This ten article series will deal with the various components that need to be addressed when considering the utilization of a particular kick in a combat or self-defense situation. These ten components can also be used by the tournament competitor although certain segments would have to be modified slightly for the tournament aspects of kicking, rather than the more intensive nature of using a kick or kicks in combat. Although all of these individual components are important, they are most effective when combined together and utilized correctly when executing a kick.

Although I will only be discussing one of the components in this article, here is the complete list of all ten of them.

1. Your Kicking Ability
2. Your Intended Application
3. The Environment
4. Telegraphing
5. Striking Implement
6. Striking the Correct Target
7. Initial Impact
8. Impact
9. Retraction or Follow Through
10. Return to Fighting Position

Component Eight; Impact:

Impact is the culmination of everything that we've talked about so far in this series of articles. As you can see from the itemized list above, the first 8 out of 10 total components leads up to and includes making impact with your intended target. Here are a few things that should be considered concerning your kick making impact with your opponent.

1. You should only be making contact with your opponent utilizing the correct striking implement and nothing else.

Always make sure that you are striking the target with the correct portion of your foot and/or shoe. Striking your opponent with your ankle is going to hurt a heck of a lot worse than striking with either the instep or shin.

2. You should be striking the appropriate vital/vulnerable point on your opponent.

What's more effective, kicking your opponent in the ribs, or in the shoulder? In the forehead, or in the nose? The human body is very durable and yet very vulnerable at the same time. It is a well documented fact that a person can take several bullets being shot into them and still keep on coming. That is why combat pistol instructors always teach you to shoot for the center mass of an individual, so that even if you do miss a little bit, you will still hit something. Remember, the only targets that are considered to be instant stoppers when hit are the brain, heart and femur bones. Anything else and the person can still keep coming after you. If this is the case with shooting a person with a handgun, what do you think your punches and kicks are going to do if you don't hit the correct vital/vulnerable points.

3. You should be "striking through" your opponent, not hitting your opponent or worse yet pushing your opponent.

Visualize your kicks as being bullets fired out of a rifle. You want them to travel as fast as possible to their target where they will strike a specific point on that target with pinpoint accuracy. Once the bullet has made initial impact with the target, it will start to expand as it travels completely through the intended target.

The reality is that you will execute your kick as fast as you possibly can while still maintaining proper form and control. As your kick begins to make contact with the appropriate vital/vulnerable point, you will tighten all of your muscles momentarily resulting in your entire body weight and momentum being behind the kick. Unlike the bullet, and the kung-fu theatre movies, your foot is not going to actually go through a human body. However, you can penetrate further into the body by "striking through" it, rather than just striking the surface of the body.

Never push your kick, always "strike through" your target!

4. The proper utilization of the "relaxation and tension" principles.

Simply stated, this is keeping your muscles in a state of "relaxed tension" until the moment of impact where you will tighten every muscle in your body from your pinkie toe to the top of your skull in order to add power to your kick. Remember, this is only a momentary tightening of the muscles. As soon as you have struck through your opponent, you will immediately relax and retract your kicking leg.

What, if anything, is between your striking implement and its intended target?

Is your opponent wearing some type of clothing over your intended impact area? And if so, what is he wearing? Depending upon the type of clothing and how much is being worn, this can have a dramatic effect upon the effectiveness of your kick. For example; let's say that you are attempting to kick your opponent in the abdomen or ribs, and you notice that he is wearing a tight fitting t-shirt. Is this going to be a factor in the effectiveness of your kick? Probably not! Now what if your opponent was wearing a large down filled winter jacket. Could this be a factor in the effectiveness of your kick? You bet it could, and here is why.

Clothing can not only be a pretty good form of padding, but it can also throw off a person's depth perception if they aren't properly trained and able to compensate for it. Depending upon the bulkiness of the clothing, it can give off the illusion of a person's body being in a slightly different position than it may actually be in. Now consider the possibility that your opponent is all dressed out in jeans, a wool shirt, jacket, and leather bike riding gear. Just how well padded do you think he is now?

Final Thoughts:

I strongly recommend that you practice your impact skills at least 2 to 3 times per week by utilizing a heavy bag, makiwara, wooden dummy, or any other piece of training equipment that you would normally utilize to practice full force techniques on. It is not a good idea to practice to hard with your training partners as they might be inclined to return the favor.