Everybody’s different, some karate-ka like high kicks, some like low kicks, but which one is better? Tae kwon do, perform very high kicks, that are fast and powerful, some karate groups only practice kicking below the belt and some practice both high and low kicking. I believe it’s all down to the individual involved. I personally wouldn’t recommend high kicks in self defence, but then again, I’m sure there are people who do recommend high kicks. Really, it doesn’t matter what someone says or doesn’t say, because when it comes to self defence, you will do, whatever you practice! So if you practice head kicks, day in day out, there’s a high chance, that if you kicked whilst defending yourself, in a self defence situation, the kick will probably target the head. I do not believe it when people say, ‘I only practice high kicks in the dojo, in a street situation, I would keep my kicks below the belt’ There is no time to think in the street! You will respond with what ever you have been practicing. So, if you are practicing karate for self defence only (which I do not recommend), you must remember, what you practice in the dojo will be carried through to your self defence. I personally do not practice karate for self defence only. It obviously plays a part in my karate, but because fighting is in no way my number 1 priority, I practice all sorts of strange things that I could never make work in a real situation, like ushiro mawashi geri (hook kick), age uke (upper rising block), yoko geri keage (side snap kick), shuto uke (knife hand block), uraken (backfist), etc. I used to love kicking high, but it seems the older I get, the lower my kicks get, so I guess, it’s the lower kicks that I enjoy. So, whether you kick high or low, get on the kick shields and punch bags, go crazy and make those kicks work, when they connect with a baddy! Keep Kicking Ossu linden

Linden Huckle

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