Ernest Cadorin

The Power of the Back Kick

2020/07/04

The Door Didn’t Stand a Chance

The back kick (ushiro geri) is one of our most challenging kicks. It requires a lot of balance, it’s inherently difficult to target, and it’s notoriously hard to control. On the plus side, however, the back kick uses some of the strongest muscles in the lower body and has the potential to be one of our most powerful kicks.

Student who are just learning the kick are understandably skeptical when I explain this to them – probably because power is the last thing on their minds as they struggle to keep their balance! Nevertheless, a little anecdotal evidence goes a long way towards making believers, so I usually follow up by recounting this remarkable story…

In the ‘90s, we trained at Clinton Street Public School in Toronto. One evening, during one of our classes, the school caretaker approached us and told us that someone from the school had inadvertently locked a set of keys inside an office. The caretaker needed those keys that night, so he said (I kid you not) that either he could get a crowbar and pry open the locked door, or one of us karate people could try to kick the door open. Tom Cooper, one of our senior black belts, volunteered for the challenge, and I and a couple of others went with him to cheer him on.

When we arrived at the entrance to the office, we immediately realized that this was no ordinary door. It was a 2-inch thick, solidly-reinforced door designed to keep the office secure. Undeterred, Tom prepared himself for the task. He was still in bare feet (having just left the class), so he put on his shoes to protect his feet from splinters. Having come to the dojo straight from work, all he had with him was a pair of black dress shoes – but with his white gi and his dark loafers, he was definitely rocking the look!

Tom started with a front kick, which hit the door squarely in the sweet spot just beside the handle. The door didn’t even budge. A few more front kicks followed, but still nothing happened. He switched to side kicks, but they didn’t work either. Finally, he turned around and tried a back kick. When his foot hit the door, a resounding crack echoed through the hallway. His back kick had split the wood near the lock and had left a size-10 depression in the door. After that, it took only a few more well-placed kicks to finish the job.

I’m sure Tom and the other spectators would agree that not a word of this story is exaggeration (except maybe his shoe size)*. His front kicks and side kicks were tremendous, but ultimately it was the back kick that breached the door. Compared to the crowbar option, this was definitely the more exciting way to break into the room!


Back Kick Tips

  • The reach of your kick is determined by where you place your base foot, so make sure you plant it in the right spot. If it’s too far from the target, you won’t reach it, and if it’s too close, your kick will be jammed. There’s not much you can do to adjust your distancing after your base foot is planted.
  • Allow your upper body to move as you kick. Ideally, it should tilt about 45° as you thrust your leg out, and then return to the upright position as you pull your leg back.
  • Targeting the back kick is especially difficult because we usually get only one eye far enough around to spot the target. Without stereoscopic vision, depth perception is reduced, and as a result our accuracy can suffer. When we miss the target, it’s usually because we have kicked too far to the outside (i.e. to the side of our kicking leg), so take that into account when you are targeting and adjust your aim accordingly.
  • When we teach spinning back kick, we advise students to bring the kicking foot beside the base foot before raising it to thrust the kick. This step helps to ensure that you are balanced and stable before you execute the kick. When you get proficient enough, however, try doing the more advanced variation, whereby you launch the kick as soon as you have turned (without sliding the kicking foot up to the base foot first). This will make the kick stronger and faster.

Chokusen Keri Waza

Drill kata with four spinning back kicks

* When I got Tom's permission to recount this story, he mentioned to me that he looks back fondly on the days at Clinton and is glad that this anecdote is being shared.