How much do YOU practice your kicks when training solo?

[Marnetmar]

Just curious.

 

[KPM]

Honestly, not a lot. I consider the kicks to be secondary, and used when the opportunity is just obvious.

 

[Anarax]

Just curious.

Knee raises, kicking the heavy bag, some in the air and isolated muscle conditioning.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Just curious.

Maybe 25-30% as often as I train punches. A bit more than I train elbows and knees (at that distance, I'm mostly in grappling mode).

 

[Danny T]

In Muay Thai kicks are a very important part of the game. I still do 400-500 kicks every training day.
In Wing Chun kicks are an important part of training balance & leg strength we do around 200 + every class.

 

[Marnetmar]

In Muay Thai kicks are a very important part of the game. I still do 400-500 kicks every training day.
In Wing Chun kicks are an important part of training balance & leg strength we do around 200 + every class.

What does a typical training day/class look like for you?

 

[Danny T]

I do 10 3 minute rounds 5 days a week of Muay Thai. 5 minutes skipping, 3 minutes shadow boxing warmup then either padwork if I have a holder available or heavy bag work with a average of 40 kicks and 20 knees per round along with punches and elbows.

 

[DanT]

I do about 500-800 kicks a day on the heavy bag as part of my solo training. I also do another 100-200 a day on the wooden dummy to work on accuracy. In terms of the class, we usually practice combinations immediately after warming up, so probably another 300 kicks a day there. In total, roughly 1000 kicks a day.

Although traditionally kicks in Wing Chun were kept below the waist, we practice high kicks to help develop flexibility, agility, strength, speed, and stamina. In terms of partner drills, we practice checking kicks, catching kicks, and throwing / tripping people who's legs we have caught. We use kicks in sparring almost as much as the hands (front kicks, round kicks, side kicks, hook kicks, sweeps, knees).

For us, conditioning of the thighs, shins, and feet, are essential for anyone who wants to become a decent Wing Chun fighter.

 

[geezer]

We do less.

Class is short, just an hour, ...so if we did hundreds and hundreds of kicks, that's all we would have time to do. So unless it's a kicking themed class, I'm guessing about 100 reps split between our three basic kicks: front, side and slant-thrust kicks while stepping and punching, then some more in chum-kiu and in our lat-sau drills.

 

[JR 137]

On my own and outside of class... not nearly enough time spent on kicking. It’s easily my biggest weakness. A big reason why I hate it so much is because I really suck at it.

 

[marques]

A lot. Essentially bag work. Sometimes fancy kicks, for stretching, balance, coordination and fun; always round kicks. But I don’t count them. I just try to do the next better than the last. Every time I start counting, I just count up to 10 a finish my training.

 

[cwk]

Recently, not as much as I’d like. Too busy with work. However, a few months ago when I had more time, I spent a lot of time on them.
I’d just reached a better understanding of the mechanics of the kicks before I got busy. All to do with using the kwa and spine to create a kind of pre-tension ( like compressed spring or pulled back bowstring) and then releasing it into the kick, maintaining good alignment.
Nothing new there, but I just refined it. Gained a lot of non- telegraphed power from that training.

 

[KabutoKouji]

in solo training - only if they're in patterns really (i dont have a bag at home). As ex TKD they are a part of training I enjoy very much though so I should re-incorporate them into home training more. Having said that. I'm not sure that I would force myself to warm up enough beforehand at home, and would probably end up hurting my hips and/or back when I got excited.

 

[Kababayan]

I use them to warm up...20 of each kick ( no spinning kicks anymore for me). As I get older I want to keep my kicking ability (and flexibility) so I try to kick every day.