Sanda Front Kick
The sanda front kick is very similar to the front kick of other matial arts such as karate, thaiboxing or tae kwon do. Start from your fighting stance and lift your knee close to the chest. The higher you lift the knee, the higher you can kick. However, sanda is not about high front kick. Sanda is all about fast and powerful leg techniques ( height is not very important ). Then extend your leg and kick your opponent with the ball of the foot ( not with the heel or the tip of the toe ). It's very important that you push your hips forward and lean slightly back shortly before the impact. This way the kick is faster, reach is better and the kick becomes stronger. Not pushing the hips forward is wrong technique and makes it very easy for your opponent to counter attack ( especially as your head will be very close to the reach of his fists ). This sounds simple, but actually the right timing for this hip push is hard to find. Another thing you can do for better reach is hopping farward as you kick ( only do a very small hop at the beginning ). Then pull your foot back and bring your knee back to your opper body. Don't lust let your leg fall. If you get used to pulling the foot back in a straight horizontal line, you opponent will never be able to grab your leg. Your leg wil literally slip out of his hands... ahmmm... I mean gloves. Practice the front kick with kick pads like shown in the video or work on a heavy bag.

Animated Sanda Lessons:

Sanda Main

Sanda Fighting Stance

Performed by: Li Xin and Zhang Hua Dong
Coach: Zhou Zhang Yong - Song Jiang Wushu School