Cross Check

How to throw it

Bring the lead leg across your body, raising the shin to intercept a kick aimed at your rear leg or your far ribs. Keep your balance over the standing leg and your guard high, meeting the kick shin to shin or shin to body so the hard bone takes the force. Plant the checking leg back down under control the moment the kick lands.

When to use it

Use it to defend a kick that targets the leg or ribs on your far side, where a same-side check cannot reach. Crossing the lead leg over closes that line and can turn the kicker's own shin against them.

Common mistakes

• Crossing over too slowly so the kick lands before the shin arrives
• Reaching with the leg and losing balance over the standing foot
• Checking with a soft or angled shin instead of a firm vertical one, letting the kick slide through