when kicking do you keep your hands up or throw your one down?

[Pinoy Badboy**]

The thing is, you don't want to lean back excessively. Other than that, you do what comes natural and keeps you in balance. If you lean back too much, yes you lose power, and control, but there is a degree to lean back depending on your body type.

Watch some online vids and you'll notice that even Thais throw their roundhouses different from one another. There are no absolutes.

 

[Corey Roberts]

check the gif of anderson vs irvin of what happens when someone catches your kick and your hand is down like that.

Well do an experiment for us, i want you to videotape a sparring session for us, and in that sparring session i want you to throw your kicks with both hands up and see how that affects your balance. Or even worse you throw with both hands up and your partner catches your leg and see if you can maintian balance without being taken down.

If it works for you then by all means do it then, just know it'll be the reason why you'll always get caught off balance and your kicks have not a lot of power on them.



No set up what so ever, something my coach always told me is always set up your power shots.

Thiago sets his kick up, he doesn't open up with the leg kick koscheck is too busy looking at his hands

 

[Kellogg's]

"young upstart", now i may be wrong but I am pretty sure that is Buakaw........ maybe im mistaken. But I would hardly call him a "young upstart"! below are just a few of his accomplishments.

Dude, chillax, it was joke. As in a sarcastic one, as in Buakaw is the last person on earth you could call a "young upstart" in kicking technique.

But yeah, whenever my coach shows me the proper technique to a front/side/low-kick he is always leaning back with his body.

 

[mikehmike]

If I throw a right kick I'll throw my right hand back and keep my left infront of my face. I learned fast if you dont step into your kicks and turn your hips over you will get hit

 

[Capt.Canuck]

No set up what so ever, something my coach always told me is always set up your power shots.

Not only no set up, but he had BOTH hands down when he threw the kick.

 

[mikehmike]

That's normal if you watch people

 

[ssullivan80]

The thing is, you don't want to lean back excessively. Other than that, you do what comes natural and keeps you in balance. If you lean back too much, yes you lose power, and control, but there is a degree to lean back depending on your body type.

Watch some online vids and you'll notice that even Thais throw their roundhouses different from one another. There are no absolutes.

very true! good point!

 

[LGP1*]

Well do an experiment for us, i want you to videotape a sparring session for us, and in that sparring session i want you to throw your kicks with both hands up and see how that affects your balance. Or even worse you throw with both hands up and your partner catches your leg and see if you can maintian balance without being taken down.

If it works for you then by all means do it then, just know it'll be the reason why you'll always get caught off balance and your kicks have not a lot of power on them.



No set up what so ever, something my coach always told me is always set up your power shots.

Thiago sets his kick up, he doesn't open up with the leg kick koscheck is too busy looking at his hands

i don't have any problems with balance or power. If you can't balance on one leg regardless of where your arms are, that's your own problem.

I wasn't talking about setting up kicks with punches...that isn't what the thread was about. Your arm is up to take away the straight line to your face....if you swing it, you swing it straight out you don't swing it down by your ass, your going to get punched in the face. I've seriously never heard anyone say that's a right.

 

[ssullivan80]

i don't have any problems with balance or power. If you can't balance on one leg regardless of where your arms are, that's your own problem.

I wasn't talking about setting up kicks with punches...that isn't what the thread was about. Your arm is up to take away the straight line to your face....if you swing it, you swing it straight out you don't swing it down by your ass, your going to get punched in the face. I've seriously never heard anyone say that's a right.

the arm that is swinging should be on the same side as the kick comes from, and to be honest....... it really doesn't matter where youre swinging it, as long as you are. The opposite arm is the one that comes up to protect your face. I.E: Right kick, right arm swings back, left arm covers face! If your throwing your hips and shoulders into the kick correctly the arm will naturally want to come up, a good sign your getting your hips turned over and through the kick.

 

[Mork]

i don't have any problems with balance or power. If you can't balance on one leg regardless of where your arms are, that's your own problem.

I wasn't talking about setting up kicks with punches...that isn't what the thread was about. Your arm is up to take away the straight line to your face....if you swing it, you swing it straight out you don't swing it down by your ass, your going to get punched in the face. I've seriously never heard anyone say that's a right.

this guy has to be a troll, i dont know anyone who asks a question and then attacks what everyone is saying. if you simply watch fighters, they all swing their arm so there is your answer.

 

[LGP1*]

this guy has to be a troll, i dont know anyone who asks a question and then attacks what everyone is saying. if you simply watch fighters, they all swing their arm so there is your answer.

I didn't ask a question dummy.

 

[MMAD]

I didn't ask a question dummy.

nvm

 

[vjvj]

i don't have any problems with balance or power. If you can't balance on one leg regardless of where your arms are, that's your own problem.

I wasn't talking about setting up kicks with punches...that isn't what the thread was about. Your arm is up to take away the straight line to your face....if you swing it, you swing it straight out you don't swing it down by your ass, your going to get punched in the face. I've seriously never heard anyone say that's a right.

Dude. The guy asked if the hand should stay up or be thrown down. Half of the responses are saying "up, to protect against counters". The other half of us are saying "down for power, there are other ways to protect against counters that don't sacrifice power". Setup punches are one alternative way to guard against counters without losing power. Can you not see the relation?

And don't get so hung up on the word "down". Obviously we don't mean straight down along a geometrical Y axis. Like ssullivan80 said, it can be down or out or whatever feels right for you to generate power. It just shouldn't be UP.

Not sure if I can make it any more simple than that. I'd seriously like to see if you can provide any clips of guys who set up their kicks properly yet still get countered because omgz he had his same-side hand down.

 

[Brooklyn BJJ]

If you are coming in with 1+2 and following up with thai kick you cover your face up with both hands when chopping the guy down.

If you are at distance you can get away with dropping arm on top of leg you are kicking with to the side so you can recover faster.

 

[ssullivan80]

If you are coming in with 1+2 and following up with thai kick you cover your face up with both hands when chopping the guy down.

If you are at distance you can get away with dropping arm on top of leg you are kicking with to the side so you can recover faster.

If your thai kicking, I dont give a damn if it is behind a 1,2 or at a distance, your swinging your arm and your not covering your face with both hands. Go on youtube and search Badr Hari, he uses 1,2 leg kick all the time and swings his arm, that combo about won him the K1 grand prix (DQ'd for stomping Bonjasky in the head).

The variation you may see is when a fighter swings more with his shoulders,elbow (see video) and keeps the arm bent. The whole premise for a thai kick is to turn your hips over and rotate through the kick, try to do that with your hands up by your face. Im sure there are some fighters, particularly in MMA that may throw kicks with there hands high......... however, not with any real power! more a slap to set up hands or takedowns. But a thai kick requires rotating through using the hips and shoulders, cant be done with both hands covering your face.

YouTube - Best Of Masato

 

[Hagelslag2]

Let's see. Do the Ducth fighters swing their hand when kicking? Yes, they do. The Thais? Yes, they do. The Japanese? Yes, they do. The French? Guess what. They do!!! These are a few countries which keep producing top stand-up fighters. So, either all these top fighters have a big hole in their technique or your trainer is talking out of his arse if he tells you to keep both your hands up while kicking.

 

[Payak]

if you dont swing the arm it aint muay thai.

 

[Crusader22290**]

when kicking do you keep your hands up or throw your one down? it seems like anytime i watch ufc or any other mma org when someone kicks they always throw there one hand down why? ive always been taught to keep both up still protecting the chin so when my leg comes back down i can throw off a pucnh easy or for defensive reasons if you kick and throw down that arm it completly opens up that side of you for an unneeded blow

tuck your chin

 

[vjvj]

if you dont swing the arm it aint muay thai.

Actually, I'm starting to wonder if that is the problem in this thread. Maybe we have MT guys arguing with non-MT guys (maybe TKD? I don't know...).

So in the end it depends on what you want. I just assume we are talking MT since that's usually what people are discussing on these forums. If you are doing MT, the hand goes down. There are other (and better, IMHO) ways to prevent counters that don't sacrifice power; and power is the key in MT kicks.

 

[ssullivan80]

There are other (and better, IMHO) ways to prevent counters that don't sacrifice power; and power is the key in MT kicks.

Such as? Not trying to be rude, im just curious!