ax(e) kick and crescent kick

[Damian Mavis]

Yes it can be done with a switch jump which is when you raise one leg, jump and then raise the other one for the kick wile the other leg shoots back for balance and stability in mid air. Jumping like that is a good way to move forward or backward while doing the kick.

I practice the flipping axe kick (dubbed the forbidden kick haha) but that is just for fun really. Who knows though... I saw a Canadian use it in UFC back in the day.. he missed but it looked damn kool and the other guy just kind of stood there blinking because he had no idea what the frik he just saw.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[twinkletoes]

I learned this one the hard way, even though it should have been obvious. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use either crescent kick (inwards OR outwards) on anything more solid than an arm.

I wasn't thinking one day, while I was doing some heavy bag work, and blasted the bag with an outward crescent. I had so much momentum and torque coming into it that my body, including my upper thigh, continued past the bag. My lower leg, as dictated by physics, stopped upon contact with the bag. I nearly snapped my own LCL.

The knee is not made for lateral force, and kicking something of substantial mass with a crescent will provide just that kind of lateral force. Beware.....

~TT

 

[Damian Mavis]

I use crescent kick full contact all the time on the heavy bag.... all kicks if done incorrectly on a heavy bag can cause serious injury.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[sweeper]

I haven't practiced TKD and the only two round kicks I know are the thai round kick and the jkd hook kick, but both of them you rotate your whole leg so your knee is horizontal, I'm presumming that is how you would throw a crecent kick. If so your knee 'should' be able to take the strain if the striking angle is in line with the angle your knee bends.

Hope that made sence.

 

[twinkletoes]

sweeper,

you are correct. in the crescent kicks the knee is held vertically, and the force of impact is the horizontal plane that would go through the knee from side to side. This is, of course, a major way that the knee does not bend.

Cheers,

~TT

 

[Damian Mavis]

How would sweeper be correct? heh This is getting confusing.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[twinkletoes]

Sorry, that was an error.

Sweeper, you are correct in that round kicks point the knee in the direction of impact, so that it can flex to reduce strain.

In crescent kicks the knee faces perpendicular to the line of impact. It is therefore not able to reduce any strain on the leg upon impact, which is where the potential for injury lies.

Thanks Damian.

My bad.

~TT

 

[Damian Mavis]

What you have to keep in mind TT is that there are a multitude of kicks and even hand/arm strikes that if done a certain way on a heavy bag will cause serious if not permanent damage to your body. The trick is knowing how to practice those techniques safely at full contact on the bag.

Some examples:

Wheel kick, this kick (for my martial art) is a straight leg kick that spins around and digs the back of the heel into the target.... this means the pressure could be placed on the knee joint since the leg does not bend or flex in that direction causing a serious hyper extension. BUT if have your range and hip placement right then it takes all the stress off of your knee and this kick can be practiced safely.

Ridge hand strike, this is the oppposite of knife hand and if you throw this technique at the bag head level you can hyper extend your elbow or even snap it. If you lead with your shoulder though you take all the pressure off your elbow and can hit the bag as hard as you want and lean in with all your wieght.

These are 2 examples I'm just bringing up to demonstrate that all techniques can be practiced on the heavy bag if you do it correctly and safely.

The reason this is important enough for me to go into here is that I use to injure myself all the time trying to do techniques on the heavy bag full contact until I learned how to do them safely.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[twinkletoes]

Damian,

Those are great examples.

I would never go so far as to say you "can't" practice the crecent kicks full out on a bag, but it certainly seems you need to make some precautionary modifications to do so, like what you've described.

Best,

~TT