a fighting kick, however.  The Stretch Kick is intended to, as its name implies, stretch the hamstrings and lower back.  It also serves to warm up the body for the fighting kicks that will follow.  New students may find that it tests their balance as well.

The Stretch Kick:

  • From a forward bow stance, swing your leg straight up as far as it can go.  Don’t over-stretch the kick in the beginning.  As time goes on and you feel more comfortable with the kick, try to get foot as high as it will go with proper form (i.e. with a straight leg) and work toward head (or overhead) height.
  • The hip of the kicking leg should be well forward of the other hip at the top of the kick.
  • As with all kicks, your upper body should be relaxed.  Release any tension in the shoulders, hands, and face.
  • Unlike most fighting kicks, your arms can be held low at the sides of the body for balance.

Stances

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All Kung Fu styles have their strengths, but one they all share is strength of the lower body, or leg strength.  They all employ low stances so as to be able to root themselves for offensive as well as defensive movements.

The twelve ton tois that we train are actually sets of movements which are designed to work on your stances.  Ton toi means thunderkick in Chinese.  Low stances gives a practitioner a lot of jumping and kicking power as well as excellent cardiovascular training.

So lower your stances!

Self Study – Super Slow Kicks

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Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking

Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Kicking

An excellent way to increase strength and develop proper kicking form is to practice kicking very slowly – the slower you can do it, the harder it is.

One way to develop this, and the best way for newer students, is to put one hand on a wall and practice your slow kick – thus taking much of the balance difficulty out of the equation.  The kick could be a snap kick, heal kick, turn kick, or side kick for starters…. hook kick, cutting kick, or others can also be practiced for more advanced students.  Be sure to begin each kick by bringing up your knee first.  Then, depending on what kick it is, fully extend your leg as slowly as possible and move your torso accordingly.  As slowly as the kick went out, re-bend the knee and bring your torso back to an upright position.  This takes a great deal of body control and strength – both from your leg muscles and core of your body.

To add even more difficulty, take your hand off the wall and do these kicks without supporting yourself.  In addition to developing your ability to balance, this method requires even more strict attention to proper form.  Just as when you’re balancing on the wall, you must initiate each kick by raising your knee first, extend the leg fully, re-bend the knee while bringing torso back to upright position, and step back into start position.

This method of training is relatively difficult for people to do, typically for less limber practitioners who struggle with balance.   Start small by only doing a few kicks and keeping it at a speed that’s manageable.  Remember that proper form is more important than anything else.  Should you feel tightness in your hip or leg muscles, spend time stretching those muscles.  After practicing for a few weeks, add more kicks or simply keep the same number of kicks only do them more slowly.

The ultimate end result of this practice is the ability to properly execute head height kicks and hold them at full extension without losing your balance.  This requires a great deal of strength and flexibility, particularly in your legs and the benefits of this ability will certainly show in your sparring and forms.  However, the ability to execute slow kicks with perfect form will translate into fast, sharp full speed kicks, which will prove quite useful in sparring.

Training at Home

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“A day of missed training can never be recovered.”  This thought has been echoed by Kung Fu masters for generations.

There is no question that the more time you spend intently practicing your art the faster you will advance and the more skill you will acquire.  That said, when you can’t attend class for whatever reason try to spend some time training on your own.  Many have found solitary practice indispensable for overcoming weak areas, practicing new movements and conditioning their body.

There are three kinds of home practice.  The first is focused on creating a class-like workout at home, which would typically include kicking, single-step movements, forms, stances, exercises, etc.  Ideally, this workout is based on a self-examination of your kung fu skills and a focused effort on overcoming your imperfections (e.g. stances, kicks, saltongs, upper body strength, etc.) or further development of movements and techniques that you want to perfect.  If you are lucky enough to have a housemate or family member to train with you can even work on chin na, san shou and potentially sparring, although sparring must be done cautiously (just be careful not to get injured.)  This should be your primary training when not at the kung fu school.  At the very least, practice the latest forms you’ve learned or work on perfecting the eight stances and holding them until your legs begin to shake (and then a little more).

The second kind of training, some call it “cross-training”, can also be of value by way of physical conditioning.  This training seeks to develop speed, strength, and endurance.  Swimming is an excellent exercise that both strengthens and stretches your body while giving your joints a break from gravity.  Jogging, lifting weights, yoga, and playing various sports will all benefit your kung fu training as long as you are careful not to overdo it and avoid injury.  Another good idea is to combine some of the above exercises with traditional kung fu training.  For example, jog a lap around the block, do a few forms, followed by push ups and stances, and repeat.  An excellent work out.

The third kind of training involves resting your body and using your mind.  Simply put, there are times when you must rest like when you are sick, injured, or just plain exhausted to the point where you become irritable and achey.  Resting your body and brain allows it to recharge and regenerate, which is necessary for growth.   Many studies have supported the benefits of getting eight hours of sleep and how it significantly improves both physical and mental performance.  Daytime naps have also been shown to be healthy.

While your body is resting, kung fu training can continue in your mind through self-imagery.  Imagine yourself in various sparring scenarios successfully utilizing counters to your opponents attacks.  Go further and think of your opponents response to your counter and what you would do.  Or, you can think about chin na techniques you know and visualize exactly how they are to be performed.  The same can be said for san shou.  You can even think about your forms and what fighting techniques can be derived from various movements in the form.  This self-imagery training is very valuable and many professional athletes swear by it.  One of the all-time great golfers, Jack Nicklaus said, “I never hit a shot even in practice without having a sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie.  First, I “see” the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. Then there’s a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality and only at the end of this short private Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and step up to the ball.”

At times life can get hectic and unfortunately take precedence over coming to the school for class.  However, you can and should find a way to practice on your own – if even for a short time – and you may very well find your skills move to the next level because of it.  Sample home workouts will come in future posts.  Keep training…

Circle Kicks Before Class

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Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Circle Kicks

Brea Shaolin Kung Fu Circle Kicks

If class hasn’t officially begun 5-10 minutes after the hour, then it is the responsibility of the highest rank in class to start circle kicks.  There are a few things to keep in mind:

  • The highest rank should run through all the kicks they know until class begins – starting with the more basic kicks and moving to more advanced.  These include:  stretch kicks, off-side stretch kicks, snap kicks, heal kicks, turn kicks, side kicks, outside crescent, inside crescent, back leg side kick, hook kick, back leg hook, double side, jumping snap, double snap, pema, outside pema, back leg spear, front leg spear, saltong, back leg saltong, rolling, and all sorts of combination kicks, etc.
  • Call out what kick is to be performed before starting.
  • If the class has a lot of people in it, form two lines for circle kicks
  • Should there be lower rank in the class who don’t know the next kick called out, then provide them an alternate kick that they do know.  For example, if they don’t know a hook kick, have them do a side kick.
  • If there is a very new student who knows only a few kicks, the highest rank asks the next highest rank to take the new student off to the side to work with them on what they know.  If there are many new students in the class, then have them sit at the side and watch.
  • When all kicks have been performed, start doing single step movements.  After all the single step movements have been performed, move into tan tuis.  When all tan tuis have been completed, check with sifu for direction.

Visualizing An Imaginary Opponent

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As mentioned before there is “no fat” in your kung fu training.  Everything has a purpose and the primary purpose is to develop your martial skills to the highest level possible given the amount of time and effort you devote to training.  Something that can really benefit your training from very early on to higher levels is visualizing an imaginary opponent or “shadowboxing”.  It can and should be something you do in every training session.

A wide variety of kicks are performed in each class – tens, hundreds, even a thousand-plus kicks can be counted out.  At times these kicks can become “lifeless” if you’re not trying hard or having an off day.  To avoid this waste of time, make the mental effort to imagine a potential threat in front of you and use that to motivate yourself to block an imaginary attack or arm out of the way and kick this imaginary opponent with as much speed, power and height as possible.  This mental imagery will not only bring “life” back into your kicks, but will also help you develop better kicking ability for forms, san shou and, most importantly, sparring.

The same mental exercise should be used for single step movements.  As you are stepping to do a forward bow punch, imagine you are blocking an imaginary attack or arm out of the way with the retreating hand and strike the imaginary opponent with as much speed and force as you can muster.  You will realize that you move smoother and can execute the technique with more power against your imaginary opponent with low stances.  Again, your san shou and sparring will greatly benefit from this visualization practice.

Lastly, visualization can really come alive when it comes to forms.  In the beginning, it may be difficult to understand what techniques the forms are teaching and how an opponent would attack.  However, you will be taught the purpose of many of the form’s movements (there are usually a number of uses for each individual movement in a form) and you need to think and ingrain how the technique would work against your imaginary sparring partner.  This is especially helpful when doing the form on count as movements are broken down into pieces (although visualization can and should also be done with forms at full speed eventually).  Practicing forms at home while visualizing an imaginary opponent is an excellent self-study practice.

Spinning Movements

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As you progress and learn more kicks, hand techniques, chin na, and forms (even weapons), you will find there are a number of movements that require you to “spin”.  The key element (and the reason why these movements are done somewhat sparingly) is that at some point you expose your back.  Exposing your back has potential for disaster as you are unable to see what’s going on and a number of vital areas could be attacked and quickly end the fight to your opponent’s favor.  However, after developing the ability to execute spinning movements with proper timing and distance, these techniques can provide advantages in combat, such as the element of surprise, the combining of a defensive and offensive move at once, and the development of a powerful strike/movement through the torque of the spin.

An example of all three is the spinning side kick.  If an opponent launches a punch or a snap kick, quickly blocking and stepping away from the punch or kick while spinning will likely surprise the opponent as well as provide defense from the attack.  Follow it up with a powerful side kick to the midsection and you have one very effective movement.

Even a number of chin na movements utilize a spin.  Fortunately, for those techniques the back is mostly protected as you are leading your opponent to the eventual lock and he’s likely both wondering and worried about what was happening to him.  However, if you’re opponent understands what you’re doing, then he will likely react by spinning along with you to avoid being locked.  You’ve likely uncovered a skilled fighter if that’s the case.

So, as you learn spinning movements, make an effort to consistently practice them in san shou and sparring to develop proper distance and timing.  In sparring, using spinning movements as you’re learning them is a calculated risk, which may result in your opponent’s advantage more often than not.  That’s ok, however, as if you keep trying and persist in making the technique work, then it will be yours to draw on when needed.  If executed properly (at the right time and distance from your target), spinning movements are just one of the many different fighting skills available to students.