Easy 540 Kick Tutorial (Taekwondo)

[martialartstutor]

Hello everyone, I decided to break down a 540 kick tutorial due to some frustration some of my students were having in understanding it. Hope you guys get this move through this method!

 

[danielle]

Thank you sir! This kick is one of two of my goals to learn in taekwondo (The other being the 540 hook).It's a beautiful kick. How do you increase height? I can do the kick, but only at at knee level. Ypu sir are skilled with this kick.

 

[martialartstutor]

To increase height, bring your non kicking leg higher in the air and try your best to jump. At this point, since you have the technique, you just need to get stronger jumping and timing the kick.

Personally, when I was learning this kick, I was able to do it but similar to what you're experiencing, kicking very low. And every time I thought to jump higher, I wouldn't do the proper twist and end up just doing a normal 360 kick.

The "breakthrough" I experienced jumping higher was by adding a round kick/step right before I attempted the move. For some reason it triggered my body to increase height yet get the same turn I wanted. (This has worked for a few of my students). Another way would be to trying to stick a hook kick as soon as you land. Finally, what I strongly recommend is for you to aim starting at knee height than gradually increasing height (If you don't have access to a studio, a friend holding a slipper/piece of paper/pillow/hand/ does the trick for a target! lol) . Leaning back works for some too, although it may feel a little scary at first.

Hope this helps! And if you have more questions, or need clarification let me know

 

[Jaeimseu]

Those are pretty good exercises.

If you are kicking really low, you may want to make sure you aren't jumping too many early. Bring your non-kicking knee across and up so that your leg from knee to foot isn't perpendicular to the ground.

If you have trouble sticking the landing, I've had success practicing a two-legged jumping round kick landing only on the kicking foot (landing with toes pointing away from the target).