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I think this nicely illustrates the mental conflict between drills and practical application. Consider one of the key points of a high spinning kick (taekwondo in my case but the commonality with hapkido is obvious): a high spin draws your upper body down and away from your target. Obviously, the movement of your upper body will differ based on flexibility ...

I'm aware of Tang Soo Do and at least some forms of Karate having a spinning heel kick, but beyond the Korean martial arts and Karate, I'm not aware of any (though it seems likely that there is at least a related move in Capoeira and some styles of Kung Fu). In Alex Gillis' A Killing Art (a heavily sourced origin of modern Taekwondo), Gillis relates an ...

In many ways, what comes natural to us may not be natural to others. And vice-versa. As such there will be techniques you have to learn and teach that might not be great for you, but will be for your student. When it comes to the spinning techniques, my "grand-sensei", if you will, was a natural at them. My direct sensei much less so. And I am even less ...

Hook kick is very beneficial as both a "stealth technique" and if you have bad aim with a side kick. Start by throwing a side kick that misses the opponent such that your foot is in front of his head (heel points to his head, toes point to the audience). If the side kick was high enough, and far enough from his head, he probably blocked the kick with a low ...

Everything you say is fairly accurate. There is one very interesting further use case, which expands on your idea of balance and muscle coordination - If you think of that sequence of movements as two-player drill, you can begin to examine it in a different light. Theoretically: this particular low-spinning heel strike might be a follow-up to a high parry ...