The Lead Leg Side Kick...

One of the most underrated self defense techniques is the lead leg sidekick.

This was a technique made of most use in Bruce lee's concept of interception. Its power is in the fact that its extension aligns and activates the strongest and larges muscles of the body, namely the gluts and quads. Front kicks make use of the quads, as does the round house which is truly a swinging side front-kick position. It is only the side kick that creates a synergy between the contraction of both the glut and the quad.

With this information, it is interesting that the side kick has not been used more in MMA. The reason for this is that being a full body motion, the side kick (unless trained extensively...) takes time to recover from. In traditional martial arts it is even often thrown from the back leg, further increasing both power and recovery time needed. The techniques effectiveness is in training and use of natural body movement so that the recovery time can be minimized and actually capitalized on to create flow into a secondary, and tertiary followup technique.
Squats, kettlebell swings and lots and lots of form/alignment practice is a necessity to not only strengthen the power muscles of the kick, but to also gain selective relaxation so a practicioner has no more muscular tension than what is needed to perform the given task of the kick.
Over time, the lead leg side becomes just as fast and 4-8 times more powerful than the lead leg front kick. In a sparring situation it can be directed to the head or body and followed up by a backfist or reverse punch (cross). In self-defense it can easily be directed to the hip socket or knee of an advancing opponent. Additionally a missed or batched kick can be turned into a shinscrap and/or an ankle stomp.

I invite and challenge ALL MMA enthusiasts to take some time to train their side kick and incorporate it into their stand up. Versatility is something that is beginning to be lacking in MMA., dont be afraid to train something that is not a quick fix technique.

Here is a great example of a clean sidekick with breaking power... Note: i do not advocate taekwando's tendancy to drop their hands so low, but you have to give credit where it is due and this is a great kick...

http://youtu.be/FgVvciodhYE
Until next time...

Yours in the Way,

Master Atama.