3 Best KICKS for the STREETS!! Pros and Cons for Kicking 

If you want to learn streetworthy kicks, check out my teachable! SENSEISETH.teachable.com/p/higherkicks

Best 3: -low kick -lower kick -lowest kick

Can't wait to try these on my kids, thanks Sensei Seth

“Don’t throw this kick unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences if it goes wrong” That is SO true-with EVERY technique, you MUST have a backup plan!!

Several years ago, I threw a hard round house that connected right above an assailant’s knee effectively buckling his leg. It was the only blow thrown. He moved in, I waited and drove my shin hard into his leg. He dropped and looked at me. “I wasn’t expecting that.” Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I asked “You done?” “Yeah, sorry.” All in all, potential fight ended and I didn’t get hit.

Seth Sensei I just strted to watch I couldn't go away from it your explanation is good God bless you ----Arun Dev from India

He has better chemistry with himself thai I do with anyone

Kicks to the legs in a street fight work well. Body kicks and head kicks can get you in trouble if you can't fight off your back. Don't fight off your back in a street fight if you can avoid it. Avoid all street fights If you can as well. The law is not on your side if you are a trained Martial Artist.

The roundhouse and the sidekick have been useful for me in the past when I was involved in street fights; however, the front kick didn't work out for me in the street, so I didn't use it afterwards. A turning back kick worked once in a street fight but that's because the situation was set up for it; otherwise don't turn your back in the street to do such a kick, or you'll increase the risk of getting slammed, stopped, etc.

why Seth doesn't acknowledge my nifty emojis I'll never know

Dude that intro was some of your best work yet, great timing

Re: the opening sketch Okay Seth, we get it, you can throw kicks in a street fight. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Badump tsss

I think kicks won’t work in a fight if you don’t know how to kick

Seth!!! Bro how nevervous were you when the 5 the round started and we knew WB's knee was blown? Dude I was staring at the clock so damn hard wanting the round to end. That Karate discipline is undeniable man.

Just started the vid. My go to after 20 yrs nightclub Sacurity. 1. Teep. / Cross stomp. 2.Front snap kick or teep to body. 2. Low side kick.(can be done even whilst kneeling on one knee during a restraint). 4. Kness to body NEVER THROWN A ROUNDKICK IN MY LIFE ON THE STREET. ESPECIALLY HIGH??. With the ultimate highest respect Sensei, may i ask you to rethink the higher kicks?

Using a lead roundhouse to spinning back kick or the rear roundhouse to lead side kick has become some of my favorite moves I’ve learned from this channel. Works wonders when they think you’ve whiffed a kick then your longest kick hits. Thanks for all your advice Seth keep up the good work

I like the analysis, bro. In Jeet Kune Do, a low lead side kick to the knee/shin/thigh is a great way of dealing with someone advancing or as a fight stopper. I have to agree anything waist or above is dangerous in attempt to land

I was surprised by the power of that first casual low roundhouse. That was a nice thump for just looking like he was scooting something out of the way.

From my experience, front and side kicks to the torso and pelvis are very effective in street fights. You can control distance, and most people have no idea how to defend against it.

I think the retraction of these kicks is as critical. I had a bad habit with the front kick leaving it out too long and just dropping the leg. One night in sparring Sensei pointed it out and that my opponent was just waiting for it.

Gotta love the teep

In a street fight, things happen at closer range. So sidekicks, roundhouse kicks, or front kicks should be delivered to the knee of your opponent until distance can be achieved. You should never start off with a kick to the body even at distance, use your punches or hand strikes with the kicks being a follow up to them. Practice doing combos with punches and hand strikes and finishing the combo with a kick. Use kicks to the body or towards the head once you cause your opponent to try and cover up to protect themselves.

earned a like for the intro alone!

I have used a roundhouse kick to the leg in a street fight before

This was much better than the last vid, great job. I thought you were going to endorse kicking but you hit on most of the disadvantages of each kick and I was genuinely surprised. One thing I thought you should have made more of a demonstration of are the low kicks (the muay Thai style ones). Though I can tell your not as used to throwing them so you're not getting the full potential out of the power you can use. Granted this is only a video but that's just my first impression There's a way to throw them that makes it almost impossible to take a counter punch if you angle properly. The biggest disadvantage in my experience for non trained people is not knowing how to check low kicks, which makes them the "safest" tool for taking the fight out of someone without risking getting hit. Or at least make them worry about low kicks so much that the chin is an easy target

I pulled guard at my McDonald's fight club and won

ah sensei seth im going to change wing chun for sanda i know both work and are effective for self defence and fighting but sanda is more suited

Hello Sensei Seth! Love your stuff, thank you. "If you want to kick them in the head, throw them on the ground first" and yea front kick to the solar plexus, is easy to hide the view of the oncoming kick under their hands if they have a guard up , works great to counter a rush, I agree with IcyMike here.

Really good points! I especially liked when you said to prepared for the consequences of missing a kick. AND you're a funny dude lol. Subbed!

I see your point with not bringing the knee straight up on a side kick but I enjoy throwing it that way (at least on my front foot) because it allows me to set up for that hook kick. Granted we are talking about a street fight so setting up stuff isn't as important. Great video!

push kick shuffle side kick are my 2 favorite anything to knock them off balance other than that. get those knees an elbows out break what ever they extend my dad served as a marine drill instructor. thats what i learned from him

Seth: *shows three variations of useful kicks* Me: Grrr!!! YEAHHH!! So excited!!!

Man you can’t believe how I am enjoying your channel I started watching it like 2 days ago and I already saw lots of videos

Broke a guys leg in a streetfight with a low kick. After 15 years as a bouncer trust me a hard low calf kick is a one stop dropper

That intro sequence was def me whenever anyone doubts kicks 😂

Sensei Seth you should do a street-fights review or maybe people using martial arts in a street-fight which would be better for dissecting

"KKKKKKK-KOMBOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Killer Instinct developers would be proud.

Very valid points. It's also case sensitive. Like feints, for example. Feinting can either: 1. Make someone who loves to throw counters react with a counter (usually a punch) 2. Make someone who is trying not to expose their chin react by trying to somehow use movement to weave or dodge that same feint. 3. Have no reaction or a delayed reaction. Also the thing about most street fights is that most people won't have prior knowledge about their opponent, forcing to adapt or otherwise get surprised by a technique one might be ready for. The 3 kicks you mentioned are the most fundamentally basic, yet most effective. Also these basic kicks can stop an attacker in the tracks if you choose to pay attention to your targets. Soft targets should be a priority. Most street fighters (or people who fight in the street with no formal training) are usually hand strikers with no kicks or grappling to worry about. That is still no excuse to make the mistake of underestimating your opponent. But it usually is slightly better than fighting someone with a well-rounded skillset. SIDE NOTE: Spinning Side/Back kicks will get good results if aimed at the solar plexus or the sternum! Either will send an opponent flying or crush a diaphragm! And yea, side kicks are always awesome. Crazy deceptive how a spinning back has a spin like a sweeping roundhouse kick, but ends up being a linear variation of the standard side kick!

Please think about your floor. Wet smooth cement? Jeans that can or cant bend well, foot wear. Knee safety when pivoting. Falling down when kicking on ice, soccer ball for enemies friends....i recommend teep. Front kick groin. Weapons of opportunity? What can you grab with hands? Most importantly "be first"...

Side kick followed by a spinning back fist or a spinning elbow if you slide of or miss, a fav of mine

Sidekick, main con is you find it hard to throw fists afterwards. Basically solved if you know how to box and are good at jabs (and maybe flicker jabs) or if you are more proficient in kicking based fighting anyway. Roundhouse, main con is it leaves your body open to tackles. Basically that means the roundhouse should be more used as an opportunistic attack if your opponent is left open due to being outmanoeuvred. The front kick basically solves all its cons with it’s pros and applications. I also prefer the side kick since it has more range and power while it keeps the side stance. Basically, the side kick is more of the outfighter’s main kick while the front kick is better for infighters. Correct me if I’m wrong though, I’m honestly talking out of my ass here by speaking based on my understanding rather than experience and would like understand fights better

This intro is honesty the best thing ever

Loved this video 😄, I like throwing a few hand techniques then front kick to hip knee or ankle stomp followed up by more hand techniques to keep confusion.

I agree. Side kicks, roundhouse and front kicks seem like useful in streetfights. Other kicks are too risky given the balance issue and the exposure it leaves to your body.

@Sensei Seth I would argue that the mawashi geri (roundhouse, circular kick) is significantly more powerfull than the sidekick IF it has enough space to do the whole half-circle, because of angular velocity. Sidekick needs shitload of training and good hip flexibility to be THAT good. Mae Geri is the most instinctive, AND fastest (shortest amound of movement to chamber, shortest amount of path to "fly"

I would agree that the side kick is the best kick in karate, and I say this as a 30 year practitioner, I would use it on the legs/knee before I would go high to the midsection with it. My personal opinion "Never throw kicks above the waist!"

If the person is not flexible I wouldn't recommend kicks but for me. I'd say even pushing side kicks work for me. (unlike Mr. Popeye The Sailor Icy Mike says) At least I get to keep the instigator at bay with them, condition him into realizing I won't let him get inside my bubble easily.

Shane has a vid where gnt shows how he threw these three kicks in street altercations. Great video

Good Video. I haven't kicked as much in about 7yrs (TKD) . But if I am rushed by a drunk ,partially blind ,man with a rolled up newspaper. I will instinctively throw a back kick without thinking . And run.

Always good points. But I do think savate style kicks are more advantageous in a self-defense scenario. They train with shoes so they know how to use them to their advantage in street self-defense. I train with an old pair of semi-dressy thick-soled shoes because I wear these kind the most. Let me tell you, when you tighten your toes and do a roundhouse liver kick, that thick shoe sole is like the tip of a hammer. Theoretically, even if a person catches or blocks, you still have at least six-seven inches of penetration! Don't need much for a liver shot. And you kick the heavybag a little differently when you're wearing shoes, which is exactly how you want to kick in a self-defense scenario. I'm sold on savate style kicks.

Kicking is good for street fighting simply because most pople don't know how to kick, but will still try it if they see you do it. So now you have your opponent throwing out "kicks" with zero controll.

How do you feel about front snap kicks as opposed to teeps? I feel like the snapping motion is something most people don't expect (kinda like how Anderson pulled one off against Belfort).

Low kick and knee kick are only two kicks that are safe and efective for street fights, all the kicks are effective but only those two are efective and safe because you do not need to be warmed up, it can be raining, you do not need to be flexible and it is harder to catch them without risks.

Very nicely put together information. Thank you, Sensei Seth!

Incidentally, I just released a video today about what to do when you miss a roundhouse kick (spoilers, it can become a side kick)

I've used, Side Kick Roundhouse And front kick to the stomach. Though I mixed them with Wing Chun so I've never thrown a kick unless I had hold of someone. (stealing balance)

Unless you catch the opponent completely off guard with a face kick, it's usually best to keep them from mid to especially low. Shins, knees, ribs, gut, lower spine, hips, and ankles are some good areas if done right. This gives better recovery time, and less time for the opponent to catch the strike.

Imo the best kicks for a street fight in no particular order would be: Roundhouse to calf, oblique stomp, and a front kick to the groin The problem with using a kick in a street fight is that you don't have time to "set it up" like in a match, so it's all about situational factors. Will kicking help you survive? Do it Will kicking get you killed? Don't do it It's up to the individual to be trained to properly handle it while being mentally present in the situation.

Best kicks for street fights. 1. Front push kick 2. Low kick 3. Roundhouse kick (not to head)

My Top 3 #3 Sidekick In the hips #2 Side or Swap in the legs #1 in the Ballls, any

When you have multiple pursuers, Kix are useful in terms of trying to create some distance, while at the same time keeping some level of awareness of your surroundings period for the most Pand this is from indirect experience most of the street fights. That I remember hearing about were beingjumped. And it's not quite the neatly packaged 1 on 1 fighting that you get in sparring. So the first thing is like always to assume that the person is not alone. At least then, you have a happy surprise when it's just 1 on 1, and you're prepared for the worst if you're getting jumped. I think an exercise that helps build up. That spatial awareness is something that quite a few martial artists on RU-vid have been doing. Which is like these little parkour challenjust where you have? Maybe 3 or 4 people chasing you down. That and we used to do drills where you have multiple attackers. But unlike with IKEA, though, it was more so figure out how to evade and throw strikes. While you have several people with various weights and heights coming at you. Learning how to deal with multiple attackers? In that would be a good exercise in terms of figuring out how effective your basic kicks are. The parkour drills/challenges are things where you are evading, and so you are kind of saying I'm not consenting to a striking match. That puts you in that anxiefying situation and allows the opportunity to train into yourself some set of reactions that increase the chances of you getting away from the situation or puts you in a better position of control. The last thing anyone wants to do is put their safety in the hands of an attacker.

Also it’s always helped to move hands first to hide and help with the mechanics of a kick.

I learned to bring my front kick back faster than it goes out so it’s a little less likely to get your kick caught

Happy birthday Seth🥳🥳

I’ve used a back kick, a side kick, a lunging side kick and a crescent kick in fights and they all worked really well. I’m 6’ 7” so maybe that played a part. You don’t want to get kicked by a dude in shoes.

Awesome content man. The only thing I disagree with is the snap kick to the face. It's not great if the opponent is taller but I've land it all the time in sparring on shorter opponents with a low stance. Another reason I like it is that it's hard for the opponent to see where it's going and if you miss I find it still creates distance in a fight.

Happy Birthday seth

I really don’t know what to make for your kicks, I also don’t know what style you practice. I did shotokan for 17 years plus and very aware of the differences between each style but I can’t help but notice issues with the mechanics of each kick and transfer of weight in each. Fair play, putting yourself up doing techniques, it’s a daunting task.

Love your horse kick its beautiful

Kicks I adapted to using are Fumi-ashi (foot stomp), Momo Geri (thigh kick), Gedan Kake geri (lower hook kick), and for opponent who are at distant Take tombo Geri (Tornado kick).

I can tell you from personal experience without trying to sound like a tough guy on the internet...fyi its always scary to have to get physical with anyone. Front kicks are really really good. Using the foot thats in front is probably the fastest to connect with your target. Ive used it to gain distance and ending the situation. Ive never used the rear foot which would probably exert more force but i was pretty decent at lifting my knee chest high and thrusting the hip forward. All those front kicks at the end of class paid off. (Muscle memory). Side kick i used once and ended the fight fairly quick. But i think it was a combination of the person not being able to take a body hit. Roundhouse or more like round house to the leg (muay thai style)...those ive used a couple times and they are super effective. A few times they stayed down and a couple others i had them limp towards me for a few more hits or to give me a takedown. FYI: i worked in the prisons for a few years and now work as a bounty hunter, personal protection,etc so things get physical. Kicks are definitely effective becAuse they really dont see them coming. Knees to the balls also are really good just throwing that one in😶😶😶

Nice black belt! What style? And the red letters embroidery is awesome 👌! I watched you and you got world class kicks for sure!!

Tbf my stand up game is primarily punch heavy with mostly round kicks mixed in. I mainly land kicks after pumping straights or I use my kicks to land lead hooks or rear straights. But reality is I am mainly a grappler, in the street I would not be AS worried about throwing the roundhouse kick because I am confident I would either defend the takedown outright, defend the take down and clinch, or go for the front head lock and deter them from driving with my high elbow guillotine...or just finish it. Even if I get taken to the ground I feel confident I can at least shrimp and scramble back to my feet.

Seth, You have to remember about kicking in non athletic wear. Kicking in Slacks and Jeans are more difficult! However, You can kick in them. Something I would mention. Might make a good video topic. Great videos!

0:21 He transformed from No-gi to GI Super Saiyan Black Cool intro btw

Two fighters on street in kickboxing ring in octagon on grass. It really doesn't matter where u are. Kicks work. In street or anywhere. It's up to you to get them there

« Super quick introduction to how sidekicks work » they don’t

& here I was just loosing up to practice some kicking.

you do static kicks, try using movements from karate and positions, zenkutstudachi nekoashidachi, makiwara can help precision force and timing.

If you miss the mawashi geri, follow it up with a oshiro geri. And i always would "hide" the kick by throwing hand combos first. But it depends on the sircumstance. I would prefare a mae geri over the joko geri, because you can throw it out of the cold. Your not gesturing to much to your opponent, what will hapen next. In the case of the joko geri you need to "prepare" it much more ( stance wise) in order dont letting your opponent know, whats comming next. Also con while throwing a side kick is that your groin is "open". I would prefere the mae geri kekomi muay thai version. The technique is different how they throw it and the con is that your groin is also much vulnerable compared to the karate style, but its much more powerful.

I’d say any kick can work in right scenario. Not necessarily looking for the kick, but it coming naturally.

Coming over from the Wonderboy's channel. Great content... appreciate the humor. Subbed.

Hi im a taekwondo black belt. I also practiced judo and karate in college. When i got into a streetfight in the past i never let it get to the point where the guy can make a fighting stance. I strike first and never gives them a chance and just takes them by surprise. Back then there were bullies who tried to annoy me saying that they want to try me out (since they know that i do martial arts) the middle guy pushed me repeatedly then when he least expected it, i kicked him in the face with a front kick(his nose bled like hell😂) then i grabbed his face and swept his legs and just punched him there. However, i got beat up by his friends before bystanders stopped us from fighting. After that we were brought to a police station those idiots got locked up for 24hrs while i got to go home since i was just defending myself. 😅

I think that a right side kick can be somewhat followed up with a right ridge punch/backfist… dunno just speculating.

Great video, Sensei Seth! Thank you!

Very nice. What a lesson!

Always wear boots . Kick the guy when he's down . Use your boot point or heel to kick . Besides those rules , there's two kicks I'd use : heavy straight kick to the gut and step-kick to the knee (which could cripple him for life) . That's coming from someone who's not highly flexible and won't kick above the middle torso . If you can intelligently kick and you look smart doing it then you're okay to kick in a real street fight .

omfg Always with the side kick... come on seth

“If your not gonna punch him in the foot don’t kick him in the face.” -Sun Tzu, probably

Seth is talking to himself. He's gone mad!

My last street fight was 20 years ago and I effectively used a side kick to stop a charging opponent and a rear-leg roundhouse kick to end the fight. They are effective if used by practiced martial artists and detrimental to the receiver. And.. the best way to win a street fight is: to not get into a street fight.

The best kicks for a street fight are, front snap and thrust kicks. They take the shortest path and have the quickest recovery times. The next is a half roundhouse, last a rear thrust kick

liked u ideas so much Perfect and awesome

How do you get your uniform so Crisp and wrinkle free? I just can’t focus on the video... the uniforms to sharp!!

I like the front kick to the hip because it drops the head for a nice hook punch just my two cents. Love you channel Sensei 🇦🇺🥋🥊

Strait kicks = "mae geri" is the best for stopping a boxer when he goes with a jab straight to me. I learned it in Thailand.

Yup legit... side kick is a killer

Great insight man, but it's the killer instinct "cooooooocombo" that forced to me to give a like! 😅

What about like the bruce lee side kick switch to South paw side stance go in with strong right jabs cause thats most people dominate hands say your dominating with just those rights in South paw than bam a quick low side kick. Like knee for below. Than switch back to muy thai stance cause I do mostly muy thai.

Sensi Seth!! You should do a video of "when your opponent catches your kicks"