Kung Fu Life

The Shadowless Kick is one of Southern Chinese boxing's most famous techniques, yet there are so many different variations of it depicted.

Essentially, there is no such thing as a definable move, but it is the concept of the technique(s) which they share, that of an 'invisible' kick, or a kick so fast that the opponent does not see it.

In actuality, it is a little more mundane and easily absorbed and used as another weapon in your arsenal.

The basics are:
a) a fast kick - that's a given, don't try a Shadowless Kick technique with your base being a back leg turning kick, it's too obvious and slow to contact.
b) distraction - AHA, that's how its done!

Yes, the fact that you should use your hands to distract first means that the opponent's eye is drawn away from your actual intent.

One of my oldest friends', Pete Marshall, now an MMA instructor in Dublin, used to have a lovely front/axe push kick which he would use to devastating effect by double palm blocking to the face, then opening his palms to reveal one of his feet coming through to the face, much to the alarm of his opponent. Dropping his hands from the double palm meant 2 things, the opponent's eyes originally focused on the palms are drawn away when the kick comes straight through the opening left when he drops them to his sides, also helping to rebalance his body as he steps his foot through thus giving balance to the inertia of the kick. The initial double palm would draw the opponent's eyes upward and thus, hopefully, miss the lifting of the front foot.

This is the essence of the Shadowless Kick, to hide both the initial motion of the kick from stance and to distract away the attention when the kick lands.

Another, simpler version, is a quick backhand strike to open up the body to a fast front jab kick to the mid or leg/knee, myself preferring the soft bits under the ribs, perhaps hitting a floating rib for a good winding.

I have also used to good effect a front leg side kick, but this requires a little more setup and, of course, a fast side jab kick. Setup consists of back leg turning or side kick with your main kicking leg, preferably high and well signed to the opponent, so they expect to get out of the way, but on landing the leg to the floor, instantly launch a suspended split side kick on the same leg, pushing out with the supporting leg for maximum power, and feigning a punch to the face. I have surprised several experienced fighters this way, both in sparring and in anger, but requires possessing a quick front leg side kick and I have also seen several other heavy kickers use this technique to break an opponent in the ring.

Training for a fast side kick is always useful for all round use so it can only help.

One of the things I always do to increase speed in my side kicks is ankle weights and sideways leg lifts to warm up the muscles down the side of the leg and hips after stretching appropriately.

Follow this with slow side kick extensions balanced on your supporting leg (it's good exercise to not hold on to anything) and control the full extension then pull back in and down. Repeat several times. If you feel you have the strength after a few sessions of this, use the ankle weights to further strengthen the muscles.

The hardest exercise that will improve the strength of your side kick muscles is extended holding and rotating.
Extend your side kick leg fully at a horizontal position or higher, bending your torso the opposite way o balance, and hold for a count of five, a la Bruce Lee training in his room before the tournament on Han's Island. Pull in and repeat ad inifinitum several times or until your leg feels like it's falling off, then change leg.

When you've recovered from that, repeat the same extension exercise, but at full extension, rotate your leg one way five times, then the other way five times, then pull in, change leg.

Now, all of this is fairly pointless if your maximum stretch on a side kick can only reach your opponent's ankle so remember to work your box splits. I'll post about an effective way of reaching that seemingly impossible goal of cold drop box splits another time, till then, keep your knuckles hard and keep them holstered.

Labels: Bruce Lee, fast side kick, Kung Fu, mo ying gyeuk, Shadowless Kick, training