should the knee of your kicking leg ever point downwards during a roundhouse kick? would this be turning your hip over too much or pivoting too much? thanks for the help.
Wouldn't kicking with your knee pointing downwards ccause you kick with the side of the shin instead of on the front? I always thought the knee should be pointed to the side. Hopefully some of the experts will post a reply to your question.
I think that the position of the knee is dependent on the direction of the kick. I turn (or point) my knee downwards only when I am throwing the kick downwards. (i.e. I bring my shin up in an arc and then crash it downwards)
I know this sounds obvious, but there are people where I train that tend to 'point' their knee downwards and throw a 'horizontal' round kick. The result is that the muscle on the side of the shin makes contact instead of the shin. This is what Bob is saying, i think.
I try and align my shin and knee, where the knee points is the direction of the kick and that is where the shin will (or should) go.
A decent target for the Round House in MT is the neck of the oponnant (sp?). If you are tall (like me) you can get a pretty decent kick in that is angling down by the time it connects. This has the advantage of using gravity to add to the power. You can really flatten someone with this kick!
jaidyn2day and CockneyBlue are correct. Its all a matter of what angle you are trying to kick at.
The important question is which part of your shin are you making contact with? If you are making contact with the outside of your shin, rather than the blade of the shin, then you are rolling your hip (pointing your knee down) too soon.
Khun Kao
In my oponion, you can try it, but as the three people above have said, it depends on where you want to hit and at which angle you do it.
I have a friend who once tried to fake a high roundhouse to the upperbody by raising his knee high but according to him, you can strike to any part of the body. In your case, coming down to the opponents shins or lower body would result in the knee facing downwards.
One more thing, since this move "turns you hip" too much, you can try to continue with a back roundhouse or the such.