First of all, Happy Holidays to all of my Krav Maga friends and family! I am so grateful to all of those out there who share our great self defense system and help to make this world a safer place!  Now let’s talk about the Front Kick:

Kicks are generally a longer range weapon, so you can make an effective strike with them from a relatively long distance.  One of the most useful kicks, is the ‘Front Kick to a Vertical Target’ (Our technique names are useful but aren’t very creative, see ‘Spinning tiger dragon palm budda fist’… haha).  In this kick, we are using the ball of our foot to strike aggressively at the stomach, solar plexus, or even the throat or face.  Think of this as a punch to the gut or higher of course depending on your target, and of course using your foot instead of your fist as the weapon.

My goal is to do damage to an oncoming attacker, not necessarily create distance between us. The striking surface of the ball of my foot is small, and thus it penetrates more than using my whole foot, which would likely do less damage, but would maybe stop an attacker or buy me some time before I make my next move.

If I chamber my knee up first and then fire my hips forward, I can throw a very effective kick, and then work my way in for closer range combatives, or even leave the situation if the kick did the job on its own.  Be sure to keep your shoulders relaxed, because if they crunch forward, you won’t be able to fire your hips as aggressively.

Ok, that’s all for now.  Hope you enjoy the video! Happy Holidays, Be safe, and of course… Go do some Krav Maga today!

-AJ @ajdraven