Let me ask you something. Think of the first time you thought about learning karate or Kung Fu. What is the thing that stands out in your mind that is different were you to have thought about boxing? Yes, you’re right! It’s the kicks! The kicks are unwittingly the appeal that Asian-style martial arts have for all of us. And what kind of kicks are we talking about? Of course–the HIGH kicks. In fact, the higher the better. If we can do a leaping, spinning back-kick to the face, then we will have indeed achieved martial arts nirvana.

Stop the tape! High and aerial kicks are highly overrated! If you are talking about scoring high points for a tournament or for a martial arts demonstration, then I will have to take back what I say here, but if you are talking about a real life street fight, then we are talking about something totally different. We are talking about reality.

There are 4 pitfalls of doing high and aerial kicks for self defense.

The 4 Pitfalls Of Doing High And Aerial Kicks For Self Defense:

Pitfall To Doing High Kicks #1 – You Will Need To Always Have Extreme Hamstring Flexibility – Maintaining extreme hamstring flexibility is something that is very fleeting and capricious depending on how often you continue to train. Your high kicking flexibility diminishes also with age. When you hit 40 or 50, you will notice a distinct difference. People also have lives and families, even policemen and military personnel can’t train all of the time.

Pitfall To Doing High Kicks #2 – You Clothing Particularly Your Pants Determines Your Kicking Height – What is the preferred type of pants most people wear all over the Western world? One word–jeans! If you are in good enough shape to do high kicks, you will want to wear jeans. Tight jeans. Sexy jeans. Jeans that will also prevent you from raising your legs higher than your waist.

Pitfall To Doing High Kicks #3 – High Kicks Are Hard To Land And Are Easily Intercepted – Your leg could be caught by your opponent which means that you could find your leg held tight under his arm while he punches you hard in the groin.

Pitfall To Doing High Kicks #4 – You Can Easily Slip And Fall – Depending on the surface your are standing, a poorly executed high kick to the face can land you on your back if it is icy or wet leaving you vulnerable to be stomped or mounted for a “ground and pound”.

The Solution To High Kicks – Become A Master At Low Line Kicking – When I say low line kicking, I mean do not attempt to kick any higher than the waist. The lower the better. Foot stomps, shin kicks, knee kicks–even leg sweeps are much better and much safer than flying to the air like a bird.

And now I’d like to invite you to get your Free Instant Access to a 30-minute TeleSeminar Audio on “How To Conquer The Fear of Street Fighting” when you visit:

http://www.CombatFightingSecrets.com/nofear.html

You will receive 30 minutes of secrets to never again fear any man with fear busting techniques that will work ever time!

From Charles Prosper – The Kung Fu Fighting Guy

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It is a known fact that many people study a martial art year after year, practice and memorize kata after kata. They compete in all of the tournaments (evening winning trophies). They move from white belt to yellow, to orange, to purple, to green, to blue, to brown and finally to the coveted black belt. However, I know of several very high ranking belts who have gotten into real life or death street altercations that have involved the assailant brandishing a weapon, and they either overreacted by doing the wrong technique or just froze because they just had too much information and too many techniques in their brain to process them quick enough. The end result. They felt fear and/or were not able to defend themselves properly. This is a very sobering and humiliating revelation to anyone who thought that they really understood the reality of the high intensity, quick and violent nature of a real street fight. There are essentially 5 main causes of fear during a real street fight confrontation, but like all problems of life, there is got to be a solution. I have it for you here in this article.

Cause #1 – Lack Of Preparation By Knowing Too Many Techniques – Most martial artists are guilty of this one. The more techniques that you fill your head with, the more time it will take you to process which one to execute when in many cases you must react with split-second knee jerk timing. It is much better to know two or three highly effective maneuvers that are so similar to each other that they would only require a slight variation of any one of them to adapt your self defense to counter a punch, a knife or a club. This means that you would center all of your self defense around only a handful of techniques which you would master. Who do you think would have the faster reaction time – the person who knows and has mastered only two or three techniques or the person who knows 400 possible moves? Knowing too much causes confusion, lack of certainty and in the final analysis – fear.

Solution: In self defense, learning less but learning the best is the answer.

Cause #2 – Lack Of Thought Control – This is a simple but obvious principle. What you think causes what you feel. So if that is the case, and it is, you need only learn how to control your thoughts. Allow yourself to use the adrenaline and feelings of “fight or flight” that course through your body in the moment that you realize that the “fit is about to hit the shan”. Give yourself permission to get angry! Realize that this person before you is not King Kong nor Godzilla. He is human. If he is cut, he will bleed. If he is struck hard enough and in the right place, he will fall. This person before you could hurt you, if you were to let him, so that you would never hold your daughter or kiss your wife again. Doesn’t the thought of this get you P. Oed?

Solution: If you practice getting angry this way for, say, 10 minutes a day for 21 days, you will be surprised at how your perspective begins to change from fearful to ferocious.

Cause #3 – Unrealistic Training Environments – Do you train with a gi in your bare feet? You do! Well, I am sorry to inform you that this is not the way you walk around the street in real life, in an Asian garb and bare feet, unless you are making some strange sort of fashion statement. The closer you can get your training environment to look and feel like the real world, the more comfortable you will feel if and when a real self defense situation happens. They are not easy to find, but there are self defense instructors that have you train with shoes and have a least part of their training centers to mimic the real world by showing you how to fight on a staircase, in a closed room, against a wall, etc.

Solution: The more realistic your training environment is, the less fear, if any, you will feel if and when the real combat happens.

Cause #4 – Unqualified Instructors – Alas, a great majority of senseis and sifus are not street fighters or street combat oriented. Way too many martial arts schools are sport and fitness oriented. They don’t train for real fights. They train for “play fights”. How can I say this? Tournaments are sport. Sport is a game. Game is play. Therefore if you train only or mostly for tournaments, you are training for “play fighting”.

Solution: If you want to learn primarily self defense, ask your sensei or sifu, to show you what is his or her program for combatives and street self defense. If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, look for another instructor.

Cause #5 – Lack Of A Dog-Headed Determination To Overcome Your Fears – You know you feel afraid. You know you feel unprepared. That’s okay.

Solution: If you have a dog-headed determination to overcome yours fears, with the right guidance, that is, with the right instructor, you will overcome your fears of fighting. I guarantee you this. It is just be a matter of time and persistence that you will one day be able to say, “I fear no man!”

And now I’d like to invite you to get your Free Instant Access to a 30-minute TeleSeminar Audio on “How To Conquer The Fear of Street Fighting” when you visit:

http://www.CombatFightingSecrets.com/nofear.html

You will receive 30 minutes of secrets to never again fear any man with fear busting techniques that will work ever time!

From Charles Prosper – The Kung Fu Fighting Guy

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Prosper

Listen up. I know you think you’ve heard these before. You’ve likely had some martial arts training in the past, and I’m sure you already know that much of what you learn in a dojo can’t be applied in a real fight.

It’s common knowledge that most street fights are usually over in 10 seconds or less. They’re dirty, there are no rules, and you have to expect the unexpected. Even if you’ve never been in a real fight before, you probably have a gut feeling that fancy Jean-Claude Van Damme spin kick might get you into trouble. You’re right.

Despite the obvious resolution (of not getting involved in a street fight at all), sometimes you don’t have that option, and you’re forced to fight. These are the often overlooked, yet crucially important points that may allow you to dodge a critical injury, or worse.

Number one. Footwork is key, cover the family jewels. Laugh if you will, but a kick to the groin is absolutely the fastest, real-life way, to take somebody out. Biological explanations aside, the human body simply cannot withstand a targeted blow to that region. Unlike a school fight or a bar fight where it wouldn’t be ‘cool’ or acceptable to kick below the belt, in a street fight, survival is your first priority. Whether that means facing your attacker to the side, or keeping your guard low, it’s up to you. This isn’t an article on fighting technique. Just protect that region if you want to stand a chance.

Number two. Know the feeling of being hit. Most martial artists who have only ever been hit while wearing protective gear, can’t anticipate the pain of a direct shot to the face. Instead, friendly sparring matches are brought to a halt the instant someone gets accidentally hurt in a dojo. Unfortunately in a street fight, you’d be on the ground at that point getting kicked in the ribs and the face. Not that there is any suggestion for you to go out and let someone break your nose so you can ‘know how it feels’. No. Just be very weary of this principle, as it has surprised even the most experienced martial artist.

Number three. Your elbows and your knees are the most lethal weapons you possess when fighting in close quarters. Often times, you’re not given the opportunity to punch, or kick, when someone grabs you, or you’re struggling to get a weapon out of their hand. The human body is engineered is a way that such a significant amount energy can be transferred with the right technique, that even the smallest individual can deliver a fatal blow.

There are countless other street fighting tips, tricks, and advice out there, but these are by far the details most martial artists overlook when they’re forced into a street fight. If you remember these 3 things, you’ll have a significant advantage over your opponent.

Ryan MacDonald is a successful webmaster and publisher of MartialArtsExposed.com. He provides more tips, tricks, techniques, and underground secrets that you can research on his website.

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