Teaching the Tornado

[StudentCarl]

(no, not the hyper little kid in the back row...the kick)

What tips or suggestions can you offer for teaching the tornado kick? I'm not teaching it to class, but at times am asked to help juniors with it and am looking for what you emphasize or a sequence if you break it down a particular way. I see kids trying to hop-hop around when they haven't developed the turn, and some try to throw the kick without bringing the other leg/knee far enough past the target to complete the kick. With adults I see the lifted leg coming down before the kick, reducing hip speed.

Thanks,
Carl

 

[Touch Of Death]

While I don't remember the footwork right now, its all in the footwork. Get that pattern down then add the kick. It is really that simple.
Sean

 

[troubleenuf]

I think most people tend to make it harder than it is. Im hoping your toranado kick is what we call a backspin.
Heres how I have found to teach it.
Teach a basic hook kick first
Once they get the motion correct I tell them to do the same kick except to turn first before they do it.
If you tell them that its simply the same kick except you turn first to do it they seem to understand it easily and if you dont make it sound like it should be hard to do it isnt. This works better with adults than real young kids.

 

[Dragons TKD]

I always teach them to do it on the ground first, with out any kind of 'jump'.

Starting left leg forward, step forward with your right leg, do a counter-clockwise turn making your left leg forward (I call it a spin step), then kick roundhouse with your right leg.

It's very easy for them to get the concept of the kick from there. Then progress to where you do it in the 'air' and using roundhouse or crescent kick.

 

[ATC]

I always teach them to do it on the ground first, with out any kind of 'jump'.

Starting left leg forward, step forward with your right leg, do a counter-clockwise turn making your left leg forward (I call it a spin step), then kick roundhouse with your right leg.

It's very easy for them to get the concept of the kick from there. Then progress to where you do it in the 'air' and using roundhouse or crescent kick.

This is exactly how we teach it. It is simply steping. Once they got the steps down then it is a matter of making sure the knee is up and in front before you jump into the round house. They should of course have a good jump round house first. Most don't turn the hip over enough and tend to do a jump cresant or outside inside type kick. This is also true for the tornado or turning round house as we call it. Many even think that the kick is a cresant and not a round house.

 

[terryl965]

I always teach them to do it on the ground first, with out any kind of 'jump'.

Starting left leg forward, step forward with your right leg, do a counter-clockwise turn making your left leg forward (I call it a spin step), then kick roundhouse with your right leg.

It's very easy for them to get the concept of the kick from there. Then progress to where you do it in the 'air' and using roundhouse or crescent kick.

Wow This is the exact samething we do, see some of us do the same thing just some athletes are better at it than some. Me I am slow with it but than again I am slow with everything now a days.

 

[puunui]

The key for me is pointing the non-kicking knee forward before doing the jump roundhouse kick part. Also I like to have the hip and shoulders turned sideways, not square, before the jump roundhouse.

 

[andyjeffries]

A common problem we have is people spinning in a circle (so they are off balance afterwards).

I've recently taken to saying "imagine you have someone standing in front of you in naranhiseogi, you want to swing your non kicking leg so you hit them between the legs, not smack it in to their thigh". This gets them in to the "tight spin" ideal rather than swinging the non kicking leg round wide.

We also teach it on the floor first, but we call the "spin step" above a "back step" (as opposed to a "backward step").

 

[Balrog]

This guy does a good job of explaining it.

What he is showing is what we call the butterfly kick. The tornado is executed exactly the same way except you turn the hip over more on the kicking leg and execute a round kick instead of a crescent kick.

 

[StudentCarl]

I'm finding that it helps to get beginners to do the kick with very little forward movement, as they turn the hips into the roundhouse kick. I'm talking about when you are transitioning from spin-step-roundhouse (on the ground) to the aerialized kick...to pick up that extra power from the spin.

From what I'm seeing, trying to move forward too much interferes with hip turnover...leading to the crescent kick even when someone is trying to roundhouse.

 

[punisher73]

No really a description, but interesting breakdown of the kick and the force it generates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ZE9Ivs9Kc&feature=related

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

No really a description, but interesting breakdown of the kick and the force it generates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ZE9Ivs9Kc&feature=related

The technique in the video is a little different than what I typically see. I am hoping for comments on what people think as typical.

Specifically, the fighter in the kicker in the video (especially in the first kick shown) starts his kick with his kicking leg pointing away from the opponent. Typically, I see the tornado kick adding a hop in the middle which moves the kicking leg from facing away from the opponent, to being maybe 90 degrees away. This results in the kicker opening up much later than shown in the video. Comments?

 

[Rumy73]

The technique in the video is a little different than what I typically see. I am hoping for comments on what people think as typical.

Specifically, the fighter in the kicker in the video (especially in the first kick shown) starts his kick with his kicking leg pointing away from the opponent. Typically, I see the tornado kick adding a hop in the middle which moves the kicking leg from facing away from the opponent, to being maybe 90 degrees away. This results in the kicker opening up much later than shown in the video. Comments?

The video is spot on. A step forward can be added when a person needs to close the distance with the target. Similarly a forward step can be added to back kick and many others.