American Kick Association – Martial Arts Online School

Recent Posts

• Doing Family Martial Arts Classes Online

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 18, 2013

  Living in small, rural towns throughout the United States, we’ve often had to get creative to find dance or gymnastics classes for our daughter. When she was four years old, we traveled back and forth from Bird City, Kansas to Nederland, Colorado so that she could take gymnastics classes in Boulder every week. There just […]

• Why You Should Choose Martial Arts to Lose Weight

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 18, 2013

  I’m a marathon runner. I like long distances over short distances and I get something out of long, intrepid runs that last for hours. But not everyone likes the monotony of jogging. Indeed, it’s not the kind of exercise routine that takes a lot of “skill” per se. I mean, there is an art to […]

• Where Mom Went Wrong with Weight Loss

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  She was always on a diet. And yet, she was also always overweight. She didn’t change her lifestyle, she’d simply restrict her calories for a few weeks, drop a few pounds, and then go right back to her bad habits. But besides food, which is a complicated and convoluted problem in the United States (trans […]

• The Subtleties of the Jump Outer Crescent Kick

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  Some people really love doing crescent kicks. Other people don’t. When it comes to crescent kicks, the name of the game is flexibility, especially in the hips, hamstrings, and lower back. If you tend to be pretty tight in these areas, you’re going to need to stretch religiously to get things loosened up, but it’s worth […]

• Perfecting Your Jump Side Kicks

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  Though similar to jump front kicks, the jump side kick is a little more risky and just slightly more complicated. What makes the jump side kick risky is the fact that you have to pivot your floor foot in the air, landing with the heel of this foot facing your target. The importance of turning the […]

• Executing Killer Jump Front Kicks

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  The jump front kick is the simplest jump kick that you’ll do in taekwondo. There are no weird hip or foot movements involved to execute the kick. Jump front kicks are relatively easy to master as a result and most people have a lot of fun with them once they understand the basic dynamic of […]

• Mastering the Round Kick in Taekwondo

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  So you’ve successfully mastered taekwondo side kicks and front kicks and you’re ready to move on to round kicks. That’s great! The round kick leads students to the next step by integrating a complex, but important upper body movement into the kicking motion. Once students have mastered the nuances of the round kick, they’re ready […]

• Mastering the Front Kick in Taekwondo

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  In comparison with side kicks, taekwondo front kicks are relatively easy to master. However, there are some subtle challenges that many students face when they first start doing this basic movement. Front kicks, like side kicks, and round kicks, are executed in four stages: chamber-kick-chamber-set the foot down. It’s vital that students practice all four […]

• Mastering the Side Kick in Taekwondo

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 17, 2013

  Though the side kick is often presented early on in martial arts curricula, it is rarely mastered until later on in a student’s training. That’s because side kicks involve a complicated set of movements that that have to be coordinated through practice over time. If you break the side kick down into its component parts, […]

• Stop Physical Bullying Using Self-Defense Pressure Points and Soft Spots

  Posted by Jennifer Shipp on June 12, 2013

  Bullying is a complex problem especially when it happens during school. Children are terrorized and have no escape (they can’t quit school, after all).  Often, if a child attempts to defend themselves, they get caught and punished for their efforts. And really, what are teachers and principals supposed to do? Bullying could easily escalate into […]