How to Kick With Power: Distance, the Support Foot, and the Arm Pull

Distance: don’t get crowded

The roundhouse kick, mawashi-geri, needs room to swing. “The closer they get, the more crowded you’re going to feel, and the less likely you’re going to have the opening to throw your mawashi.”

So set up slightly off the center line, not square in front of your target. That small offset gives your hip and leg a lane to come around. But don’t drift too far away either. “I still have to hit the pad.” Too close and you jam yourself. Too far and you’re reaching, and a reaching kick has no weight behind it.

Once the distance is right, the kick has a simple shape: “up and over,” then recoil. Bring the knee up, turn it over, land the kick, and bring it back. Then switch sides and “let it rip.”

Open the support foot

This is the most common mistake I see, and it kills power on every kind of roundhouse.

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You throw a one-two, step, and your toes are still pointing straight ahead. Then you kick, and the kick goes straight up. “There is no rotation of the hip, because the hip has no place to go. You have to open up the foot so it gives your hip a place to rotate.”

Your support foot is the hinge. If it stays pointed at the target, the hip locks and the kick becomes a leg lift. When the support foot turns out, the hip can rotate all the way through, and the whole body goes into the kick.

“I make it automatic.” Drill it until the foot is already turned when you finish the one-two. Then the kick can go wherever you want it: “inside leg, body, face.”

Swim and pull: let your arm load the hip

When I want a power leg kick, not just a quick one, my hand does a lot of the work.

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“I’m swimming, swimming, swimming, and pulling.” The arm on the kicking side comes up and then pulls hard across and back, and that pull drags the hip around with it.

I think of a baseball pitcher. He winds up, drops in, and throws. “I’m doing the same thing with this kick.” I set myself up, let it all drop on him, and throw the arm across my body. “It’s like I’m grabbing that air and ripping myself across.”

Shihan Omar does it a little differently. He swims, gets to position, and pulls himself across into the kick. Both work. “Vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream.” Try both and see which one gives you more power.

Turn the hip on every kick

Shihan Omar makes this point in one of his lessons, and I tell students the same thing: don’t sacrifice a kick because you’re thinking about the next one. A lazy kick to the inside of the leg, with no hip turned into it, is close to worthless, and it may be the only shot you get. Even if you don’t move his leg, turn the hip so there is something on it.

Hit with the shin, and come back

On the heavy bag, you should feel the shin land and the toes wrap around behind the bag. That’s how you know you hit with the right part of the leg at the right depth. If the top of your foot or your shin stings, you haven’t been on the bag enough. More on that in heavy bag training: the bag doesn’t lie.

Then recoil. Bring the heel back toward your glute and get the foot back on the floor. A kick that hangs out there gets caught, checked, or answered with a punch. I go deeper on recoil in improve your kumite fundamentals.

Common mistakes

• Standing square and too close, so the kick has no lane.

• Kicking with the support foot still pointed at the target.

• Arms hanging at your sides instead of pulling.

• Throwing a quick, lazy inside kick with no hip.

• Leaving the leg out after contact instead of recoiling.

What to drill

1. Distance check. Partner holds a pad. Find the spot just off center where the kick lands without reaching or jamming.

2. Open the foot. One-two, step with the toes turned out, kick. Ten each side, slowly.

3. Arm pull. Same kick, now swim and pull across with the arm. Compare the sound on the pad.

4. Recoil. Kick, recoil the heel to the glute, foot down, and throw a punch right away.

Kicks like these are a big part of what makes Kyokushin what it is. If you’re new to the style, start with what is Kyokushin karate. We drill these mechanics in every part of our adult class.