How to train your opposite side to be as good as your dominant side?

Ironbear24

Ironbear24

Senior Master
My side kicks from my right leg are terrible. But the ones on my left side are great, roundhouses are much better with the right leg and strangely the spinning side kick with the right is OK.

As far hands go my right is much stronger. Is there anything to correct this? To compensate for this I normally never throw a standing side kick with the right leg, when I connect I end up going back from the hit, that never happens with my left leg.
 
I prefer to train different skills on different sides because I don't like to switch sides in the middle of a fight. This way, I can double the number of techniques that I train. Also I can make my techniques twice as good if I only train it on one side.

If you have only 1 girlfriend, you can spend all your time with her and she will be happy. If you have 2 girlfriends, each girl will only get 50% of your time, both girls will not be happy.
 
Ironbear24 said:
My side kicks from my right leg are terrible. But the ones on my left side are great, roundhouses are much better with the right leg and strangely the spinning side kick with the right is OK.

As far hands go my right is much stronger. Is there anything to correct this? To compensate for this I normally never throw a standing side kick with the right leg, when I connect I end up going back from the hit, that never happens with my left leg.
Click to expand...
Chances are, you do both sides wrong, but your body figured out the strong side. In the future, get some good kicking instruction, but only learn it on the weak side. Once you have mastered the method, then teach yourself the strong side. If you are getting knocked back, it is because you are over counter-balancing. Try, not doing that. :)
 
Practice, then practice, then practice some more. Once you're done, start over.

I've been hitting a heavy bag a lot lately. I do a ton of basics on it individually. I'll do 20 of each kick out of my fighting stance, then I'll switch my lead leg and start over. So... 20 front kicks with my front (left) leg, 20 with the back leg. 20 roundhouse kicks with the front, then the back. Side kick, hook kick, inside out and outside in crescent kick. Then I'll do hands stuff. Then I'll do hands and kicking combos. Then I'll do all my kicks again, only switching my stance to right hand and foot forward.

An hour and almost 800 calories later (according to my Fitbit), and I'm exhausted.

Doing that, my speed, power and stamina have gone up considerably.

I've videoed myself a while back and worked on correcting mistakes. Gotta do it again soon. Video doesn't lie. If you're looking for a good video app, Coach's Eye is excellent. Regular speed, slow mo, frame by frame forward and backward, etc.
 
Kung Fu Wang said:
I prefer to train different skills on different sides because I don't like to switch sides in the middle of a fight. This way, I can double the number of techniques that I train. Also I can make my techniques twice as good if I only train it on one side.

If you have only 1 girlfriend, you can spend all your time with her and she will be happy. If you have 2 girlfriends, each girl will only get 50% of your time, both girls will not be happy.
Click to expand...
You are supposed to make both girlfriends spend time with you at same time they call that a three some. Even my phone's auto spell knows this.
 
Ironbear24 said:
My side kicks from my right leg are terrible. But the ones on my left side are great, roundhouses are much better with the right leg and strangely the spinning side kick with the right is OK.

As far hands go my right is much stronger. Is there anything to correct this? To compensate for this I normally never throw a standing side kick with the right leg, when I connect I end up going back from the hit, that never happens with my left leg.
Click to expand...
I definitely wouldn't recommend my method which is to injure your good side so that you have to totally rely on your bad side. lol.

The only way to correct this issue is to make your weaker side a priority. You have to put double the effort and time when training your weak side. It's a slow process and you'll need to be dedicated to it. Your weak side won't ever equal your strong side but it'll come close enough. Start with the simple techniques first with basic punches and kicks. Get the simple stuff correct first because that's what you'll use to build on.
 
Kung Fu Wang said:
I prefer to train different skills on different sides because I don't like to switch sides in the middle of a fight. This way, I can double the number of techniques that I train. Also I can make my techniques twice as good if I only train it on one side.

If you have only 1 girlfriend, you can spend all your time with her and she will be happy. If you have 2 girlfriends, each girl will only get 50% of your time, both girls will not be happy.
Click to expand...
lol. if you have 2 girlfriends then that's twice the complaining you have to put up with lol.
 
If you really understood what makes it work on the strong side, you would have much of a problem on the opposite side.
 
JowGaWolf said:
So what would you do if you injured your left leg in a way that wouldn't allow you to throw a side kick with the left leg?
Click to expand...
If you injure your left leg, you can't throw a right side kick either because now your left leg is your "rooting leg".
 
Ironbear24 said:
Idk. Are they bad or something? I normally chain them after some punches.
Click to expand...

Their usefulness varies greatly depending on rule set. To the point where some styles really look down on them. It's a valid kick though, just trickier to pull off safely under some rules.
 
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