Dropped my sparring partner, so he says

This may not be true sometime. My senior SC brother David C. K. Lin loved to use a flying side kick to kick his opponent's leading leg knee joint. When his body came down 45 degrees on his opponent's knee, it's pretty hard not to move back. In other words, to counter such attack is not easy.

I prefer not to let my opponent to develop any momentum. IMO, the moment that you understand how to run your opponent down, the moment that your fight skill has moved to the higher level.

My favor strategy is, if you

- kick me, I'll run you down.
- punch me, I'll run you down.
- do nothing, I'll still run you down.

The moment that I move in and kick your knee (or sweep your foot), the moment I'll put you in defense mode and you won't be able to generate any momentum to give me trouble.
How does an opponent Not have time to see a flying side kick coming? Takes a little time to develop that kick.
 
How does an opponent Not have time to see a flying side kick coming? Takes a little time to develop that kick.
Blocking a flying sidekick is something of an exercise in futility. You're going to get knocked around regardless. Dodging is really the best option. And if you're unbalanced from the way they've set up the kick, that can be problematic as well.

But generally speaking, this is not a technique that's going to see a lot of use.
 
How does an opponent Not have time to see a flying side kick coming? Takes a little time to develop that kick.

I landed one in 6th grade in a fight on the playground. Unfortunately, flying sidekicks don't work well if you are light so that was the last one that I used for fighting. When I did it, my flying kick was a two step run, where I ran away from my attacker like I was scared then I quickly cut back and the flying side kick landed on his chest. It would have done more damage if I was heavier then and if I understood how to generate power with that kick.
 
Blocking a flying sidekick is something of an exercise in futility. You're going to get knocked around regardless. Dodging is really the best option. And if you're unbalanced from the way they've set up the kick, that can be problematic as well.

But generally speaking, this is not a technique that's going to see a lot of use.
It is one of those ones that is a bit more street oriented.

And you can use it when a fight is dynamic. So if you are running either to an engagement or from one.
 
How does an opponent Not have time to see a flying side kick coming? Takes a little time to develop that kick.
You only need to step in your back leg to execute your flying side kick.



I personally prefer jumping front kick. I can jump in without having to step in my back leg, or kick before my back foot landing.



But if I don't jump, I still need to move my back leg first. So, the regular non-jumping front kick footwork is no different from the flying side kick footwork.

 
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It is one of those ones that is a bit more street oriented.
My only "street MA experience" from days in school was, when we all had take-out-the-street-lamp-post kicking competitions using the flying side kicks. You had to kick it hard enough to trigger the saftey-fuse. Then one to take out most lights with fewest kicks was the winner. It's how i learned my preference for kicking with the heel only, shin kicks or even blade of foot kick to a lamp-post is a huge mistake.
 
You only need to step in your back leg to execute your flying side kick.



I personally prefer jumping front kick. I can jump in without having to step in my back leg, or kick before my back foot landing.



But if I don't jump, I still need to move my back leg first. So, the regular non-jumping front kick footwork is no different from the flying side kick footwork.

First I want to say that is a good looking kick in video 1.

I fully disagree the comments and will use your videos to make my point.
Watch the upper body motion in video 1 compared to video three. Drastically different. Look at the foot spacing/step distance between the two. Different. Look at where most of the energy goes in video 1 compared to the others. Most of the energy is in getting the body/kick off the ground in the first video.
The 2nd and 3rd kicks are low/knee level kicks. Not a good comparison to the first video at all (yes, it is a different kick).
There are style semantics at play, but I would call the second video a skipping kick, not a jump.

A jump kick where both legs come up together is fairly common in TKD. It is usually used when an opponent is stepping forward.
 

I landed one in 6th grade in a fight on the playground. Unfortunately, flying sidekicks don't work well if you are light so that was the last one that I used for fighting. When I did it, my flying kick was a two step run, where I ran away from my attacker like I was scared then I quickly cut back and the flying side kick landed on his chest. It would have done more damage if I was heavier then and if I understood how to generate power with that kick.
Surely you agree the opponent saw the kick coming, at least in the first two videos. What they did or did not do is on them. I suspect they just were not too worried about the kick, conserved energy, and just took the hit. It did zero damage and did not score.
The third video appeared to be a WT match and the kid who took the hit looked way out of his league. So. he may not have seen the kick because he was too busy retreating.
 
“If my opponent doesn't move, I do not move. The instant he moves, I am already there.”
No that is out of context of what that video is referring to and out of context of Jow Ga Kung as a whole. That is a self-defense mindset. If your opponent doesn't move and you don't then there's no fight. While Jow Ga can be used for self-defense. That's not the root concept of Jow Ga.

Like Wang says. "Sometimes one has to be the bad guy" Sometimes it's necessary to attack and Martial Arts in general understands that. Even if the opponent doesn't move. I still move.

Problem with Martial Arts schools in general. Everything is shown from a Defensive Perspective (AKA: Wait for your opponent to attack). In my opinion this is the worst approach for a Martial Arts system, because it means you are guessing about how you'll be attacked. You are letting the enemy dictate the battle.

In the Jow Ga video. "When your opponent moves, you move" is basic General Counter Attack strategy concept. And it's only being applied to a General understanding of "Counter Attack." This is what I would tell a beginner or a child. It would be like answering "What is a tree" without digging into the Biology of what a tree is and how trees are different.

In Jow Ga Kung Fu. You would lose if "When your opponent moves you move" was a major concept.

Jow Ga Kung Fu is in the Red. It highlights the problem of "When your opponent moves, you move." becomes to big of the picture. Which is why he's having a difficulty in attacking and why he's not using Jow Ga Kung Fu.

If you allow your enemy to move first then you will have trouble guessing how he will attack.

If you move first, then you can press the attack against someone weaker, or trigger a specific attack for you to counter when facing a stronger opponent.

When I move back. My motion backwards will influence the types of attacks my opponent will use. I'm guaranteed 2 things as I move backwards.

1. My opponent will advance.
2. His attacks will be linear
3. Circular attacks will not reach unless he knows how to move forward with a circular attack.

These things will not happen if I allow my opponent to move first as his move will dictate what I do.

When someone makes a short video about counter attacks, They will give a very general summary. They will not explain any of what I just posted and even what I posted is just a small amount.
 
Surely you agree the opponent saw the kick coming, at least in the first two videos.
Just because you see an attack coming in doesn't mean you can or will do anything about it. One of the thigs I say to my Muay Thai sparring partner when I get hit. "Nice. At least I saw the strike coming in that time. That's the first step to being able to defend against it." I often get hit by things I see coming in.

Seeing is not the same as reaction time.
Reaction time is not the same as knowing what you are looking at.
Knowing what you are looking at is not the same as knowing the correct response.

Watch the videos in slow motion and what how the defender freezes during the jump before the kick. That freeze is his brain trying to figure out what will happen next. That freeze is all that is needed to create an open window for the attacker to land the kick.

How well somethings works just depends on when you use it.

The third video appeared to be a WT match and the kid who took the hit looked way out of his league. So. he may not have seen the kick because he was too busy retreating.
This happens in real life. When I was used mine, I was running away and then I cut back and launched one into the kids I was fighting. These days my flying side kicks would probably land on someone's knee lol.
 
Seeing is not the same as reaction time.
Reaction time is not the same as knowing what you are looking at.
Knowing what you are looking at is not the same as knowing the correct response.

👍 agree

More so, it often seems that those watching a clip feel the same thing wouldn’t happen to them, not directly having the experience of what they are watching.

Like those thinking they can deal with "fighters" without having dealt with the same level of trained "fighters" who fight for a living. Or fighters who maybe feel they can handle real-world situations in the same way as they do in the ring...

Each different, a different set of skill sets, not always transferable..
 
Similar training that I like - leg is longer than the arm.

and elbow is harder than toes...:rolleyes:

I am not a big fan of ball front kick myself, I tend to prefer the heel front kick for (my)saftey and power. I loose a bit of range, and a bit of speed. But one guy at the club does this teep all the time, and his toes are always taped up. I never even felt the need to tape mine.
 
I am not a big fan of ball front kick myself, I tend to prefer the heel front kick for (my)saftey and power. I loose a bit of range, ...
If you try to achieve "leg is longer than the arm", that extra range can make a big difference.

old_man_front_kick.jpg
 
If you try to achieve "leg is longer than the arm", that extra range can make a big difference.
Yes this the extra range matters at times, even if a shorter heel kick, is still way longer than any arm.
Our sparring in kyokushin, the range are more often close range, and often the opponent may push towards me, so as a "stop kick" I personally prefer the "heel front kick" when also rooted with heel down on the supporting foot to be massively more stable, it relies more on structure and utilize incoming energy, and less on dynamics. The difference between the kicks appears a bit like the different between a stop punch with heel down, and a punch with heel up.

I also have the feeling that using the opponents energy, but having deaccelerate/"stop" into a static structure, rathern than dynamically generate the same amount of energy by a dynamical technique is energy saving for myself. I like such methods. I genereally MOVE/JUMP around much less than my opponents as we spar. That is not precisely kyokushin philosophy per see, but it suits me well.
 

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