Australian Army Drill - Cow Kicking

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COW KICKING

Let's specifically talk about raising and lowering your knees. There does not feel any difference between raising your knee and raising your foot to make your knee raise. However, there is a very obvious difference between raising your knee and raising your foot when someone is watching. And when you're on parading, everyone is watching.

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WHAT YOUR FEET SHOULD LOOK LIKE DURING A MOVEMENT

Do not raise your foot to lift your knee.

Raise your knee to lift your foot.

If you raise your knee, your foot will naturally dangle out in front of you, directly beneath in line with your knee.

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WHAT ARE YOU DOING WRONG?

If you raise your foot (which naturally brings your knee up), your foot/ankle will kink automatically. Your foot pulls back, your shin is no longer vertical. This is cow kicking. Cows kick like this. It looks ridiculous but you won't notice it until you see others do it... then you can't un-notice it. With the worst offenders of cow kicking, their feet will raise behind them with their heels up toward their butts. While every other soldiers' feet remain in front of them, their feet have kicked behind.

Both of the below pictures are considered cow kicking. The foot is not dangling straight down from the knee. It is clear the foot is being raised to lift the knee, rather than the knee being raised to lift the foot.

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HOW TO GET IT RIGHT

To get this right, a good way is to pretend while practising that your left foot has fallen asleep. Ignore your ankle's ability to move altogether. Practise lifting your knee muscles, which will naturally raise your asleep foot off the ground. Then lower your knee with your knee muscles, and merely allowed your foot into place beside your other foot.

Practise, practise, practise in a mirror. If your shin remains vertical the entire time your knee raises and lowers, you've got it right. If you see your shin bend on an angle, you know you're still using your foot / ankle / calves to lift your knee.

A further way to practise is to stand facing a thigh-length away from a brick wall. Raise and lower your knee time and time again. Your boot should kick the wall every time. If it doesn't, you're still using your foot to lift your knee not your knee to lift your foot.