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Armchair Strategist's Martial Arts Pages |
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Defending against a full power Round-house Kick
A full power roundhouse kick has a high velocity and a lot of weight behind it. However, there are many ways to effectively counter it. What follows are but a few.
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If you
correctly anticipate his roundhouse then you can come in
under it to the groin or supporting leg either with your
own roundhouse (as shown left) or with a spinning
hook/back kick. Note that the defender's lead
arm/shoulder momentarily provides cover. A risk in this style of defence is that by ducking you are potentially open to a downwards attack -for instance the attacker may see you ducking and redirect the kick downwards like an axe onto your head. |
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However, you
don't always have time to move out of the way. A common
way to block the kick is with a palm-heel to the knee.
The knee is moving slower than the shin/instep and also,
by disrupting it you can inhibit the movement of the
lower-leg, reducing it's velocity/power. This stop-block
is complemented by a knifehand/sliding mechanism block
covering the lower leg's trajectory. The obvious follow-up is either a front kick (shown right) or rising kick to the groin. If powerful enough, this can lift/push his centre of gravity and displace him. With his kicking leg still off the floor it almost impossible for him to effectively block even the most simple kick to the groin. |
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The
knife-hand can also be an effective block. Do not attempt
to meet the kick perpendicular to its line of travel
-rather make contact at an angle to deflect it. If the
kick is high enough then you can deflect it upward by
meeting it in an upward rolling action as shown (left).
Note that the free hand guards the face and is ready to
meet the reduced velocity leg following it's initial
contact with your knife-hand/outer forearm.
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