iXHS - information express of helter skelter 'no funky ascii. no funky words. just information.' *** issue 5 about natural weapons - your legs by shot gun your legs are a very important in any physical fight. you get more reach out of a kick than a punch, and therfore you can keep your enemy away. the problem with the legs are that they aren't as fast as the hands, but they can pack as much or even more power. in a fight, you shoudl always be using your hands more than your legs, it's just more logical and faster. i won't be describing how to do kicks because it's much too complicated. it is much easier showing you in person, but... lets get down to basics of it all. stance: the fighting stance. this is how you will stand in a fight. i'm only a first degree black belt karate practitioner so i can never, in anyway, call myself a master of the arts. there are 2 ways you can stand, the tradtional way or the modern martial arts way. mind you, some modern martial arts use the traditional way. the traditional way, is more or less how a boxer stands, but one hand is infront and lower, where ther other is behind that leading hand and is usually there to protect the face. one leg is usually a bit behind the other for balance. the body is facing the opponent so you can use both hands at once. to my understanding, most kung-fu schools teach you to stand this way. the modern way, is when only your side is exposed to your enemy so your enemy has a very little target. i perfer this stance, because it applies both traditional and modern . what i mean is that even though you are only exposing on side of your body, when you attack, that is when you turn your body towards your opponent and do a full force attack . the way you stand is, your most powerful hand will be high and protecting the face and the other is at your side protecting your ribs. though, i usually out-stretch the lower hand a bit more so when a kick comes in, it doesn't come anywhere close to my body. the natural stance. this stance is usually more taught in kung fu than in karate, but this stance is usually just logic. all it is, is a laid back but ready stance. a stance that's not threatening, but when an attack comes, you'll be ready. never tryto instigate a fight. never, when someone is about to attack, so that you are ready becuase usually, if you do that, you'll stiffen up, and if you stiffen up, your moves will not be as fast. kicks: these are fun to practise. they are hard to do without practise. kicking requires a lot of control and balance, and that's why a human tends to punch more than kick in a brawl. the problem is, is that people don't know how to execute a proper kick. a lot of people kick and their toes hit first. in a round the house kick, you must point your foot/toes so you won't break them. in a front kick , either point your toes/foot forward or bend them back so the ball of your foot hits what your kicking. in a sidekick, you want the side or heel of your foot to hit. the sidekick is more of a pushing away kick, but it is painful none-the-less, just think of whiplash when you think about getting kicked by a sidekick by me. :) shuffling: in karate, all this is, is a little hopping back and forth. you see this a lot in point fighting, especially with younger people. i do this a lot when i kickbox, i usually get a faster kick, and better reach since i'm sort of jumping at them . what's great about this is that your opponent will not know what an attack comes, when they see me shuffling like a boxer/kick boxer does, they will be intimidated because i am ready to attack them anytime . a set back about this is that, don't do it in a street fight, because you do not want them to know you are ready to kick ass. end file.