muay thai roundhouse kick vs. Thomas Kurz round kick

[Nichelle]

I am new to this forum. My question is what is the difference between the thai round kick and the one I saw on this web page. When I saw how Mr. Kurz round kick he turned his pivoting foot all the way back and also leaned way back. Now the thais turn foot about half way or a little more for their high round kick and they really don't lean back that far and they still get really high. NOw what is the difference?Please help me to understand. Thanks!!![/b]

[mmeloon]

Nichelle,

I'm not qualified to comment on muay thai so I'll focus my attention on (my analysis of) Mr. Kurz's roundhouse kick. Having the pivoting foot rotate through a complete half-circle allows you to get an awful lot of your hip into the kick. The video Power High Kicks with No Warm Up! explains that it's important to think about throwing your hip and knee at the target. Yes, you snap your lower leg out at the end, but your mind should be primarily on your hips. I believe he lets his upper body lean back to avoid being vulnerable to counterattack.

Again, I'm going to resist the temptation to comment on the muay thai roundhouse. My impression is that Mr. Kurz's roundhouse is designed to get the major muscles of the body involved. I'm sure one can get great height with either kick and I think the main difference is how much power you can generate.

You can read more about this kick here. Note that in order to get into the final positions shown, both Tom and Mac would have had to move their center of mass forward towards the target. They are literally getting the entire body mass behind their kicks.

-Mark

[Thomas Kurz]

My question is what is the difference between the thai round kick and the one I saw on this web page. When I saw how Mr. Kurz round kick he turned his pivoting foot all the way back and also leaned way back. Now the thais turn foot about half way or a little more for their high round kick and they really don't lean back that far and they still get really high. NOw what is the difference?

You listed most of the differences already. They are not great. Muy Thai roundhouse has less snap (or flick from the chamber). If you work a lot with a heavy bag, like Thai boxers do, the snap tends to diminish, and so the pivot on the foot. Working with the bag, I had to pay attention to retaining more of the snap because I felt that it gives a little extra whack and it helps with the shoving roundhouse--which hits its targets from both the front and the side. Both kicks work, so there is no harm in you practicing both and feeling the difference.

You can see a video of my kick on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb60Fu6qABo or at http://www.stadion.com/author_kurz.html ( http://www.stadion.com/videos/roundhouse kick.wmv ).

I do this kick in two ways, one--with a turn on the ball of the foot and raising the heel, and the second--planting the whole foot and turning on that whole foot (the “shoving” roundhouse kick--not shown on this video nor on Power High Kicks).

If I do a follow-through roundhouse kick or a shoving roundhouse kick, my body alignment is similar to what Mac shows on Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up!, except that my supporting leg is bent and I try to keep the whole sole of my supporting foot on the ground.