How to Kick Open a Door the Right Way

We see it in damn near every TV show and movie. A locked door is preventing whatever hero of the day from getting into the room where the hostages, or the terrorists or the fire is looming. It doesn't really matter what it is, name your danger or plot device of your choosing and let's get on with it. Whichever thing you picked, it doesn't change that our hero has to get past that door.After trying the door to see if it's locked or we'll even say possibly booby-trapped (if someone did a good job booby-trapping the door, it likely won't be visible from your side but Hollywood gets to play their games, so we will play ours) and finding the door locked and no nefarious traps waiting for them, our heroes go full tilt balls to the wall with a front kick on the center of the door.To nobodies surprise the door opens. Yay Hollywood tough guy/gal you can continue being a hero wooo!It's all good right? Except it's not. It's actually really stupid, really dangerous and really ineffective to kick open a door that way! [caption id="attachment_19012" align="alignnone" width="728"]

Not like this either.[/caption]So how should you kick open a door where there is the potential of danger or an imminent need to get past the door further into the room? Thanks to a lot of breaking shit in the Marine Corps (don't worry it's what they paid me to do), I can tell you how.Step One: Get behind the wall on the side of the doorknob/handle. Check to see if the door is inward or outward opening. Step Two: Turn around placing your back against the wall. One leg should be behind the wall and the other should be against the door.Step Three: With vigorous force, lifting your knee up and mule kicking backward, aiming right next to the doorknob/handle, kick that door the f*** open. [caption id="attachment_19011" align="aligncenter" width="497"]

See, like this.[/caption]This is a better way to kick open a door for several reasons.Reason One: You're more stable in this position and can exert more force.Reason Two: Aiming near the doorknob instead of the center of the door puts the force at the most important point. Kicking in the middle dissipates the force across the whole area of the door.Reason Three: Bullets can go through doors, you're better off shielding part of your body behind a thicker wall. It's not a guarantee but it's better than nothing.Reason Four: Doors aren't always solid, you may end up putting your foot through the middle and getting stuck in the middle of the doorway. That's not a great thing if there is a fire, or an ambush set up, or someone is trying to throw a flashbang in after the door opens. Mule kicking gives you a better mechanical advantage to pulling your foot out of the door if it happens to get stuck.Reason Five: You're probably not going to get the door open by front kicking it.