The best kick I know, nobody else knows it. This is a funny thing, but it’s true, at least, I never see anybody else use it. Not in the MMA, not in tournaments, not even in good, old regular dojo freestyle.

This kick is as fast as thought, but if I don’t pull it and merely plant it gently upon my opponent’s body, I’m going to break a bunch of his poor ribs. This kick is probably the most powerful kick in you will ever see. Every time I use it, I tell you, I get the point.

The kick is a replacement spin side kick, I often just call it a Pop Kick. That’s right, I turn my back to my opponent and can’t even see him. Yet, the kick works every time.

To make this kick work, you first have to be able to fight out of a horse stance. There is a weakness in this, but it is easily done. Obviously, your body is half closed, and you have turned your side.

So when I set fight out of a horse stance, I make it very temporary. I usually let myself be bullied into turning my body, and thus lulling the opponent. This undoubtedly helps the surprise of the kick when I deliver it.

You’ve got to learn how to switch feet effectively to make this kick work. To practice switching I drop into a horse stance and learn how topop the energy from my tan tien, I envision snapping the fingers in my mind–very important–the actual fact of switching the legs must be just like the snapping of fingers.

Take a stance before a wall, relax, breath easily, and, when switching the feet, making the foot coming around the back land gently upon the wall. One foot lands on the wall, and the other foot lands on the floor, and they must be totally synchronous when doing so. The trick is to see the kick in your mind, relax, and just let the thought pop.

Do you see what kind of magic we are creating here? By practicing kicking at the speed of thought the kick becomes virtually instantaneous, like the movement of a magicians fingers when he dazzles the crowd. I am helpless in a weak stance, the other fellow is convinced that he’s shutting my body to the side, and whamo jamo,the side kick pops in from the wrong side. The unexpectedness of it all, the instant coordination, the pure strength of the side kick, the sudden drop of the weight, they all combine to make a mofo kick that is a real heart stopper.