Proper round kick form
- Thread starter Visorn
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Is there a reason you haven't asked your instructor? The answer is going to vary depending on your school's background.
As JKS says...it's going to depend on the style, school, and instructor. For example, in my school some instructors have me rotate the arm back behind the leg a lot, like in your picture, but then other instructors say no, not so much. If you're doing WTF/Kukkiwon style for example, you can find a photograph of what they think the roundhouse should look like here World Taekwondo Headquarters In that photo, the guy is leaning back, as you are, but his arm is not rotated nearly as far back as yours. Also, I think it's also going to depend on what you're doing the roundhouse for. If you're doing it for poomsae competition, it's going to look one way, but if you're doing it for sparring, it'll look slightly different.
You will tend to lean back more when posing for a picture (which requires holding the position) than when you're actively kicking.
Leaning back a little will move your head out of the "danger zone", but the more you lean, the longer it will take you to return to a normal, upright stance, and excessive lean will have a negative impact on your balance. Your supporting hip is the fulcrum. Your torso goes one way, your leg, the other. Obviously, your torso weighs more than your leg. So too much lean will shift your balance away from the target, spoiling your balance and robbing your kick of power.
The higher the kick, the more you will lean, typically. And the more passive flexibility you have, the less you will lean.
The amount of training and experience you have will also impact how far you lean - beginners tend to lean a lot more.
What led you to suddenly start questioning your technique?
Leaning back a little will move your head out of the "danger zone", but the more you lean, the longer it will take you to return to a normal, upright stance, and excessive lean will have a negative impact on your balance. Your supporting hip is the fulcrum. Your torso goes one way, your leg, the other. Obviously, your torso weighs more than your leg. So too much lean will shift your balance away from the target, spoiling your balance and robbing your kick of power.
The higher the kick, the more you will lean, typically. And the more passive flexibility you have, the less you will lean.
The amount of training and experience you have will also impact how far you lean - beginners tend to lean a lot more.
What led you to suddenly start questioning your technique?
Voice of dissent here. You form is fine for a standing pose, but when in motion, you kicks will be more powerful if you eliminate the counter balancing. If you need to lean away to get the higher targets, use your hands. As a side note, Muay thai round kicks actually require you to bow forward before you even start the kick. 
Earl Weiss
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Form follows function (As well as what a style may dictate for other reasons such as esthetics) Your form may well be very different for , Pattern, Breaking, Sparring, and Sparring form may differ depending on the rule set and what you will precede or follow the kick with. Your form would not be optimal for a rule set that allowed punches to the head.
RTKDCMB
Senior Master
I would suggest that you look at your kicking foot rather than the camera. It is easy to do, I have done it myself before.
While we're on the topic of roundhouse kicks...
When doing a single roundhouse it seems to me to be pretty straightforward to control one's arms: I think one arm is usually held in front of the chest as if to guard, while the other arm sweeps back in a counter-rotation, to more- or less-varying degrees depending on the style and the school.
Multiple rapid roundhouse kicks in succession on alternating legs though...am I the only one who has trouble figuring out something graceful to do with one's arms? On a double-roundhouse ("wings kick" where the first kick is a feint) I tend to keep both arms in a guard position during the first feint, then counter-rotate one arm doing the real kick. At my school though we sometimes practice fast roundhouse drills (rapid succession, alternating legs) against a kicking shield, and it's crazy some of the arm movements one sees! I'm thinking of one first-dan in particular who seems pretty graceful otherwise but his arms flail outward pretty wildly during the fast roundhouse drills. I try to keep both of my arms tucked into a guard position near the chest, but then they're not much available for helping to provide balance during the rapid back-and-forth kicks against the shield. It's a fun drill...I enjoy it...I just wonder how much like a flapping duck I look.
When doing a single roundhouse it seems to me to be pretty straightforward to control one's arms: I think one arm is usually held in front of the chest as if to guard, while the other arm sweeps back in a counter-rotation, to more- or less-varying degrees depending on the style and the school.
Multiple rapid roundhouse kicks in succession on alternating legs though...am I the only one who has trouble figuring out something graceful to do with one's arms? On a double-roundhouse ("wings kick" where the first kick is a feint) I tend to keep both arms in a guard position during the first feint, then counter-rotate one arm doing the real kick. At my school though we sometimes practice fast roundhouse drills (rapid succession, alternating legs) against a kicking shield, and it's crazy some of the arm movements one sees! I'm thinking of one first-dan in particular who seems pretty graceful otherwise but his arms flail outward pretty wildly during the fast roundhouse drills. I try to keep both of my arms tucked into a guard position near the chest, but then they're not much available for helping to provide balance during the rapid back-and-forth kicks against the shield. It's a fun drill...I enjoy it...I just wonder how much like a flapping duck I look.
The_Awesome_User
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If it works well it's probably good. Everyone has their own style
This is incorrect. It is possible for a person to strike effectively with poor technique. This person will strike FAR more effectively with proper technique.
One of our students is 6' 6", plays (American) football for the university here (last years NCAA Division II national champs) and is really quite strong, as you might imagine.
He hits hard. Quite hard.
After spending some time working on proper body mechanics for power generation, his striking power increased significantly. No, I don't have a way to measure it precisely. But my carefully calibrated Rib-O-Meter assures me that this is so.
Just because it "works" doesn't mean it's correct.
Mediocre techs produce mediocre results...which may be enough against your little brother, but not enough for a real encounter.
Mediocre techs produce mediocre results...which may be enough against your little brother, but not enough for a real encounter.
True enough. Although in his case, his mediocre results would still have flattened most people. He really is a monster.
Nice kid. Wants to be a K9 officer with the local PD.
