Fight Training: Get Off the Line and Work the Angles

Work a slight angle

“Instead of staying here going one-two, where everything is right here for him, I’m going to try to work a slight angle.”

Notice the word slight. It’s a small step that takes your head and body off the straight line between you and his rear hand, while keeping you close enough to hit back. Hit, take a slight angle, look for your comeback, and keep working the angle.

The point of the angle is to get past one specific weapon. “I’m already passing his cross-side right.” When you come in straight, his rear hand has a clean path to you. A small step to the outside makes that punch harder to land, because he has to turn to find you.

The drill in the video is short. Hit, slight angle, cover, step, kick. “It’s all I want to see right now.”

Keep the cover hand up

“Don’t forget, I like to cover, just in case.” When I hit off the line, my other hand stays at my face. Even if he’s hitting hard and his punch pushes my own hand back into my face, that’s fine. “I’m better off with my hand hitting my face than his knuckles.”

The angle makes his punch harder to land, and the cover hand catches whatever lands anyway.

Spin off the pop

Spinning techniques come out of this too, and the setup matters. “Do you think I’m going to just come into fighting and just go patty-cake spin? Seriously?” A spin thrown out of nothing is easy to read.

Instead, use a hit as a springboard. When you land a pop, it creates a little space and a little momentum, and you turn on it. “This little pop is what’s empowering,” and that’s where your timing comes from. Hit, spin, in the middle of the fighting.

I know what some people will say. “That’ll never happen on the street.” Fair enough. “We’re not on the street. We’re doing something, an athletic endeavor. We’re kind of pushing ourselves, having fun, doing something different we probably wouldn’t do on the street.” We train spins in a safe environment because they’re a skill worth having and they make you a better athlete. I take on that debate in street vs. sport: what training can and can’t do.

Recoil and snake in

After you kick, recoil. The angle only helps if you are ready to keep fighting from it. In the video we drill a push-turn pattern on top of the recoil to make moving off the line automatic.

From the side, I can also slip and snake in. If I come straight at him, he dominates and throws me off my game. So I step off the line, throw the kick, and snake my body in to land the next one. If I get the extension, maybe I go low, then high.

Step in as your kick comes off

The last piece is what you do right after your own kick. “As soon as that kick comes off, step right in. You create the gap.” The moment your kicking leg comes back to the floor, keep coming forward instead of admiring it.

“If I wait, he steps in, I lose it.” Hesitate for a beat and the space belongs to him. The angle gets you out of trouble. The follow-up step keeps you in charge.

Shihan Omar on angles

Shihan Omar teaches a related drill in this second video.

Watch: Kyokushin Karate Training with Shihan Omar of The Phoenix Way [4K]

In his drill, the partner’s movement decides the last technique. If the partner turns one way, you take the easiest angle to the other side. A few of his points worth taking with you:

• Don’t get used to your partner. “I know we’re doing drills,” but a real person won’t stand still for you. The partner should move and throw back, with control.

• Don’t sacrifice the second kick. If you’re already thinking about the third kick, the second one gets lazy. “If you just throw a little lazy kick on the inside, it’s worthless. That may be the only shot you got.” Turn the hip.

• If he steps back, go high. When he backs out of range for the low kick, a high kick is still an option, especially with long legs.

What to drill

1. Hit and angle. One-two, then a small step off the line. Partner throws a slow cross-side right so you feel it miss.

2. Cover, step, kick. Add the kick from the angle with the cover hand at your face.

3. Pop and spin. Partner holds a pad. Land the pop and use it to turn into the spin.

4. Kick and step in. Kick from the angle. As soon as your kick comes off, step right in before your partner can.

Angles are not the same as backing up. If you need the other half of this lesson, read stay in the pocket: why running isn’t fighting. We work angles constantly in our adult class.