Kick-defense

i've never found a kick defense that i like. i've had to learn scores of 'moves' i was supposed to do under exam-like circumstances. when the pressure was on, all i do is get out of the way with side stepping, or circular movements. just a question. the last time i tried a deflection, i broke my finger because of my nasty habit of having my hands open--i like to grab, or slap a hand out of the way...my hands feel faster open. once i punched someone's knee, nice but i think it was a fluke.
-rus

I discovered years ago (and still occassionally re-discover) that blocking kicks with you r hands is a terrible idea. Any slight miscalcualtion and in a shin v finger collision, there's only one winner.

Defence against kick?
FOOTWORK

either step back out of range, step inside or if you're really fancy you can step with the kick like the thai's do. that involves catching though so keep a clenched fist to protect the fingers.

good advice... cheers.
-rus
p.s. kind of where i ended up; nice to see someone else arriving at the same conclusion. i busted my finger in basketball today; i guess i better also write to a basketball forum...

I've had some success (in training) by,if you see the approaching kick soon enough,rushing in and planting a two handed strike on the chest/head/shoulders of the assailant.If you're quick enough the kick won't have time to gather momentum and it's quite simple to knock down someone who has only one foot on the ground.

Sorry,hard to describe...much easier demonstrated.

The main things are said already...either catch it or step in are my choices too. At last sparring i realised that my training partners liked it least when i gave them an elbow to the shin while catching it. So i ended up with catching, elbow the shin and then either move on to the head or just take em down. But i have to say that was sports and not streetfight circumstances. And there are people that dont care what you do with their shins...most do tho.
Thinking about it...elbows aint allowed in our sparrings but i think noone realised where the pain came from.

aiming your elbow at the incoming shin bone at full contact has two draw backs as far as I can see.
It's easy to miss.
The shin might win.

with the catch I think it wants to be full torso, under the arm, but the step to the side is very important. If you don't step, you're simply presenting your ribs for cracking.

Ah...maybe i was too wasted last night to express myself clearly. It was meant more like catch first and then elbow with the leftover arm. And i always try to get my arm in the way get kicked on that intead of stopping the kick with my ribs. The step is more of an automatic reaction it seems to me but you are absoutely right Adam. I got no idea why...prolly i didnt do the step or didnt get my arm in the way or i dunno whatelse happened but my ribs were close to crack from a kick at last training. Maybe that result should be enough of a reason for me to shut up in the kick defense thread til im sure i got better at it.

there's a couple of examples of what I'm talking about here between 1.30 and 1.40.

I love watching these lads train

http://youtube/watch?v=BGaz3ScrGKA

...back again. in the middle of being a proctor at a standardized secondary school exam, here i am writing to one of my only outlets these days, to the forum. computers are so forgiving. i just wanted to give some validation to the catch. i spoke of punching at a knee in my first message. it was after a catch. i haven't done it since, maybe i should think about it more now. but it ended the pace of the other person, who was winning up until that point. in this early fight, i was a better boxer, and this helped to even the playing field.
-rus