Top 3 Karate Kicks for Beginners! Tutorial and Techniques!

Here are the top three kicks for karate beginners. I know that when I started karate and I wanted to do kicks, the movements of the kicks had to be simple and the timing had to be easy to understand. So these three kicks have that in common. So let's get into the details. For the kekomi with the front leg, this is not going to be an attack. This is going to be a block for you if you're a beginner. Yes you can use it as an attack if you get better but first start it as a block. What I mean is the timing that you're going to seek is called ai uchi. Ai means together or match and uchi means to hit. So you want to match the timing of your hit which means you want to counter at the same time. Imagine this timing of a chudan zuki. The timing that you see, I'm pretty sure the players are going ba ba ba same time right? That's the terminology, that's the meaning of ai uchi. Going at the same time. Kekomi goes for the same as well. Someone, let's say an opponent lunges forward with a renzuki or gyaku zuki and he or she's a lot faster than you that you can't really counter clean. So you aim to get that away from you. Just make his or her attack incomplete. That's what you want to use the kekomi for. So aim for their stomach, don't let them finish their punch. The reason why we use the front leg is because it's closer to the opponent so you can react faster. If it's the back leg, you can bring that forward and then kick so it's going to be harder. Timing wise and the movement wise, this is a recommended block technique. Next we're talking about the chudan mashigiri with the back leg. This kick, use it as an attack. Unlike the last one, chudan mashigiri is a pretty good one to connect with an attack. For example, let's say you're a little bit smaller than the opponent or let's say you're slower than the opponent. I guess either way, if you're a beginner, the opponent is better than you in some kind of ways, right? Therefore, if you just go in simply with one punch or two punches, the opponent has dealt with that already so he or she's going to be used to countering it. But if you mix it up with a kick, then it becomes a little bit harder for the opponent to notice it. So first, do a chudan mashigiri with the back leg, close the distance and then connect it to a punch. I guess there's a higher chance of you actually going close to the opponent and trying out different stuff if you use this chudan mashigiri. There are some small key tips here like I've made like a 10-minute video explaining how to do the chudan giri so please check this out and learn more. If you like the video up to this point, I do online group lessons as well so if you'd like to learn karate with me and give you guys personal feedback, then please consider subscribing to my group lesson as well. So the third kick is going to be chudan maigiri with the back leg. And the timing you want to go for is ai uchi, just like the kekomi with the front leg. Let me explain why. Chudan maigiri is one of the most lethal kicks in karate because you can aim for their stomach and you can literally pierce through it. Yes if you get better, aim for you to land your kick clearly but I'm sure it's going to be very hard for you to do that if you just start out. So it's best if you can use this as a block. Someone comes to you and aim for the ai uchi timing and kick. It's okay, you don't have to. In kihon, you're told that you have to keep your leg straight, right? But it's okay if you can't kick fully. As long as you hit the opponent, even if your leg isn't straight, that's still going to damage the opponent and it's going to make their attack incomplete. That's the important part. So three kicks, chudan maashigiri with the back leg, chudan maigiri with the back leg, and chudan kekomi with the front leg. Try these out and see how it works. I'm pretty sure your combinations and your tactics and strategies is going to be so much better compared to when you were just doing punches. So tell me how it went and if you like the video, please subscribe and leave a like on my channel. Also, I do private lessons and online group lessons as well, so check that out from here. I'll see you guys next time.