I learned this type of kick some forty years ago in Kwon Bup Korean Karate. This was the forerunner of Choi Hong Hai's Tae Kwon Do, and the unfortunate truth is that these kicks aren't practiced anymore. Why, I don't know, because this type of kick is the hardest kick, the fastest kick I have ever seen.

I learned this type of kick some forty years ago in Kwon Bup Korean Karate. This was the forerunner of Choi Hong Hai's Tae Kwon Do, and the unfortunate truth is that these kicks aren't practiced anymore. Why, I don't know, because this type of kick is the hardest kick, the fastest kick I have ever seen.

I call this move, doesn't what martial art you do, the pop kick. Whether you do a snap, a side, or a wheel, the basic principle doesn't change. You replace the left foot with the right foot, and kick with the left foot...this all has to occur at the same instant.

By same time I mean that the left foot and the right foot begin motion at the same time, and the right foot hits the ground at the same time the left foot hits the target. By doing it in this fashion the whole body comes together at the same time, then the whole body explodes at the same time. This causes a very pure energy pop in the tan tien, which is a point a couple of inches below the navel, which generates energy for the whole body.

In addition to the purity of explosion you will feel in the energy center, which will tend to concentrate energy in the kick, you will experience a sudden weight on your standing leg at the same moment you experience weight in the leg you are kicking with. This sudden weight tends to make the explosion of energy very precise, even as it increases the violence. This will really increase the energy of your technique.

If you are executing this move with a snap kick, make sure you get the knee high up so that the foot comes in straight, and doesn't slide up the body of the target. If you are doing a side kick, make sure you commit the hips so that the weight really goes into the target. If you are doing a wheel kick, make sure you get the hips up high enough so that the kick arcs in horizontally

The fourth technique would be a spin pop to the rear, and uses the side kick. You would practice all four kicks against a wall, learning how to lift legs simultaneously, and place the feet on the wall and the ground at the same time. You don't have to hit the wall with power, save that for a bag, control will actually give you more power in the end.

We used to have all kinds of set ups for these techniques. We would slap the attacker's guard hands as we pre-stepped, and the we would do it subtle, and then be in the kick before the target knew we were on our way. As we practiced the explosion would get finer and more pure and more full of energy.

Make sure you practice this kick in a variety of stances, and you will have a much larger bag of martial arts weapons. This is a great technique to practice, and it is the result of karate power and TKD kicks. Korean martial arts or Japanese martial arts, this is the hardest kick, and the fastest kick, and perhaps the most effective leg technique I know.