Frank Garza agrees. “The key to this particular knee is to be belly to belly and then slyly move your knee out and then into his body. Anything you hit with this technique, ribs, kidney, hip joint, gets the opponent to drop his hands, which opens him up for an elbow to the face. The only problem I can see is when you haven’t yet softened up your opponent. Then when you lift your knee, he can trip your support leg and you’re in for a nasty fall. But every technique has a downside when it’s not setup properly. But, wow, talk about an effective technique; this is a good one.”
To practice the inside knee strike by your lonesome, hug your heavy bag, a manikin or even a padded pole. Alternate striking the sides of your target with both knees, striving for stability while staying in motion on your feet. Be sure to pull the bag into the strike for added impact. If you are doing it on an immovable pole, pull with your arms anyway just to establish the habit.
3 sets, 10 reps -- both legs
From a tight clinch, angle your right knee outward, and then slam it into your assailant’s lower rib area.
Hug your heavy bag close to your chest as you angle your knee outward and then slam it in hard. In the first photo, my knee is fairly close to the bag. You can also practice with your knee pointing all the way to the side prior to slamming the bag.
Outside Crescent Kick
While the outside crescent kick isn’t as off-the-beaten path as the last four, I like it so much that I have included it here just to encourage you to work on it. An outside crescent is one where your leg arcs away from your body as opposed to an inside crescent, which arcs across the front of your body. I prefer the outside version because it’s faster and it isn’t as hard on the knee. Once, a high-ranking martial artist argued that it wasn’t a good kick, but then he changed his mind when he had trouble holding the bag for one of my students who, at 135 pounds, can nearly shred a hand-held bag with it. There are two variations of the outside crescent: front leg and rear leg.
Front-leg outside crescent Assume a left-leg-forward stance and face your imaginary opponent who is standing at 12 o’clock. Step up with your rear foot just behind your left and snap your left foot up with a slightly bent leg toward 2 o’clock. When it reaches whatever height you want, whip it toward your imaginary opponent, hitting the target with the outer edge, the little toe side, of your foot. Its power comes from speed, hip rotation and a slight snap of your knee. Don’t tense your leg or hip muscles in an attempt to hit hard. Strive for smoothness and speed and power will come naturally.
Time your crescent, whether you are kicking to a high target or a low one, so that you make contact at the apex of the arc. I like to kick low with it -- kidney, groin and inside of the thigh -- so the arc isn’t as pronounced as it is when kicking high. But that is okay because a low crescent still hurts. With practice, your speed, muscle development and application of proper body mechanics may make the crescent one of your favorite kicks.
Rear-leg outside crescent Crescent kicking to the outside with the rear leg isn’t as fast as with the front leg but it’s more powerful and quite deceptive. Be careful that you don’t hook your front ankle with your rear foot as it passes; it not only hurts like the dickens, but you look stupid when it happens (been there, done that). If you are just learning the rear crescent, try this variation taught by Instructor Alain Burrese. Here is how he describes it.
“Assume your fighting stance face to face with the heavy bag, right leg back. Step off to the left at a 45-degree angle or so. The right leg goes straight up to 12 o’clock and then snaps to the right into the bag, connecting with the outside of the foot. Switch stances and repeat on the other side.”
When you move at an angle to your opponent, he is momentarily confused as to what you are doing. His eyes follow as you step to your left, and then he sees your rear foot shoot straight up at his side, two feet away from him. Just as he starts to think, “What the --,” your foot slaps into his groin.
The crescent kick with either leg will chalk up points in competition because it’s impressive when snapped to the opponent’s face and it makes a resounding slapping noise when whipped into his upper body. It’s especially pertinent for the street because it can be delivered with very little telegraphing against vulnerable targets, such as the groin, inner thigh, outer thigh, back of knee and kidneys.
Instructor Alain Burrese steps off to the left with his lead foot and begins moving his rright foot forward and up into an outside crescent kick.
Movement Continued
Exercises and drills for the crescent kicks
Try the following exercises to develop speed, power and flexibility for the crescent kick.
Front-leg outside crescent:
Air reps: 3 sets, 10 reps – both legs,
Heavy bag: 3 sets, 10 reps – both legs
Rear-leg outside crescents:
Air reps: 3 sets, 10 reps – both legs
Heavy bag: 3 sets, 10 reps – both legs
Supported slow motion kicks: Hold on to the back of a kitchen chair, or anything else that works, with your left leg forward. That grease spot on the wall in front of you at 12 o’clock is your opponent. Slowly lift your slightly bent left leg up toward 2 o’clock as high as you are able. Even if you never kick high, do so when you exercise your crescent to more intensely stimulate the involved muscles. When you have reached your maximum height, strain to lift your leg even higher. Yes it hurts, but move your leg slowly in an arc toward that spot on the wall. Bring your foot straight down to its beginning position and repeat. Do these slowly and eat the pain.
2 sets, 10 reps — each leg
Kick over the chair: Here is another kitchen chair exercise, one that has a built-in incentive. Face the chair in your fighting stance, step up with your rear foot and execute a slow crescent over the chair’s back. I strongly suggest doing them slowly at first because if you don’t kick high enough or your leg is somehow off course, you get a not-so-friendly reminder in the form of a crunched toe. Once you get the feel of distance and height, kick over the chair as fast as you want.
3 sets, 10 reps — each leg
Kick over a standing bag: Hapkido instructor Alain Burrese uses this exercise to work all the muscles involved with the crescent kick, especially the hips. You may not like to kick as high as this requires, nonetheless use it as an exercise to loosen and strengthen all the involved muscles. Use a freestanding bag or, if you don’t have one, use a pile of boxes or tires. Stand in front of it with your left leg forward. Step up with your rear leg and quickly lift your front leg up the right side of the bag,
