Turning Kicks Playbook

Mat Manual companion guide to "Kicking Behind You: Ushiro Geri and the Turning Kicks." Print it. The article teaches three separate techniques that share one preparation. This book trains them separately: ushiro geri (back kick) as a straight power counter, ushiro mawashi geri (spinning hook kick) as a hooking arc, and ushiro ura mawashi geri (reverse spinning hook kick) as a high reverse arc, each with its own mechanics cards, checks, distance progressions, and pass standards.

Name: ______________________________ Dojo: ______________________________ Grade: ______________ Start date: ______________ Lead leg (circle): Left / Right Instructor clearance for head-level partner work (initials): ______________

BEFORE ANYTHING: SAFETY AND PARTNER AGREEMENTS ☐ All spinning work runs at agreed speed and agreed contact, stated out loud before each drill. Either partner can lower the speed or the contact with one word, and the drill obeys at once. ☐ Head-level kicks in partner work go to a held pad, a shield, or a held guard line, or are withdrawn short of the head under your dojo's rules. No student's control is assumed. Control is measured and passed at each speed in Parts 13 and 17 before the speed rises. Full-power head-level work is pad and shield work only. ☐ Ushiro geri to a partner's body in distance drills is thrown at the contact level printed on the card, to a braced shield where the card says shield. A holder who is not set calls hold and the rep does not happen. ☐ Turning space is checked before every set: a full turn and a full kick in every direction used, floor clear, no other pair inside the turning circle. Spinning kicks and crowded floors do not share a session. ☐ Stop on any dizziness, loss of balance that carries into the next rep, or pain in the standing knee, hip, or ankle. Spotting drills that make a student dizzy stop for that student that day; the log records it (Part 21). ☐ Miss-recovery standards (Part 18) are learned before free partner work. A student who cannot recover from a miss at drill speed does not throw the kick at free speed.

Part 1: The Three Kicks at a Glance

Three techniques, one shared preparation, no shared grading. A pass in one kick earns nothing in the other two.

Shared preparation, graded in Parts 3 to 5 for every kick: look first and fix the target, pivot cleanly on the standing leg, chamber in the shape the kick owns, strike on its own path, recoil, and complete the turn or exit back to kamae (guard position).