A spring is only as useful as the degree to which it is compressed, and a kick is no different. “If you chamber rapidly and bring your knee up very high and close to your body, the mae geri is very useful. “That’s a problem only for a fighter who has a slow and low chambering motion,” Kenji Yamaki explains. Now, some karateka may get their kicks “stuffed” by an opponent who knows how to close the gap and refuses to allow enough distance for the karateka to accelerate his foot. If you set up your front kick properly, distance is irrelevant, he claims. “All three kicks were the same mae geri with the same chambered position but with three completely different targets,” he says. After bringing his leg back to the chambered position, he slowly pushes my front thigh backward. Re-chambering his leg tightly with his knee high, he extends his foot to my solar plexus. With his knee held high and close to his chest, he slowly extends his foot to my chin. He proceeds to break down the movements of the technique and perform them in slow motion, maintaining perfect balance as he delineates his concepts. To illustrate his point, Kenji Yamaki asks me to walk with him to a clearing between tables in the coffee shop where we’re meeting. But if you chamber your leg weakly and only bring your knee up slightly, your mae geri will be limited to the waist or lower." If you bring your knee up high, you can kick at any height. “From a standing position, you have to be able to chamber your knee as high as possible, and that’s what gives you the luxury of options in terms of where and how you place the kick. “The positioning of your knee is the key,” Kenji Yamaki says. The foundation of the front kick is built on properly chambering your kicking leg. He insists it’s the most versatile leg technique in the martial arts, and once you see him demonstrate it, especially when he uses it as a counter, you’ll agree. The mae geri, or front kick, is Kenji Yamaki’s favorite. Kyokushin Karate Technique #1: Mae Geri (Front Kick) The advice outlined below is his offering to the readers of Black Belt who are looking to make their own foot techniques extraordinary. It’s been said that Kenji Yamaki, who appeared with fellow kyokushin alumnus Dolph Lundgren in The Punisher (1989), has an uncanny ability to make the ordinary become extraordinary. When I ask about his trademark moves, he points the conversation toward the three most basic leg techniques of karate: the front kick, round kick and side kick. His heavily muscled frame looks more like a linebacker’s than a kicker’s, yet as soon as he stands to demonstrate a move and places his instep against my ear with blinding speed and incredible precision, I’m a believer. If you were to watch the 6-foot-2-inch heavyweight walk into a dojo, you probably wouldn’t believe he can move and kick as rapidly as a bantamweight. Kenji Yamaki Demonstrates Two Karate Moves From His Full-Contact Karate Techniques 2-DVD Set Having come from a system made famous by Masutatsu Oyama’s murderous striking techniques, Kenji Yamaki favors an arsenal laced with kicks that are frighteningly powerful and lightning fast. He recently started teaching his own style of knockdown karate, which he’s dubbed yamaki-ryu. His name is Kenji Yamaki, and he was one of the top kyokushin karate competitors in Japan. As soon as a rapid-fire striker convinces you that speed is the key to victory, along comes a powerhouse prodigy who’ll bend you back toward the other extreme.īut now there’s a newcomer from Japan who’s set up shop in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, and he just might settle the debate once and for all. The power-vs.-speed debate has raged in martial arts circles for decades.
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