Hook Kick

[red5angel]

So we were practicing these last night and I was starting to wonder at their effectiveness. I know what they can be used for, in theory but has anyone found them to be realistic or useful?

[dezhen2001]

hook kick meaning which? :)

i have used the muay thai round kick to the legs a lot, either that way powering through, or more of a snap. It has worked pretty well for me, especially for following up after.

But nowadays i dont really kick much unless im just mucking around with my friends as they do different skills. I guess its the Wing Chun in me :D

dawood

[Oso]

I'm assuming you are talking about a hooking heel kick???


if so, I work it at the legs a lot:

sweeping

hitting that stomach point at the bottom of the calf

knee

peronial (sp?)


as well as the kidney and if I'm feeling froggy the back of the skull.

[dezhen2001]

oooh ok... if you mean Osos one then i tend not to use it. Did in my tournament karate days usually to the head :D But now the only thing i use that has a similar movement is like a sweep (kind of osoto-gari) and thats about it.

dawood

[red5angel]

to thr kidney area mostly. A low kick I can see some limited usefulness for, back of the kness or some such...

[dezhen2001]

hmmm... my gf does tkd and shes pretty good at kicking the kidneys and stuff with it, but it depends how good your guard is :)

dawood

[dezhen2001]

are you still planning on cometing MMA or NHB red5?

dawood

[red5angel]

I have a TKD sparring partner who has tried it a few times to little effect. Could be her though.

Not quite at that level but something a little smaller here by late fall I hope.

[dezhen2001]

cool, good luck with it :)

dawood

[apoweyn]

Put me in the "used it a lot in TKD but rarely nowadays" camp. I used it successfully by my standards at the time. But honestly, I don't think the payoff is all that great, even for a solid hit. It's just not very compelling to me.

That said, I'm thinking of counting on it for damage. If you're using it as a sweep, then game on.

I suppose if you scored a clean hit to someone's jaw, it could work nicely. But that's a pretty big if. So I don't find much use for it these days.


Stuart B.

[fa_jing]

There's a cool app in the last fight scene of "Prodigal Son" The Bak Mei dude shoots his side kick out but misses to the side of the Wing Chun guy - in one smooth motion he pulls it into a hooking-type kick into the WC guy's back.

[red5angel]

so, so far it sounds like most people approve of them as sweeps and low kicks?

[rogue]

One of my worst kicks out of many bad kicks.

I was taught to never use it when squared up like a lot of TKD guys do it. I use it as a sweep or to hit the kidneys. I did enjoy moving in a guys throwing the high ones and make them go boom.

[dezhen2001]

true that rogue... i did have fun when my gf's kick harmlessly bounced off my guard making her lose balance (as i moved in) :D

dawood

[rubthebuddha]

i've never known anyone that could use it for much damage. when i used to do tkd, i was taught mainly to use it if a sidekick or simillar was sidestepped and i still wanted to hit with that foot.

[Shuul Vis]

I cant get alot of power with a hooking heel kick so i use it mainly in 2 ways. First, like you said, to the kidneys cause you can miss or even feint a side or front kick and then quickly turn it into a hook kick to the kidneys as it passes them. Second, i use it to the back of peoples legs when im in close.

[dezhen2001]

same.

dawood

[norther practitioner]

so, so far it sounds like most people approve of them as sweeps and low kicks?

sounds like most kicks...lol

Ok, if I'm thinking of the right kick.... here is a variation that I practice.

You know how the wushu kids do those scales (standing on one leg, body kinda horizontal, other leg straight back)
well, we do something like that, but not quite as flashy. The thing is not a lot of people see that and want to figure out the aps. I've figured out two, one being a sort of side kick, the other that back hook kick. In taiji, there is a throw that we practice that is a counter to someone pushing you or a chump grab (one where someone grabs the front of your shirt or shoulders with both hands). Well with right side foward, it'd go like this:
Aggresor: Grabs shirt
You: Step foward with right foot while circling clockwise with both hands (parrying there right arm)
Try to step behind there lead leg.... hook kick, and push foward

one way that I've seen this in forms is that scale thingy... it would be the full extension of that move....

[Surferdude]

We practice it in karate but we never use it in fighting,I think it has no power. I've used it once to the head in a TKD tournament and got me the win...but I used in karate and got pushed over easily.:( :D

[fa_jing]

How about inside/outside crescent kicks? TKD style with the straight leg, Northern CMA style, faster with knee bent? Contact with either side of the foot

I have used these kicks exactly 0 times with effectiveness in either sparring or comp. But they are excellent training kicks.

OTOH, I have used Axe kick many times successfully.

[fa_jing]

Oh, PS. I used the hook kick successfully in TKD point sparring, also got knocked down with spinning hook kick back in the day during a point-match at the State games. I beat the guy though, they didn't give him the point because of the excessive contact, LOL.

[norther practitioner]

I have used Axe kick many times successfully.

My axe kick starts as a crecent kick.... actually the only times i've really used it I used it as an axe...

[dezhen2001]

yup, been hit a few times with an axe kick - rather surprising to get hit the first time :D

dawood

[fa_jing]

The difference being that in the axe kick, you come down pretty straight and the contact point is the heel or bottom of the foot. With the crescent kick, coming across and making contact more towards the sides of the foot.

[dezhen2001]

yup, i know it :) my gf axe kicked me when we were in my wing chun range of fighting and she does tkd... :eek:

dawood

[Losttrak]

There is a more damaging version that I like. Throw like a side kick with the knee high towards chest and then , bam, expand while straightening the leg. It flies hard and with alot of force. In the chinese connection Bruce threw alot of them. Its about as close to a full-contact hook as possible. What I like about this kick is that if they block it... i use it as an intro into the scissor takedown. When the kick meets their high block I drop my supporting leg to their shins/knee (propping weight on rear arm) and use the leverage of kicking leg to take them down.

[Ming Yue]

I like the heel hook as a sweep or as midsection strike in a passing maneuver. If i'm in the right spot I may put a heel hook to the back of the head - that one works pretty well for me.

Crescents I like and will use often, CMA style. TKD style, from the floor, is slower and I think it's easy to see coming.

[No_Know]

The hook kick could be used to knock apart a close guard. A roundhouse and adjustment to range could take advantage and knock the face.

The hook kick could be used to roundhouse one od the two closing agressors then hook to hit the other. Also perhaps to knock the legs apart.

When pushed off balance, use the heel back to knock the pusher if you can. When you Fall off balance...oops! be creative?

[Becca]

Think I have to agree with most everyone here. I will add, though, that you can use the heal hook kick to "grab" a leg while it is comming down from a kick. It don't alsways work well, but in sparring, some times the best stratigy is to through everything at you opponant as fast as you can. Keep them back-peddling, if you know what I mean.