Thai Kicks with both legs?

Hannya

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I'm curious how many of you can kick with both legs? My left leg has maybe 10% kicking power, and am wondering if its even possible to get them both about equal. I was told most people just use one leg and do well with that, figured I'd drop in and see what you guys can do/use.
 

MJS

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Hannya said:
I'm curious how many of you can kick with both legs? My left leg has maybe 10% kicking power, and am wondering if its even possible to get them both about equal. I was told most people just use one leg and do well with that, figured I'd drop in and see what you guys can do/use.

IMO, I think its good to be able to use both legs equally. I think that often, you'll see people with one side thats a bit stronger. All the more reason to give more training to the weaker side.:) Working combos, switches, etc. would help with that.

Mike
 

OUMoose

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I was always taught that if I can do it with my right leg, I should be able to do it with my left just as well. Personally, I like that approach, since it allows some versatility in case I come up against a southpaw or something.

just my 2 cents. :)
 

tradrockrat

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we were required to train south paw to develop skills with both sides of the body. My left is as strong as my right - usually. ;)
 

Carol

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My left kicks are as strong as my right, sometimes even more effective because I balance better on my right than I do on my left.
 

Odin

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Hannya said:
I'm curious how many of you can kick with both legs? My left leg has maybe 10% kicking power, and am wondering if its even possible to get them both about equal. I was told most people just use one leg and do well with that, figured I'd drop in and see what you guys can do/use.

Try to make both legs as strong as each other, you'll find though that as a thai fighter you rear leg (in guard) will be more powerfull then your lead leg.this is becasue your rear leg is usally used for powerful kicks (if thats not every kick in muay thai!) your lead leg is used for fast attacks like push kick or the in side leg kick,this all of course depends on you style of fighting.
When I first started thai boxing my left leg was terriable,after a couple thousand kicks though its turned out alright,just keep kicking again and again it will get better.
Talk to you kru,he'll know the best excersies to do to make it stronger.
 

cfr

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I fight "strong side forward". Meaning that while I am a lefty, I fight the same way all you right handed fighters do, with my left leg forward. The logic is to have my strongest weapons closest to my opponent. This all works out because my lead (left) roundhouse, hook, uppercut, etc. are all stronger than my rear (right) roundhouse, hook, uppercut, etc. This of course takes time to get used too, but the payoff is awesome.
 

Jimi

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I am with Tradrockrat on this one. Train each lead, drilling both lead leg round kicks w/ & w/o a shuffle, then set it as a basic lower body combo, lead leg sets up the rear leg. I was taught to almost never throw the rear leg by itself w/o some kind of a set up. It is similar to the old 1-2 Jab-Cross but with the lead & rear round kicks. Filling in combos with hands is up to your coach and your imagination. PEACE
 

Phadrus00

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Hannya said:
I'm curious how many of you can kick with both legs? My left leg has maybe 10% kicking power, and am wondering if its even possible to get them both about equal. I was told most people just use one leg and do well with that, figured I'd drop in and see what you guys can do/use.

Hannya,

When I was training traditional Muay Thai we trained a couple of different Lead Kicks. the firsy is a fast kick with the lead leg that targets the inside of the opponents leg. this exchanged raw power for speed and delivered a sting but was not designed to be devastating. The other lead kick was a power kick and it required a little more coordination. to generate power you did a "stutter step" of fading your lead leg back while shuffling up your rear leg. this positioned your hips and body to torgue up the power on the lead leg kick and deliver a real whallop! You have to be fast to make it work (there is a telegraph aspect to the stutter step) or use it in combination with another technique like a the first lead leg kick but the results can be very effective!

I would recommend training both of the lead kicks and kick in sets of three or four. If you work it enough you will find that the power develops nicely!

Best of Luck!

Rob
 

tradrockrat

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cfr said:
I fight "strong side forward". Meaning that while I am a lefty, I fight the same way all you right handed fighters do, with my left leg forward. The logic is to have my strongest weapons closest to my opponent. This all works out because my lead (left) roundhouse, hook, uppercut, etc. are all stronger than my rear (right) roundhouse, hook, uppercut, etc. This of course takes time to get used too, but the payoff is awesome.

I am a lefty (marginally) as well, but throughout my life I've generally chosen to do sporting activities right handed - including throwing a ball. In fact, there is no mistaking my left roundhouse kick for my right. My right is still much stronger but overall I have trained very hard to keep both sides as equal as possible, and that plus a little creative thinking has led to some signifigant surprises to my opponents. I've been know to switch leads mid round, shuffle step to set my lead leg back, even enter a combo as a southpaw and come out it in a "normal" stance.

It's all about more weapons and more effectiveness. Train both sides as equally as you can whenever you can.
 

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Sa-wut dee krup Khun Hannya ---- Sa-baai-dee-mai??

This year I just started to train LEFTY and I am a RIGHT side fighter.
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Shaolinwind

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Hannya said:
I'm curious how many of you can kick with both legs? My left leg has maybe 10% kicking power, and am wondering if its even possible to get them both about equal. I was told most people just use one leg and do well with that, figured I'd drop in and see what you guys can do/use.

I reccomend more practice with your left leg. I vaguely remember starting or participating in a thread similar to this about a year ago when I first started KF. Back then, which leg was better depended on which leg I was using.. Spear kicks were fine with my right, side kicks were better with my left. Now, I believe my legs both kick equally poor. :)
 

wee_blondie

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I train both legs and try to go south-paw when on the bag to keep that sharp. I've been taught to train both sides but with the added mentality: its good to train your weak side, but if your strong side is good enough - you won't need to use it.

Still not made up my mind how I feel about that but it seems to work!
 

Zaii

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I personally think it's important to be able to strike with both limbs at a level that's as close as you can get to equal in terms of speed and power, but, that is easier said than done.
 

Thunder Foot

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I say its important to practice with both sides. Why handicap yourself? Besides, the more tools you have, the more problems you'll be able to correct.:asian:
 

Odin

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The thing is in muay thai your rear leg will always be stonger then yout front leg..its just science....you can always switch guard but then you'll always have a favourite out of the two and as such will have a stronger leg since you'll practice more with one leg.........so i dont know what all this 'both legs are strong' business'.lol

I think there are people from other arts posting though so no offence ment by them comments.
 

MJS

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Odin said:
The thing is in muay thai your rear leg will always be stonger then yout front leg..its just science....you can always switch guard but then you'll always have a favourite out of the two and as such will have a stronger leg since you'll practice more with one leg.........so i dont know what all this 'both legs are strong' business'.lol

I think its pretty much a given that the rear leg is stronger. Speaking for myself, I took the original posters question as making sure both legs are equal. There are times when it may be to your advantage to change stance, so that being said, why not work both legs equally?

I think there are people from other arts posting though so no offence ment by them comments.

No offense taken.:)

Mike
 

cfr

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Odin said:
The thing is in muay thai your rear leg will always be stonger then yout front leg..its just science....you can always switch guard but then you'll always have a favourite out of the two and as such will have a stronger leg since you'll practice more with one leg.........so i dont know what all this 'both legs are strong' business'.lol

I think there are people from other arts posting though so no offence ment by them comments.

That is true if you stand "weak side forward", which most Thai fighters probably do. But if you learn to stand "strong side forward", your front leg will be stronger.
 

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