That damned kick
At my karate class I am known to stubbornly insist on using kicks not normally practiced in our dojo. Most of these kicks come from my Shukokai days. This particular kick, though, has undergone some changes over the years as I took up Chinese martial arts. I refer to both the reverse roundhouse kick and the back spinning kick as the reverse roundhouse, but recognise that the faster version is done with the lead foot while the back spinning version is more powerful and employs the rear foot. In karate this kick is usually done by doing a front kick or side kick past the target and then to hook the the sole or heel of the foot around to hit the target from the side. I do not find this version very powerful and substituted it with the Dragon's Tail form that involves whipping the leg around and through the target from the side. A problem that reared its ugly head a while ago, however, was when I did the kick against a wall (don't ask) I saw t...