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Kihon: (key-hone)
Literally translated as "foundation" or "beginning". Kihon includes the basic punching, striking, kicking and, blocking…
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High Kicking Vs Low Kicking

Submitted by Linden on Tue, 03/06/2008 - 15:57.
Everybody’s different, some karate-ka like high kicks, some like low kicks, but which one is better? Tae kwon do, perform very high kicks, that are fast and powerful, some karate groups only practice kicking below the belt and some practice both high and low kicking. I believe it’s all down to the individual involved. I personally wouldn’t recommend high kicks in self defence, but then again, I’m sure there are people who do recommend high kicks. Really, it doesn’t matter what someone says or doesn’t say, because when it comes to self defence, you will do, whatever you practice! So if you practice head kicks, day in day out, there’s a high chance, that if you kicked whilst defending yourself, in a self defence situation, the kick will probably target the head.

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Posted in | | | | | Submitted by Linden on Tue, 03/06/2008 - 15:57.

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Linden | Mon, 08/06/2009 - 14:34

Hi Nielmag,

Several years ago, fighting was very important to me and my training reflected this, if I didn't think a technique was practical in self defence, we didn't practice it.

Self defence is a state of mind rather than body, yes the techniques are important, but no where near as important as the mental state of the karateka.

You can learn all the so called 'practical techniques' in the world, but if your head isn't right, they will not work, on the other hand, if you have the right state of mind for self defence, you can just about make anything work.

My training emphasis has changed over the years and yes, I sometimes practice techniques that would not really work in the street, why do I practice these techniques?

Well, the most important reason for me, is the fact that I enjoy practicing them.

So in conclusion, there are many people out there that could make the techniques that I mentioned in my article work. I'm just not one of them. I simply enjoy practicing karatedo.

For me, kihon is for conditioning and training the mind and body, it doesn't matter, gyakuzuki, mawashi geri, ushiro mawashi geri (hook kick), age uke (upper rising block), yoko geri keage (side snap kick), shuto uke (knife hand block), uraken (backfist). I practice them all with the intent to do harm on whatever I hit.

Ossu
Linden

PS Nielmag, please remember these are just my ramblings, I know many karateka would disagree with me. Good luck with your training!

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nielmag | Thu, 04/06/2009 - 22:39

Im a new karateka, and really enjoy classes and training. However, I always wonder how what we are learning will transI late into a real live situation. You had stated, "I practice all sorts of strange things that I could never make work in a real situation, like ushiro mawashi geri (hook kick), age uke (upper rising block), yoko geri keage (side snap kick), shuto uke (knife hand block), uraken (backfist), etc." In your "high kicking vs low kicking" article on 3/6/08. I see our blackblets and everyone practicing these kihon every class. I guess my question is why would we practice something that has no real life application. Please forgive my ignorance, I am 6 months into my training as though those kihon were real techniques we would use in a self-defense situation.