To several major systems kicking is absolutely central, i.e., their attempt is to kick with the intention of knocking someone out. We all have seen knockouts performed by fighters, but it would be wise to consider several things before heavily emphasizing on kicking in self-defense. These are: a) Main targets for knockout-kicks, b) Probability of knock outs by those kicks, and c) the amount time it takes to develop your kicks to a knockout-proficiency level.
Also, consider the followings when developing kicks for self-defense purposes:
1) Exceptions do take place, but generally it takes a superb and powerful hitter to take someone out by hitting a common target such as the thigh “several times”. Again we have seen exceptions to the rules.
2) To the midsection area, it also requires high level of power delivery as well as accuracy to specific organ areas in the midsection in order to take someone out. From time to time we do see that done nicely with some fighters, but that’s an exception and not the norm in many cases even if you were a top kicker.
3) The quickest target area to knock someone out is obviously the head, but the higher you try to kick as a fighter, A) The more variables have to get involved, B) Recovery time to full base/balance has longer elastic retraction, and C) The possibilities of exposing yourself rise. It may be much wiser to just bury the kick into the groin if opportunities present themselves. It’s a much better target, has more chance of landing, less exposure involved, and faster recovery time. However, still we should NOT be under the assumption that against a good fighter it would be easy to land the shot as some people may have imagined. Fighting has evolved and fighters are wiser in some ways than what they used to be.
4) Attributes that maintain high levels of kicking proficiency knockouts do not have a long shelf-life and decline with age. So consider the long term goals.
5) In “most” street circumstances, variables such as: I) The emotional peak, II) The reasons by which adrenaline rush kicks in, and III) The amount of time available to teach a free private lesson on the consequences of a civility-breach are within mere seconds (in general speaking), and not some 3 rounds or 12 rounds of whatever minutes each. It goes very fast and especially if it’s very serious, people don’t maintain their kicking for long periods of time at all. Range closes fast. Therefore, it is more wise to keep the kickings low and not waste too much time in that range by putting all your eggs in that basket.
With us the kicking is an important component but is not an end in itself. It’s good to be able to kick hard at the right target, and with the right timing——and if that knocks out a person in a fight, then I guess the job may be done for the most part, but if it is not done which is the case most often, then we don’t worry about it, because the original intention wasn’t to knock them out with our kicking. For us, Kicking is merely a transitory tool which helps us gain key access to artilleries of a higher orders of magnitude and therefore, to more objective results.