Devastating Kicks (P2)

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Devastating Kicks

Hip rollover occurs when the hips rotate over the horizontal axis of the kick. As the kicking leg extends, the hip snap rolls over the horizontal plane of the leg to use the massive hip muscles to snap the mass of the lower body into the kick.

These two hip movements, the rotation and the rollover, are what separate a devastating kick from a perfectly performed kick, or a high, flashy kick. The two hip movements add tremendous striking force to the kick at the moment of impact. These forces will only be present for a split second and will only occur over a couple of inches, so accuracy and focus are very important. Just before or just after impact, these forces will diminish quickly and the kick will revert to its normal power, still powerful, but not devastating.

When kicking a bag held by a partner, a normal kick will sound powerful upon impact, similar the sound of a baseball hitting a catcher’s glove, but the impact will be uneventful to the bag holder. Trying to kick harder will add power to the kick so that it will jolt the holder, but the impact will not be problem for the holder. Adding hip rotation and rollover will cause the kick to the strike the bag with a bone shuttering, snapping, sharp, jolt that, while it will not cause holder to move much, it will sound similar to the sound a heavy bag would make when hitting the floor after being dropped from a great height, and the impact will momentarily stun the holder, while still not causing the holder to move much.

In the movies, when people are hit with bullets from a powerful firearm, they are thrown backward; however, in real life, the person would only shutter from a momentary jolt and then quickly collapse straight to the floor. The effect of being struck with a devastating kick to kicks’ is similar. Snap kicks hurt, but they are more of an annoyance than a problem. Powerful kicks can hurt or injure, but they are survivable. However, if a devastating kick hits any body part, that part will be devastated, be it a forearm, ribs, or a head, while the person being stuck will not be moved much. A direct strike by a devastating kick to any part of the torso or head will result in serious injury, if not death.

The secret to devastating kicks is coordinated hip rotation and rollover. As with everything else, you will perform that which you practice. If you practice high, flashy kicks, when an actual combat situation arises, that is the type of kicks you will use. Make every kick you thrown, whether in practice or breaking—a devastating kick.