Ushiro-Geri: A Guide to Practice by Mark Kupsz
I am of the opinion that ushiro- geri is an advanced level technique and students should not attempt to learn this until they can perform other kicks to a decent standard.
Prerequisites for performing the kick are muscular development of the legs, good balance and timing. For those new to this technique my advice would be to stand with both your hands on a wall and adopt zenkutsu-dachi with hips square to the wall and back foot facing as much forwards as your ankle flexibility allows (shorten stance if necessary to achieve this). Keeping your back leg straight lift it straight off the ground without altering the angle of your ankle and you will be in the correct position for this kick. Try to be aware of your hip and shoulder position being parallel to the wall. Now turn your head to look over your shoulder down the line of your leg without changing the position of hips or shoulders and you should be properly aligned for the kick. Repeat this several times getting somebody to stand behind you and make adjustments to hips and shoulders if necessary. To get a feel for the thrusting action of the leg adopt the same start position described above with arms outstretched against the wall. Raise the rear leg until your knee touches the wall; as though preparing for front kick. Now try leaning forwards so that your head touches the wall and allow your knee to point down to the floor. Maintain the 90-degree bend at the knee. Your foot will now rise. At this point initiate a strong thrust backwards with the hips and focus on straightening the leg. This is the motion of the kick. Beginners need not look over the shoulder as you end up rotating the shoulders and the hips. Repeat this 10 times on each leg. Beginners should start a bit lower than waist height as muscles need to be developed before the leg can be held higher and pushed out straight without a scooping action to the kick. Gradually increase the height as your gluteus muscles get stronger. On this point I feel the kick is best delivered no higher than chudan as there are balance issues on contact and a serious loss of power as you go higher.
To understand the rotation of the hips prior to raising the leg… for beginners I use move 11 in Heian Sandan i.e. the one just after bottom fist strike, where you step up slowly placing both hands on your hips. This allows them to get a feel of the rotation and foot sliding across the floor. The foot/leg movement is very similar in both the kata and the set=upfor this kick.. Simply practice the move faster than in the kata and lift the left leg just before both feet come together. This allows one to maintain balance prior to the lift. As you become more proficient the foot can be raised sooner. Practice this move turning clockwise and anti-clockwise. The key point is the speed at which you can turn the hips through 180-degrees in preparation for the kick. People should aim for a sharp snap of the hips and stay as upright as possible prior to lifting the leg and thrusting it back.
One of the harder parts to master is continuing the rotation once the kick has been delivered and stopping the rotation and returning the foot back to the floor. The key is to return the kicking leg back to a front kick (knee bent 90-degrees) and regain an upright position as quickly as possible. The key to fast rotation is keeping limbs in tight to the body. If you imagine an ice skater going into a fast spin the first thing they do is bring the arms in close to the body then extend them above their head. As they do so the spin accelerates. Use the same principle immediately after the kick and you should turn to face your opponent much more quickly.
Once you have the rotation and thrust sorted practice the kick using a heavy bag or with a partner holding a kick shield. Try to make contact only with the point of the heel; toes pointing down. This decreases the area of contact maximizing the impact. This will also allow you to get a feel for the push that the bag exerts back on you as you make contact. If you find yourself being pushed off balance as you connect adjust your posture so that you have your torso more upright. You also need to have your supporting leg bent at an angle similar to that in the delivery of mae-geri. Strongly tense the supporting leg at the point of contact. Other than at this time try to keep as relaxed as possible to facilitate speed. I practice adjusting the distance I stand from the bag; being slightly further away allows you to make contact at full extension of the leg, nearer allows you to feel a strong follow through. You should also practice starting well away from the bag and sliding in before delivery, as this will develop your distancing for use in kumite. After you hit the bag and it swings away wait for it to return and hit it again. This allows practice of the one-two kumite combo I mentioned earlier.
I have seen many variations on how this kick should be performed. One point that is often raised is whether or not to look in the direction of the kick during its execution. I personally teach that one should always look in the direction of the attack no matter what the technique but I am open-minded enough to consider alternatives.
Regarding the matter of ‘looking or not looking over the shoulder’. I’m of the opinion that both points of view have merit. If you consider the situation when attacking an opponent; there is always a time lag between them seeing an incoming attack, recognizing it for what it is and finally reacting to it. If you train for sufficient speed in this technique I believe you can initiate an attack and execute it whilst looking away from your opponent and still have it land. When I was at a competitive level, strategies I used in kumite included stepping in quickly and making the necessary maai before delivery or alternatively I’d edge towards my opponent until I was at distance sufficient to land mae-geri. (depending on style and reactions of my opponent) At this distance I had a good degree of confidence that I could land this technique as it is a very powerful kick and hard to evade. When doing so I rarely looked over my shoulder as I had already pre-spotted the target. The trick is to be proficient enough so that the amount of rotation and hip alignment relative to your opponent is correct before unleashing the kick. You then have to commit 100%. It’s not 100% guaranteed as opponents can naturally be moving out of range at the time you execute the kick but I got many a point from it. I always practiced for a good 10 minutes on the surface I was going to compete on prior to any match so that I got a feel for the degree of friction, as surfaces tend to vary. On this point I used to vary whether I continued the rotation and ended up in kamae; facing the opponent ready to land a gyaku-zuki etc or else I’d stay positioned with my back to my opponent. This being the case I’d quickly rotate my head to look over my shoulder. The leg I’d just kicked with would be placed slightly behind my supporting leg with the ball of my foot lightly touching the floor for balance, ready for a second ushiro should my opponent block/evade and come charging in for the counter. At this point you have them caught dead most times. Remember to use less power than if performing it in combat, as if you catch them full power as they come in at you, you tend to pole-axe them and get disqualified. The look on their face as they realized too late that they had been caught out was priceless. However when practicing ushiro-geri in the dojo I ALWAYS look over my shoulder as I tend to perform this kick with less intensity and opponents have time to move. Performing this way allows you to correct the line of attack and prevents unnecessary contact.
Another point worth considering regarding turning the head is its affect on hip alignment I am mindful of the fact that “ where the head goes, the body tends to follow” and more often than not beginners tend to over rotate the hips so that the kick ends up being a cross between ushiro and kekomi….not that that is necessarily a bad thing as a spinning kekomi can still be very powerful. However from a perspective of performing ‘good technique’ for gradings and the like I feel the hips should be as square as possible. Also maximum force is generated at 90-degrees to target.
As a footnote I locked myself out of my house a few months back and had no option but to kick the door in. I tried mae-geri about 15 times before I got my ‘thinking head’ on. I switched to ushiro-geri and had successfully busted the door, frame and lock after just 2 kicks. A simple if rather expensive way of proving to myself that this is the most powerful kick we have in our arsenal.
