Roundhouse - The Basics
Name of Kick: Roundhouse Kick or Dollyo Chagi
Rank: This kick is usually the second kick learned. I learned this kick at yellow belt or beginner rank.
Use: This kick hit point is the top of the foot, toes pointed. The most practical real-life use for this kick is a rib shot or a head shot.
How to: Each kick builds on the last. So, we are going to start as we did for Front Kick. From fighting stance bring your back leg knee bent up. Your thigh should be parallel to the ground, again knee bent. Toes down, ankle taunt. From here we want to make sure we pivot or turn our base leg between 45 and 90 degrees. This should force your hip to turn over so that when you pop the kick out your kick goes across rather than up.
Better it
Again, this is usually the 2nd kick you are taught when you begin training. It is similar to the front kick except now we are learning to turn the hip over and using that torque to our advantage.
This is still a simple kick, but also a tricky kick. It is very powerful when you do it correctly but can also cause your body damage if not completed properly.
Here we go, starting from your fighting stance, here are the 3 aspects of a roundhouse kick:
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- Chamber- Let’s start with the front kick chamber. From here pivot your base leg about 45, turn and push your hip in, point your toes down have your knee up and at a 45-degree angle.
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- Alignment – While in your chamber, you want your knee up and lined up with your hip and shoulder. Your foot can be anywhere from 45 to 90 degrees depending on your flexibility at this point.
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- Pivot – So we have already done a bit of pivoting with this kick to maintain balance during the chamber and alignment. Now when we actually execute the kick, we pivot to between 90 and 180 as we extend our leg and push the hip in.
This kick should be a controlled kick across and the top of your foot should hit the target. If your foot flops up, you have not turned your hip over enough.
AND ALWAYS WATCH THAT PIVOT. With the torque of this kick, if you do not pivot enough or at the right time, you can cause damage to your knee.
Training
Here are a few tips to help train this kick:
- Slow and controlled – chamber, check alignment, verify pivot, complete full extension, and return to the chamber.
- Using a wall for balance – with this exercise your entire focus is on the alignment from your shoulder to your ankle.
- The lean – chamber your kick, check alignment, and pivot. From here you will lean back and return, extending the kick only on the second lean.
