Originally Posted by
Jimbo
If you are making full contact, even a snap kick 'thrusts'. The energy and extension going into the person/target must be spent before it can be retracted, if you choose to do so. It cannot be as fast as snap kicking the air or lightweight kicking pads; at least the retraction can't be.
Someone can still easily retract a kick and come forward almost as smoothly. For example, if you use ball-of-foot front kick to the abdomen, your whole body is still moving forward anyway. The retraction won't be 'picture-perfect' if you made contact, but you can still bring it back a bit, then put it forward as you step in, pretty much in one motion. But with a cross kick, for example, you don't retract as you step through.
Hands can set up kicks, and kicks can set up hands.
What he said
"The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong