I don’t care if people take exception to what I say here, I’m going to say it anyway, the kicking I see in the UFC and MMA is not really kicking. Truth, it is leg swinging, without focus, and it is sport and not art. the purpose of this writing is to tell you why it doesn’t work, and the simple things you can do to put art back into sport. I had a friend, name of Ted, way back in the late sixties. He was a tall, skinny, hippie looking fellow, who happened to have the most phenomenal kicking ability. One day he was driving, and a fellow cut in front of him, and Ted hit the horn. The fellow stopped, got out, and walked back towards Ted, who got out of his car and backed away. The fellow was a huge, easily three hundred pounds, and he dwarfed Ted, and he said some things I wont repeat here. Ted put his hands palm out, and said there was no need to fight. The fellow swung a punch, and Ted leaned out of the way and planted a beautiful wheel kick in the center of the monsters chest. The fellow sat down, groaned, felt his chest, and then stood up and rushed Ted again. Ted tried to step back, held up his hands again, and told the monster he didn’t want to fight. The brute threw a haymaker, and that was when Ted called on the true art of kicking. Ted sunk his weight, put his weight into the kick, and smacked the fellow on the chin. Bang and fellow laid down for a ten count snooze, and Ted went to his car and drove away. So, sinking your weight and throwing the hips are important, even crucial, and some fellows do it and some fellows don’t, but the ball of the foot, that was the key. Look, when the UFC gladiator bashes, he swings his leg like he is swinging a baseball bat, and there is not enough weight behind it. When you swing the foot and use the ball of the foot, the energy goes back along the leg and into the hips, and even into the ground and there is body and weight behind the kick. Yes, instep kicks are okay, but they spread the strike out over the ankle. The ball of the foot kick concentrates the mass into a smaller striking area. If you want to put a nice, precise hole in a plank of wood, are you going to bash it with a baseball bat, or use a balpeen hammer? Kicking, like punching, is an art, and the UFC and MMA type of fighters are really doing boxing, not the science of pure martial arts. To understand pure martial arts, one has to study this western thing called physics, and apply it to eastern martial arts, and then the answers and ability will come, and then the art will be resurrected. Art will win over sport, and not just gladiatorial contests, but in life, that is the solution and the way of the true art.
Al Case has researched martial arts for 4O+ years. A writer and columnist for the magazines since 1981, he is the originator of Matrixing Technology. You can see his work on developing perfect and artistic punches and kicks at Monster Martial Arts. Look around the site for his free ebook on Matrixing.
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