 American Tonksido vs. American Kempo, this is the last of three videos that we are making in collaboration with Sensei Justin Ichikawa from TO Westlake Rate in Thousand Looks California as well as Sensei Ichi YouTube channel. Now we've been doing a fun exploration by comparing the basics of our systems. This is a friendly debate, this is not a who's system is better. The first episode compared our blocks, the second one compared our strikes and today we're going to talk about kicks and Sensei Ichi is going to walk us through some of the Tonksido kicks and then we're going to analyze them and see how they compare to Kempo. Now be sure to check out the other half of this video on his channel afterward in which he analyzes the Kempo kicks. I have posted the links below in the description. These are basic kicks. We have snapping kicks, we have thrusting kicks. Sometimes the thrusting kicks do snap depending on the situation but generally we like to keep them separated for the beginners or we have snapping kicks and thrusting kicks. Snapping kicks include round kick, inside cresting kick, outside cresting kick, hook kick, and heel kick. So we have five snapping kicks that we use. The round kick is universal, some people call it a round house kick. We have different versions of it. We have standing, slide up, and we have spinning which we teach to our beginners. For our white belt and yellow belts, we just teach round kick. That's the only snapping kick. The higher rank you get in terms of intermediates then we do inside cresting kick, outside cresting kick, hook kick, and heel kick. So again, all snapping kicks. When we do our snapping kicks, I'll have three principles, fold, snap, and recoil. So let's say we're doing a standing round kick which is really basic. It'll be front leg kick, we're coming up to fold, knee and foot are going to be knee in front of the body, foot behind. So I'm going to do that snapping round kick this way and here. I'm throwing that snapping round just like that. That's our standing round kick, real basic. We also do a slide up version and then a spinning version. So slide up round kick here, this way here, then spinning back leg kicks and I'm snapping just like that. Nice and relaxed, nice and chill. That's pretty much it for the round kicks. For the cresting kicks which are the little more intermediate kicks, we have inside and outside which actually mimic the inside and outside defense. So if I'm going to do the inside cresting kick, standing inside cresting, I'm going to be on my front leg of kick. I started the 45 and end so I'm snapping kicking with the instep of the foot on the round kick. We kick with the top or the shin and the ankle. So in this one, I'm kicking instep. So I'm starting across this way. I'm kicking inside cresting kick that way. Outside would be the opposite. He flips the target over. I'm going to be kicking with the front leg this way, knee folds 45. So on the outside cresting, I'm going to be kicking on the outside edge of my front foot. So standing outside cresting, I'm pulling this foot, kicking across that way from outside cresting. And then the next kick we have is the hook kick. So on the hook kick, I'm going to be kicking with the back of the heel or you can kick with the bottom of the foot. One is for reach. So if I'm kicking up here, boom to his head, I'm kicking with the bottom of my foot. If I'm kicking to the kneecap, bam, I'm going to use the back of the heel. Kind of drive him down on the ground. So hook kick in here, boom, I'm kicking this way. It's not the most powerful kick in the world, but it's really strong because you're hanging with that heel so you can kind of nuzzle in into a sweet spot. So that is the standing hook kick. And we have the turning heel kick. We're going to be doing basically like the hook kick, except it's going to be a full 360 turn. So it's turning heel kick standalone, back leg kicks. I turn, I kick the target and it ends up in the back. I'm going to kick up here today here, on this way here. So that is my turning heel kick with the back of the heel. And that is it. Those are our basic kicks in terms of snapping. We take all those kicks and progressively they get more challenging. We had skips, we have lunges, we have leaps, we have jumps, jump turns, and we just make them more advanced from there. Sometimes we have doubles for our black belts. But in basic, those are the basic snapping kicks that we have. So our thrusting kicks, we only have three. We have front kick, back kick, we have side kick. We do, same thing as on the snapping kicks, we have standing, slide up, and then stepping. We also have the intermediate students skip up, and we have lunging and jumping, etc. But these basic kicks we have are just the three. The theory behind thrusting is that we thrust certain kicks because they're meant to give driving power, and they're meant to be giving stopping power. So if he's walking at me, I'm able to stop him with that front. So my back leg is kicking. I'm kicking real quick and I'm locking that leg out so it kind of stops him in his tracks so I can follow up. So we have for driving power, if I'm kicking through him, I'm thrusting all the way through to drive my attacker back. So we do standing front kick, which I just did. We have standing side kick as well. Again, front leg kick. When we do the standing side, just like the other kicks, three principles, fold, thrust, and recoil. On the side kick, we implement hip turn, and sometimes ankle blade. So we're doing hip turn instead of kicking straight up this way. As I kick, I'm turning my hip over here like that. An ankle blade, if I, let's say, I won't have, if I, we didn't have the target and I want to hit in those little spot in the ribs. So what I do is I've bladed my ankle off to the side like this, so I'm able to find little nooks in the knee and the rib cage. I can use that blade of things. They're kind of almost like the spear hand to fit through. The last kick we have is the turning back kick. When we do the turning back kick, it's one of the more powerful kicks that we have, but it's a little more challenging because we have a blind turn, just like the heel kick. So I'm going to be pivoting off of my front foot, looking over my back shoulder, and I'm throwing that back kick. Just like a side kick would, it's just a little more hip turn. We are kicking with our heel. So those are all the basic kicks that we teach our beginner students here in our studio. What do you think about these? Are they similar to your kicks? Are they as good as your kicks? I tried to do as good as you did, but we all can't be the coolest guy in the world. So I'm sorry. I tried. But what do you think? How are they similar and how are they different? It's okay, sensei. At least it's the effort that counts. So my first impression here is that our kicks are pretty similar and the difference seems to lie more in the categorization of them and some minor variations. Now, you mentioned that you group your kicks by snapping kicks and then thrusting kicks. And I think the difference that we have is in the way we use the word snapping and thrusting. Your snapping kicks have a nice crisp technique and actually, well, they snap with a strike while your thrusting kicks have the driving power. In Kempo, we classify thrusting and snapping to just about every kick. But in our context, snapping means the kick recoils at the same speed that was delivered at, kind of like a jab, out and back at the same speed. Our thrusting is when we are driving through the target, often advancing forward. Now, we have four primary basic kicks. And those are the front kick, side kick, round kick, and back kick. And these are actually the four kicks that are taught in kicking set one, which is a minor kata that teaches beginners different ways to deliver these kicks while traveling. Now, we also have the hook kicks, crusting kicks, axe kicks, sweeping kicks, and the like. But those are taught later and demonstrated in kicking set two, which is about halfway through the curriculum. So I'm just going to group these by our basic four and then touch upon the advanced kicks. Now, we also teach each kick with the front leg and rear leg variation. The dynamics differ between them. And as I mentioned in the previous episode, Ed Parker, the founder of American Kempo Karate, had boxing experience. So there's, there are trace elements of boxing concepts in Kempo. Much like in our punches, the jab and the cross, our jabs are used with the front hand because they are closer to the target and can snap out quicker to make quicker contact. And our rear hand delivers the power punch. So basically set up and knock out. We take a very similar approach with our kicks. When we kick with our front leg, we treat it like a jab. It's usually a quick shot, usually to cancel the opponent's height, width or depth. And in our rear leg, which is used to deliver the powering hit or driving through the attacker. And as with all our kicks, as you do, and as you described as the fold kick and recoil, we simply call it the chamber extension and rechamber. So the front kick, we kick with the ball of our foot. And if we're using the front leg, we're going to deliver it as a quick snapping kick, either to the knee or the groin or general pelvic region. Now we stress with new students not to lean back to free up that front leg, take that weight off of it, because that will compromise our balance. But we should be able to just lift and snap the kick and return it. Lower strikes like this tend to bring the opponent's height downward a bit. And because as a general rule in Campo and our self-defense portion, we like to keep kicking to about waist or belt level for common sense and safety. We don't do a lot of head kicks. So we like to bring the targets down, which also takes away their ability to kick in that instance. So if they're leaning forward, their weight's forward. They can't really lift that leg to kick. And sparring, of course, you'll see a lot more of the head kicks. With the rear leg, we're going to deliver the power. Now either it can be still snappy motion in that it goes out and comes back at the same speed or step through motion as if we're actually trying to walk and step through the person. The scenario dictates the action that we're going to take. So typically if we're going to advance, we'll land forward with the kicking leg and we'll use that to check off their front leg. So maybe to prevent them from kicking or trap them and work our way to some sort of entry or combination. Now I also noticed that our delivery of the front kick differs slightly as you show it a bit of a slight lean with your kick. And I've seen this in Tonksido and Taekwondo and I've wondered about this. I once had an old instructor mention that it was for reach and another one mentioned that it was for counterbalance purpose. So I'd kind of like to hear your take on this. What is your reason for that? When we do the front kick, we keep our body upright almost as if we're doing an exaggerated step. Even if we're going to return backward to kick or advancing forward, we keep our body straight up and we drive forward. So it's really kind of interesting to see our difference in the execution of the front kick. Our side kicks are also incredibly similar. We have the same two variations, the rotating hip side kick and the blade edge kick. We usually use the blade edge kick to blow out the knee or kick out the back of the knee to drop the opponent's height. The rotating hip side kick is a powerful kick and we usually apply it to the ribs or the chest. Now we'll teach them stationary at first as well as later we'll add shuffles, pull drag, slide ups or even cross behind steps which just add even more power to the kick. And also if we're going to do a side kick with our rear leg, we're typically stepping forward and advancing with it. Now the round kick is pretty much standard as the same as you described it. Snapping with the front leg or twisting and delivering the kick with the back leg. Now we will use the instep part of the foot and later in advanced levels we will teach them the kick with the ball the foot which can get a little bit more penetrating power. The round follows the same concept. The front kick is like a jab, the back leg is like a knockout strike. So we'll also use the front leg a lot in quick strikes to the inner thigh or the groin or even the kick out of the leg to disrupt balance and our rear leg kick is also sometimes used as more of a downward angle similar to a Muay Thai leg kick. And finally our back kick. Now we use the back kick a lot but in terms of self defense it is almost exclusively used as an exit move. We don't typically like to expose our back unless we're sure the opponent has been neutralized. So you'll typically see us deliver a back kick from a rear stance to kick and push off and then cover out or spinning kick to blast them and then exit from there. And in regard to alignment you are correct. There is a level of blindness to delivering the kick. So we teach our students to look over the shoulder of the leg that is kicking because our rule is we need to see our target before we fire. In the beginning stage of the kick we will add a small step which helps align the hips perfectly for the kick when the spin is applied. As a student gets good enough and advances with this motion it will be smooth out and often worked into an advancing step through. Now as far as the advanced kicks the inside and outside crescent kick is pretty much exactly as you described it but like I mentioned previously we often try to bring the head down for a lower easier to hit target but the execution of the kicks are the same. The hook kick is pretty much the same as well but what you differentiate it as the hook kick and in the turning heel kick we just call them both the hook kick. One is just spinning and one is just using the front leg and using the exact same snap method that you demonstrated. This is not to be confused with a wheel kick which has more travel and more locked out like a spinning crescent. Not a kick you're going to see in Kempo as often. Now I would like to share this. Since you have great snap and delivery to your spinning kicks and that reminds me of a drill that my first instructor taught us to how to learn to properly deliver a spinning heel or a hook kick. New students have a tendency to extend the kick early and elongate the path of travel. So he would have a stand in the doorway and tell us okay do the spinning hook kick from there. It forced us to keep that chamber in tight and only snap it out and back when we have that window that the right point of rotation. I'll personally vouch for this practice because once or twice kick in a door frame and you get the idea very quickly. Now in addition there are a handful of minor kicks that I'll throw in. One of Kempo's signature kicks is the lifting heel kick. It's a close quarter kick and it usually comes at the end of a combination. From the reverse stance we will quickly shoot that heel up or even hook it a little bit and it will cover out or re-chamber and deliver a back kick from there and then cover out. We also have the scoop kick which is like a modified front kick that kind of hooks the groin. It's often delivered from behind the opponent. Alternatively we can replace that with a lifting shin kick and it really depends on if you just want to ring the bell or jam the radar. Two other variations of the front kick that I like a lot is a sweeping kick that I like to bring up higher to the stomach areas to prevent them from advancing. I use this a lot in sparring and I find some success with it. There's another kick I also like to call an angled or inverted front kick because the original name for it in the written manuals isn't exactly politically correct but it is good for getting around lower defense and sneaking in a quick shot. So I hope all of you enjoyed this collaboration. My favorite part of working on this channel is learning how other people do their techniques especially if it's different than the way I was trained. We all have two hands and two feet but it's the mentality and principles behind them that put the art in martial art. Thank you so much for watching and again a great big thank you to Sency Ichi for his time and energy. I highly encourage all of you to go check out and subscribe to his channel. The link is in the description below. He has a ton of fantastic content as well as the other half of this video. So let us know in the comments if you like this three part series and would like to see more collaborations or anything more along these lines in the future. Please subscribe. Click on the bell icon for notifications for future episodes. Thank you so much everyone.