How to Perform a Side Kick in Karate

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Michael Quebec, and today's subject is the side kick in Karate. Well, when you talk about side kicks, it depends on what you mean. Do you mean the side snap kick or the side thrust kick? I'm going to demonstrate both on this bag, profile view. So, I want to do it off of my front foot. The reason why I don't do it as much off of the rear foot is because I notice that when I spar and I do it off the rear foot it's telegraph. It gives the guy enough time to react to it. He could rush me or he could just get out of the way, so I like to do it off the front foot. And here's the side kick done in as a snap kick version. What I do is I cock the knee and then I just thrust straight out. So, this is the side snap kick. The edge of the foot right here is the striking point; that's traditionally, though I don't mind admitting it; I cheat a little bit, and I I like to throw the the heel. But here is the side snap kick in Karate. Here is the side thrust kick. Now, the side thrust kick is a little bit slower admittedly, but you get a lot more power. What I like to do; I'm going to go ahead and hold on right here, I like to cock the knee across my body like this. From there, I'm going to thrust with my whole hip. Now, if you do it with the skip up, you get a lot more power with it. And there is both side snap and side thrust in Karate. Thank you. My name is Michael Quebec."