Shalom everyone. This week’s technique review is about defending high roundhouse kicks. That’s the subject.

When we look again at the natural responses, remember we’re talking about the high kick, the high leg coming towards the head. That’s what the sensation, the feeling is.

Now depending on initial angle and, of course, the initial response, one can have that type of natural response or this type of natural response. If this is the natural response based … 360 is based on this … we are doing one type of defense, usually one hand, although it can be two hands. We’ll talk about it later. And if the chest is turning towards the problem then we are doing that type of response, two hands.

That’s the idea. Let’s do the three basic techniques that we have against the high roundhouse kicks.

So, we’re talking about a high roundhouse kick. So he’s targeting my head and he’s targeting my head usually with more or less horizontal attack. When you’re ready. That’s the idea.

He is kicking my head too fast and I’m defending with the hand and I move the body if I can, if I wish and cross attack as soon as possible. So then we can see two types of behaving like this. One of them is like the 360. Look at the 360’s basic aggressive response is what we are defending and moving in the direction of the defense to have good impact and early defense. That’s one option.

When this happens … please. What happened here was very simple. When he attacked me, I kicked him. Kick the leg, kick the groin. I’m kicking in the leg a little bit. Practically we should be kicking in the groin. That is one option.

So, when he is kicking me, I move in. Get a bit closer. So the impact, because I move in the impact is not being reduced. It’s a bit reduced because I go towards the knee area and near the foot. But still it’s a high impact.

So then a few things. One, if he is kicking me if I’ll be able to hit him before he hits me, that’s definitely very good. So it reduces the impact. That’s one thing. Except for this, to reduce the impact we use fleshy part, we use wide part so the wide part of the forearm is going towards the kick. We are doing slanted area so the impact will be dispersed on the forearm, the muscle. So this is how we reduce the impact. We can even do a bit of an elevation of the kick. So this is the way to reduce the impact. But again, the whole concept is he is kicking me, I am kicking him. I am trying to destroy him. But please remember there is high impact so when we have very strong kicks, it is something that maybe needs to be avoided.

The other option is exactly like this, avoid high impact. What will happen? If he’s trying to kick my head, I move. I don’t stay in this area. So I have a much better body defense and that is reducing the impact. It’s shock absorbing. So, if before I was staying in my place and defending and kicking strongly, now I move with the kick. So if he’s kicking me with the right leg, I move to my right and then I attack. That’s the idea.

Look again. He is attacking. So you saw that when the leg was high or coming high … please … I moved. And because his leg is high he is exposed in the lower parts. So here we can do a side kick to the knee, for example. Or a kick to the groin. And again, it’s very simple. If I move to one side, my weight is now on that leg. The other leg can kick.

When I stand in front of him, I move to my right. He is kicking me here, slowly. I move to my right. So if I move to my right I have to move the right leg to make it as early as possible. I am like this or to the right, I move the right. To the left, I move the left. Backwards, I move backwards. Forward, I move forward. Basic movements.

Now when he is kicking I move and I kick. So I move with the direction or in the direction of the kick with its direction, I would say. And when the kick is high, I strike low. That is the basic idea. After that finishing mode is needed.

The third option is the two hands. So let’s switch places here, it would be easy for the guys to see. So we are saying like this. When he is kicking me, my response is something like this. That’s natural response. So based on this natural response and very similar to what we did against the baseball swing. He is kicking me. What happens here … one more time … I turn towards the kick. I move my body towards the kick. And if I move my body towards the kick, if I’ll go towards the kick I’ll have more impact. It’s heavy leg.

So one option is to move in if you can absorb it. If not, move away. So I created a torque and now I move diagonally forward slowly and then continue. One more time. So both forearms are going to meet. So, again, it’s the natural response. That’s the natural response. You’re turning the chest and two hands towards the problem like a break fall. And with this, to avoid high impact, you are slanted and you are shock absorbing and you are with the fleshy part. And as soon as possible, he’s by my side so I hit with a hammer sideways. And then continue as needed.

So this is the two hands. And then we say like this, if there is a two hand option, let’s see if I’ve got this reaction can I use two hands. Something like this is the natural response. So again, this is natural response and that’s a natural response. Okay. And this hand, can I use it going to resist? So that’s the variation of the technique. When he is kicking me … let’s do it from here. When he is kicking me, I use two hands. Look again from here. When he is kicking, I use two hands to absorb better.

So you saw how that’s the basic defense. But I feel, “Hey, I should not absorb everything on one arm.” So, the other hand assists. So it is based on that response is the 360 concept but look, it’s off a hand. With a strike, we are using a kick. And instead of one hand, we say let’s do two hands. Still I’m more or less in the same angle, which the angle suites one-hand defense. Natural response, basic technique variations.

All the best guys.