Front Kick, Al

Jack and Al do the front kick a little differently. Al's kick forces the kicker to be very fast. Al's kick is much harder to learn initially but it takes experimenting to get Jack's kick to have speed like Al's. On the other hand getting power in Jack's kick is easier than getting power in Al's kick. The kick shown is a little too high because of the location of the bottom of the bag. Jack puts a pad over the base to kick more toward the knee and shin. A Cuban student of mine tells me that this kick is part of North Korean Tai Kwan Do.

Movie of Al's Front Kick

Fig. 1 Start of Kick		Fig. 2 Jump on Kicking Foot		Fig. 3 Non-Kicking Foot Down

1. Fig. 1 shows the start position with Nage facing the bag.
2. Al's kick starts with a hop on the foot that is kicking. Fig. 2 shows this hop with the left foot.
3. Fig. 3 shows the non-kicking foot touching the ground after the hop and the kicking foot up in the air from the hop starting for the target.

   Fig. 4 Kick In Target		Fig. 5 End of Kick

4. Fig. 4 shows the kick in the target. Notice that the hand on the kicking side is down by the leg and the hand on the non-kicking side is up protecting the face. The basic hand movement is to have both hands go up if they start low or go down if they start high. The form shown here is a more advanced hand placement that fits the overall Aikikuta style.
5. In Fig. 5 the foot returns to the ground. This posture shows Nage continuing the attack rather than returning to the starting position. Normally this might be a punch.