People need to get out of the more powerful techniques are better and realize that any technique that is applied properly can change or end a fight. A person may or amy not be able to stop an attacker with his most powerful technique. But any attacker can be stopped immediately with a finger poke in the eye. and the poke does not have to be done hard or with power. If you have ever ridden a bicycle fast after dark, you may have had the unfortunate experience of having a bug hit you in the eye. Although there is not much power there it will surely cause you to lose control and distract you.
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The spinning kicks,.... OK!.... they are a little harder to pull off and take lots more practice so for most people who do not/can not put in the time in training necessary to pull them off shouldn't, but rear leg roundhouse kick ineffective? If you are so lazy that you can't even train enough to pull off a rear leg roundhouse kick or don't have the time to learn to get a rear leg roundhouse kick to work then martial arts clearly is not for you. If they teach you rear leg roundhouse kicks are ineffective in your school and can't teach you why and when to use a rear leg roundhouse kick you better find a different school. These people do not know what rear leg kicks are for or they can't do them themselves and don't want you learn it either.
Just a hint for you, rear leg kicks (front, side and roundhouse) help bridge a gap between you and your opponent too aside from being more powerful than kicks off the front leg. You do want rear leg kicks if your opponent is just a little farther away than what you can reach with a front leg kick. Try it. Kick with the front leg and then kick with the rear leg and see how much closer that brings you to your opponent coming forward on your front leg to kick with the rear leg. At a minimum you should be able to pull off your front kicks, side kicks and roundhouse/wheel kicks off the front and the rear leg and make them work. That is the bare basics now.
Maybe you meant a spinning roundhouse kick off the rear leg?
Spinning and roundhouse kicks are quite new additions in many martial arts. Many martial arts initially didn't have them. Everything can be effective, the thing is why would someone prefer to apply those kicks while something that suits him/her more, is available.
So the answer is that many martial arts organizations decided in one sense to be also more complete in a way, than just practical, with the notion that for some practitioners perhaps this is more suitable, than the other. More forms came to play, and more movements.
That doesn't change the fact that everything can be used effectively. Someone that can do, can do it with just a few movements. but that is not a complete system of martial arts in a sense that some view completeness. It can be practical but not complete in that sense, so due to more completeness those kicks came to play.
The kicks are very situational because of the terrain. In dojo/dojang/gyms you have flat floor with pretty neutral grip which makes a great controlled terrain to throw kicks in. If you try to shadow box in the woods you'll find yourself really limiting the kicks you throw. Too much to trip on and too much variation on the grip of the floor. I have hard time throwing few rounds houses while shadowing in the woods let alone throw anything spinning. Usually the street is more controlled terrain than the woods, but still it has enough variations to it that you think twice before throwing kicks. That and wrestlers. Kicking is risky with wrestler because they will try to catch them. You are essentially feeding them possibilities for single leg takedown.
Rear leg roundhose kick is useless in a real fight? I'm not buying that one.
Any technique can work if it is done at the right time, by the right person. Just because you or I cannot make a technique work does not mean it is bad. I tell my students I hate the hook kick, I think it is stupid, and then I add "only because I am bad at it." They laugh, they see I am bad at it, but, some of them learn to do it quite well.
I wouldn't say they're useless. But against someone who trains to deal with these sort of kicks they're very ineffective.
The hardest kicks to block against are low quick quicks. Granted they might not have as much power as someone who's managed to get a full spin, but to a knee they can end a fight quickly. To the shin, they'll really hurt someone who hasn't conditioned their shins.
Now if the person is quick enough to move they've at least created movement and distance. And if they're dumb enough to block with their hands, it's a great setup for hand techniques to the face, neck, etc.
My personal real life experience is that they are really useful more so than punches, safer because you can stay out of range of an unskilled fighter who only relies on punches and a head lock, and they had absolutely no idea how to get around them, but that was a front leg side kick to the guts. Felt like I might trade blows if I had punched with them or traded scrapes if I had grappled with them but with kicks I remained untouched. It also pushed them away giving me time to reload another.
I personally think against an untrained street attacker you can use pretty much most technques effectively against them.
Againt a skilled street fighter I do not know, I know the spinning kicks are low % in sport. Tough one.
Situational I guess, depends how good u r at them and how good they can deal with them and other factors like grip and motor control under adrenalin. Doesnt get me any closer to knowing what to think about them.
Not just useless, Using 'em could be the end of your life too.
Advice : Never use spinning kicks in a real fight. Use thigh kicks instead of spinning and round houses.
I don't like the absolutes of "never" and "always". This limits thinking and reasoning. I might not use a spinning heel kick in self-defense, because I know my ability to maintain my balance is limited at best. But that's not to say that it should not ever be used. Perhaps someone with better dexterity than I - and I know there are many - who wouldn't think twice about it.
A spinning side kick? I'd use that in a New York second. That is an easy kick for me, and I might not think twice about using it.
Rear leg RH? Meh... I wouldn't use it. Others might, but, it is a slower kick than others, and it telegraphs easy. I've seen videos of it being used on the street quite effectively. But, I don't throw the kick as well as I throw other kicks, so, it wouldn't be my first choice. Nevertheless, it's a good kick to be used in the right situation. Just because I can't think of a good situation at this moment doesn't mean it should be abandoned. Someone out there, somewhere, can probably think of a good situation - not the least of which are those starring in some surveillance video of them using the kick successfully.
In MMA type matches, the opponents are set at a distance from each other. They then figure out how to get close, and kicks are a weapon with a longer range. But once you get close up, you can't disengage easily to kick, they won't let you, or the range is too short.
So it's better to use short front kicks then.
Spinning heel kick
Spinning side kick
Rear leg round hous kick
They may be the 3 most powerful kicks a human can do, but are they worthwhile learning for street self defence purposes?
If done correctly, they are extremely valuable tools. Most people do not do them correctly. Your legs are longer and stronger than your arms, so a good kick gives you advantages in both reach and power. Done right, you are never out of balance and always ready to do another kick of the same or different type. Done right, good kicks give you incredible advantages over a hands only fighter. Basically, you can keep his hands busy guarding your hands, while your kick takes him out.
No, they put you in far too dangerous a position (i.e. on one leg) to risk.
