Aerial Techniques, useless?

[Legendary_Fist]

I hear a lot of people slam the idea of using aerial kicks, punches, or tackles in a street confrontation. However, I personally believe that an aerial kick for example, can save your arse. The momentum of a strong aerial kick can be particularly devastating against an unsuspecting opponent.

On the same token, I think you should only use aerial techniques in certain situations, just like standing punching, grabbing, and kicking.

What do you think?

[fa_jing]

If your opponent is unsuspecting, why are you fighting him?
Just curious.

-FJ

[norther practitioner]

The saying that always comes to mind when one of these questions arise is, if it works.....use it. If you have arial techniques in your bag, and one would gain you an advantage, why not use it. I know a lot of people will argue that kicks above the _____ are not useful in real fights....I've seen two fights won with high kicks (one an axe kick, and the other a front heel kick to the chin). So, these may be exceptions but if they work....

[rubthebuddha]

a lot of aerial techniques i learned when i was younger were meant for unseating mounted riders. few people these days attack me on horseback, and the only cavalry i see these days are the silly-looking folks doing civil war re-enactments.

[rubthebuddha]

silliness aside, i can't really think of times when an aerial move would be more effective. they're dramatic and powerful, but i can only see them used as show-stoppers, and i know of a lot more show-stoppers that don't put you at anywhere near as much risk as a technique when you leave your feet. if i have time to look pretty throwing an aerial attack, i have time to kick out someone's knee and get the heck away.

[Tvebak]

Came to think of a thing in capoeira we have som movements with small twisting jumps, very good for getting the other guys back...
When i did Meishu kungfu i really favored a low flying sidekick to the knee...
And i had this friend i school who i have seen winning two fights by arial elbowstrike and arial Headbutt on much larger opponents she was small.

[Black Jack]

I think they are bad mojo, junk better left for teenagers, comic book fight scences and action movies with Wesley Snipes.

Keep to lowkicks.

Its a low percentage and fine motor technique, you are off your feet, which leaves you no options of darn near anything once you are committed to the will of gravity, you have zero balance as your legs rightly so used for walking are not on the ground, jump and spinning kicks require a high degree of attribute and skill to pull off, most of that confidence built up in the stable enviroment of a padded dojo, which should tell anyone that they are going to be hard to pull off under a severe amount of stress, i.e. rapist of mugger, i.e. snow, ice, rain, mud, hillside, so on.

Why put yourself in more of a bad situation?

[Legendary_Fist]

Originally posted by fa_jing
If your opponent is unsuspecting, why are you fighting him?
Just curious.

-FJ

In other words, he doesn't see the aerial move coming.

[greendragon]

I think there are two reasons not to. #1 lack of power, if your opponent is on the ground, you absorb the secondary impact. #2 they are slow and you can see them coming. ...on the up side, it may create a psychological advantage (psych-out, intimidate). One that works for me is a double front snap, when they react to the first one the second one hits them. and some other moves seem to work but don't try them in a real fight unless you can extinguish 4 candle flames with that kick. just too iffy.

[fa_jing]

RTB - unseating mounted riders - LOL, and TKD is primarily an indigenous Korean Art. LOL.

Jumping knee, Thai style isn't so bad. At least it offers some protection.

-FJ

[dubj]

Seriously, I have thought that jumping kicks would probably work best against an attack dog. It sounds funny, but I was watching some great fox show about animal attacks and I was thinking the best way to take a dog out is to kick the hell out of it. Since a dog can't really pull you out of the air jumping away from its attack and kicking it(assuming you can do it with power)would make things tough for the dog. I honestly think TKD is a good art for fighting dogs:)

[TjD]

i mean, bruce lee got his ass beat by one!


if it can take down bruce, it can take down anyone :rolleyes:


hasnt anyone seen the bruce lee story? c'mon, if after seeing that you dont realize the effectiveness of an aerial kick, you never will

peace
travis

[Shadow Dragon]

Aerial techniques and so on.

IMO, are good if you can pull them off.

But most of those take space, distance, time to setup and execute, not sure if you will get a chance to do them well in a fight.
If you got time to do so in a fight, you should also be able to disengage from your opponent.

As for using them on an "unsuspecting" opponent, if he can't see the move coming see point above.

Those moves are often classed as "high risk" due to the many factors involved to get them to work well and thus better reserved for demoes in the kwoon/dojo/dojang.

Said that many arts that only use low kicks in combat have high kicks in their forms solely for conditioning sake.

Seeya.

[rubthebuddha]

fa_jing -- yeah. they showed all the white kids how to do it better with staffs, but said the black kids didn't need them. no idea why ... :confused:


;)

[scotty1]

No way I would use an aerial kick in a fight. But then again, if I could do them quick and powerful as a well practiced part of my arsenal I might think differently about it.

But I can't, so no way.

[Former castleva]

I once created very similar thread for reality fighting forum,if it´s still there,and someone´s interested,go dig it out.
In theory,high kicks or jump kicks would work,but as previously said,you should be able to launch them like a rocket (knees against heads in short range don´t count)
There are many factors fighting against aerial shots.
I realize these kind of techniques are very common in kung-fu/martial art movies.
I think Jean Claude Van Damme said in an interview that if you want to make it as a MA star in hollywood,you do have to have a good-looking kick which looks cool to general public.
In other words,it´s "flashy" and it´s got to be.