Height of Front Jumping Kick - thoughts of Jim Keenan -Dotokushin-kai and Isshinryu Karate

 

The first time we consider the height it can seem daunting. Eight feet
seems like a pretty good distance up in the air! Here are a couple of
thoughts to consider.


First, I'm taking for granted that everyone who trains also does
stretching exercises. The minimum that a person should be able to do
is to stand up straight, bend forward and lay their palms on their
insteps. If one can't do this yet then that goal has to be reached first.


An alternate goal to that one is to be able to do a front leg raise so
that one's foot will go straight up over their head. If one can't do
this yet then that is another goal to pursue first. (To see how you
are with doing this, sit on the floor in a "hurdler's stretch"
position, bend your upper body forward and touch your elbow to your knee.)


Another goal is to be able to do a front knee raise (just like a front
leg raise except that you keep your knee bent) so that, without
bending forward, you can bop yourself in the shoulder with your knee.
(To see how you are with this without doing the knee raise, do a deep
lunging step forward and then bend your upper body forward and rest your shoulder on your knee.)

 

If, in your case, you can already raise your leg over your head (kick
higher than your head), then you are already approaching the seven
foot mark just because of your height. That means you actually only
have to jump up about one foot in the air!

 

Now, to sort of see where the "bottom" of your jumping kick ability
is, stand up straight with both feet together, bend your knees and
then jump straight up in place. Have a friend standing by (maybe on a chair - being careful not to fall off) and taking note of how high
your eyes go off the ground. Hold the broom out to where your eye
level reached and use that as the starting point for the jumping kick
height. Everyone I've known has been able to jump kick to at least as
high as their eyes went. (Your standing jump, depending on your
effort, probably took you anywhere from five inches to one foot off
the ground. This means that your beginning jump will reach seven feet easily and maybe get to seven foot seven, based on how high your eyes reached. You may even be able to hit your starting point height without having to jump!)


The remainder of the height (up to where your fingertips went) is
built from the power of your launch (one step, one knee up, one kick up).


I always start out classes with "roadwork" and to break the monotony
of the running I include jumping over small obstacles and so on.
Although the front jumping kick is not a beginner's kick, you can get
beginners used to the idea of "getting air" right from the start of
their practice.


Jim Keenan Dotokushin-kai Isshinryu Karate

 

I have always thought that jumping was a good practice. Just my
personal quirk. I have also always had people practice both jumping
for distance and for height.


To avoid physical bias, here's a standard I used for the height of
front jumping kick that everyone should be able to attain.


Stand up straight and raise one arm straight up above your head. Keep your shoulder relaxed and down (don't extend your shoulder upwards).

Have someone hold a broom out so that it touches the tips of your
fingers. Drop your arm and step away. Taking only one step, one should be able to touch the broom executing a double front jumping kick.


Just a little test I used to do that has the advantage of having
everyone jumping to the same relative difficulty whether the jumper is five foot three or six foot two.


* Note all of these photos are of my own students - Victor