How To Kick Higher

[sideslasher9]

what kind of stretches should i do to kick higher

[sean_stonehart]

http://www.atlantamartialarts.com/articles/stretching/index.html

[shevbo]

^ on top of that when you actually try out those kicks make sure you use an actual physical target.

I prefer thai pads :P (get someone else to hold em).

And NEVER attatch weights to your ankles because it causes problems for your muscles. THere is a guy who tried that because he wanted to do more powerful and quicker kicks. He had to have surgery because he did a lot of internal damage to his legs in the process.

[nirgle]

what kind of stretches should i do to kick higherIf you want to kick higher, one of the most important stretches you can do is to stand straight up, take a step with one foot forward about three feet. Keep BOTH feet pointing straight forward, keep your back straight as an arrow, place your hands on your hips, and simply lean forward. You could easily touch your front toes with your hands if you bend your back, but you want to keep your back as straight as possible. If you are doing it correctly, you will only have to lean a few degrees forward before you feel the stretch in the back of your front leg. Hold for 20 seconds and switch legs.

[Jeff Burger]

Why is this in Chinese arts?

Jeff

[sean_stonehart]

Because we kick good.... ;)

[Cameron]

And NEVER attatch weights to your ankles because it causes problems for your muscles. .



Would the same be true of weighted bag gloves?

[Jeff Burger]

"Because we kick good."

Oh yeah...it was obvious.


Ankle weights can be a good thing if used properly.


Jeff

[poetic misjustice]

actually it must be said i have noticed an exponential increase in kicking skill since starting kung fu as opposed to all my years at karate, but learning to kick higher is hard, firls you have to decide which kick you want to improve, so fopr side kicks you would hold a wide stretch to improve the inner leg flex, and same with round house, with front kicks stretch the back of the legs

[Jeff Burger]

I do very little if any static stretching.
Crescent kicks, axe kicks, side leg raises..... ballistic movements that closely resemble kicking.

Best exercise for an event is the event itself...keep kicking.


Jeff

[Bad Karma]

I would have thought the better question to be "How to kick higher w/speed, power and non-telegraphing-ical-ness ( ;) )?" That's just me, I guess. High doesn't and shouldn't be indicative of effectiveness.

Peace

[shevbo]

Would the same be true of weighted bag gloves?

Those should be ok.

I just know that you shouldn't attatch weights to your ankles in order to have a more powerful kick (or to try and train the leg to go higher with more weight on it) since one guy did that and ripped some muscles off his bones.

eeeek!

[Grei]

Ankle weights can be a good thing if used properly.


Jeff

Do you know in particular what that would be?

I would imagine it would be something along the lines of not using too muh too fast or something like that, or maybe just for particular excercizes, but I dunno...

I DO know I don't want the meat stripped from my bones...

[Jeff Burger]

Leg raises front, side, back, crescent.
Break a kick down into 4 parts up, out, back, down.
Do slow and not snappy.

Jeff

[ChampNtraining]

Using ankle weights has worked pretty well for me but I was very careful and respective of the extra foreign weight strapped around the ends of my legs. It's not something I'd recommend practicing unless you already have somewhat devoloped/strong hamstrings and quadracepts.

Put 5lb/10lb/15lbs or more worth of weights around each ankle and do simple kicks like front kicks, side kicks, roundhouese, etc, but do them extremely slow and in a very controlled manner. Use your muscles in your legs, and lower core/trunk area to stabalize your body while going thru the slow motions of the kicks. Never under any circumstances flick your leg in any direction for any reason no matter how strong your legs are, and always keep your knee slightly bent at the end of the kick, never hyperextend your knee while kicking the air especilly not with any amont of weights attached to your ankles. If you do decide to flick your legs like Bruce Lee with ankle wights on you'll soon find out how a 3rd degree hamstring pull feels, you can almost feel your hamstring and the tendons pop and rip inside your legs like a group of weak rubberbands.

That is why weight training in this manner is dangerous, your antagonist muscles instinctively contract to slow down your limbs before they hyperextend, and with foreign weight attached to your body, your antagonist muscles will undercompensate the amount of contraction needed to slow down your limb and you'll literally rip the muscles away from the bone in some or nearly all areas it's attached. But if you take it slow and go thru your kicks like you were practicing a slow Tai-Chi kata then you'll strengthen your legs and your trunk muscles.

I've been taking different martial arts for 8 years now and have been hitting the weight room hard as well. I've got thick legs from doing plenty of weighted squats and ankle weights still intimidate me but have every ounce of my attention when I choose to practice with them. :(