Do you pull your leg back after kicking?

[Jimbo]

YKW,
In your 1st two examples, the kick has been blocked/redirected, so there wasn't an opportunity for you to retract the leg. For myself, most of the time ( but also depending on the kick, the level, etc.), I prefer to pull it back. Most of my round kicks, except maybe to the leg, I pull back, for example. Although I've sparred with some MT guys, I've never trained it, so I'm not going to try to mimic that style of kicking. And as for side/back kick, besides the risk of your leg getting caught, if you just drop it straight down:

1. It creates the habit of pushing with your kick. IMO, in both bag work and sparring, retracting my side/back kicks after contact transfers a greater 'jolting force' into the target.

2. Dropping it straight down can leave one vulnerable to a foot sweep as it's about to touch down.

3. IMO, it leaves the leg hanging and the groin open a split second longer. Sometimes an opponent who is countering can ball-shot you, even unintentionally, if you leave it exposed too long.

Anyway, that's my .02.

[mickey]

Greetings,



In this regard you are really not kicking. You are using your leg to:

1- Check your opponents action much in the way a boxer uses his movements to cut of his opponents lateral movements: sometimes done with a jab.

2- Offer a distraction to your opponent.

In both situations, the withdrawal of the kicking leg can offer a window of opportunity for a counter. The move should be done with a rapid advance to a strike. The faster the better. To honor that, low kicks are favorable.


mickey

[YouKnowWho]

A kick can be more than just a kick.

If you step in, your opponent will sweep your leg. If you kick his leading knee joint, it will be harder for him to sweep you when you land that foot on the ground. To me, the reason that you prefer to use kick as step in is if you can put your opponent in defense mode, it will be safe for you to enter.