Legs or core?
- Thread starter skribs
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dvcochran
Grandmaster
Yes.
Core connects the upper and lower body. It is the stabilizing muscle called the Psoas major. It connects the spine to your legs.
JR 137
Grandmaster
Psoas isn’t the only one, but it’s a major one (no pun intended) that most haven’t heard of.
As everyone has said, both are equally important. Without core strength, there’s no stability nor power in your kicks. Without leg strength, no power. As crazy as it sounds, quite often kicks aren’t high enough due to a lack of strength in certain muscles rather than a lack of flexibility. Side kick is a great example; many people don’t have sufficient strength in Flexor Tensor Latae muscle, which is a significant hip abductor muscle. It’s a big triangular shaped pointing downwards on your hip. Picture a gun holster on your hip; that’s where it would be. If it’s not strong, you’ll struggle to bring your leg out away from your center.
Earl Weiss
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Other than actually Kicking for better kicks I would put more energy / time toward flexibility than ancillary leg strengthening.
dvcochran
Grandmaster
Unless you do isolation exercises, like on a weight machine it is difficult to separate the two when practicing MA anyway. Not to the OP's point but people who are naturally more limber and in average or better shape have no trouble lifting their leg. But it's what they can do with their leg after it is lifted that is really important for what we do. The best gains I can remember doing to help my kicks regarding balance and technique are static exercises. Set your body in the finished position of a side kick for example. Use mirrors if you have them. Make sure your technique is correct and hold the position for 30 seconds. Rest 15 seconds and go again. This very much works both the leg and the core. Much like a gymnast doing parts of their floor routine. You can also use the rail. If you have a wall with a stair rail on it, set yourself in the finish position of a kick, then work your leg in and out in the kicking motion being mindful to use your core as you should in a full speed kick. As you gain stability, let go of the rail and go through your kick slowly with good technique. Really helps set the muscle memory also.
You are being spoon fed.
You are being spoon fed.
The psoas is a deep-seated core muscle connecting the lumbar vertebrae to the femur. The psoas major is the biggest and strongest player in a group of muscles called the hip flexors: together they contract to pull the thigh and the torso toward each other.
So as mentioned in posts above both are important {leg and core).
So as mentioned in posts above both are important {leg and core).
JR 137
Grandmaster
Absolutely. But when you’re holding that kicking position, you’re strengthening those muscles involved. Kinda like a plank. The stronger they get, the easier it is to lift that leg up higher like that. Flexibility obviously plays a role, but so does strength. And the neural pathways, aka muscle memory.
It's all good. Bottom line, lets all keep training. A lot of good Info above......
paitingman
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Kicking or no kicking, you need to train your core.
If you want to develop kicks, then you should probably train legs also.
You cannot rely on solely being able to throw a fast kick with perfect technique and precision.
You have to train your feet, your legs, to be able to maneuver you away from danger and to where you need to be. On top of that, your legs then have to explode into your kick.
I recommend skipping rope, sprints, agility drills that you like, and basic weight training. And lots of kicking.
(Do not forget to stretch. Train your flexibility with as seriously as your strength)
If you want to develop kicks, then you should probably train legs also.
You cannot rely on solely being able to throw a fast kick with perfect technique and precision.
You have to train your feet, your legs, to be able to maneuver you away from danger and to where you need to be. On top of that, your legs then have to explode into your kick.
I recommend skipping rope, sprints, agility drills that you like, and basic weight training. And lots of kicking.
(Do not forget to stretch. Train your flexibility with as seriously as your strength)
Which is more important probably depends where you're starting from. My legs have always been stronger (proportionately) than my core, because I played soccer for 11 years, so it was always more important for me to work on core. I've had partners and students who were proportionately stronger at their core, so they needed to spend more effort on legs.
For kicks? Those are useless. Neck day is far more important.
skyeisonfire
Blue Belt
Both in my opinion or strengthening the whole body would be ideal. But the core is I think is especially important since it's central. I spent the last 3 years in the gym working mostly on building specific muscle groups involved in every aspect of my MA training. I found that many different parts of the body are involved in different kicks as well as punches and if any part is weak, then the execution tends to be only as good as it's weakest link. At least I use many different muscle groups to execute any kind kicking or punching, etc. in order to get power and speed behind it. Without building my core, I was much weaker at kicking as well lacking any kind of power in punching. Once I built up my core, my abilities increased significantly. But that's just my experience.
