My left side

[risingfire]

Greetings all,
I have been lurking on the board for a little while now and just joined. I am currently 27 years old and I have started back into the martial arts. Specifically, Tae Kwon Do. I began Tae Kwon Do at an 12 years old and received my black belt at 18. My dojang moved across town a few months after that and I couldn’t make it due to having no car and the like. So I had to quit the club. I was already slightly overweight, and I really packed on the pounds and tried everything to lose the weight. A few depression periods also fell over my life as well. I finally decided in 2008 the lab-band was the correct choice for me. I had the procedure, and have since gotten down to 164LBS at a height of 5’10”

My old club still exists but it’s in bits a pieces and they charge like a mcdojo.

So I started at a new dojang! The master is over 50 and teaches the classes. I love it. We do a ton work, and I am exhausted after every workout.
I am doing great in the class and slowly getting it back.

Here is a my question. Over the years my left side has become weak, especially with kicks. My roundhouse…is sad at this point. What can I do to build up my left side again, especially the kicks? My right side is great, and I have actually been trying to do most of my techniques with my left just to practice it. However there must be something I can be doing outside of class to help out the left side. By the way, I am VERY flexible, I can do the splits with no issue, etc.

Thanks!

 

[granfire]

First of all grats in getting things going for you.

Now, as to the problem of the left side...
i don't think there are magic cures for being lopsided. Only one things works: Work more, have patience!

My left is also pretty pathetic. I had started to do a few reps more on the left than on the right. Only working on the problem helps. and since as you say you just started back up, don't sweat it too much. From my understanding pretty much everybody is one sided, the trick is to work with it.

 

[risingfire]

Many thanks for the quick reply, its been a ride, my high weight was 360!! I will do that, anything else you guys think I should work on coming back to the sport. My stamina is pretty solid all considering, I guess I am looking for some good exercises to help me get back into the swing.

Thanks so much, I have been reading this board, and it is GREAT!

 

[Fing Fang Foom]

Welcome to the board Nemi!

 

[ATC]

...By the way, I am VERY flexible, I can do the splits with no issue, etc.

Thanks!

Well then that tells me that you lack strength in the leg(s). You need to build up the strength in the smaller secondary (stabilizer) muscles. These are usually the hip, glutes, adductors, abductors and your oblique’s and core.

There are a ton of exercises your can do but kicking and kicking exercises are the best. Also doing your kicks slowly not fast will help as well. When I say slow I mean slow. Maybe a 6-10 second count for one kick.

The more you kick the better you will become. Your right side is dominant and by default is stronger than your left side. Practice keeping the knee as high as possible when kicking also. Keeping the knee high will force you to use the muscles to kick and not rely on momentum.

Others will chime in soon with tons of stuff so you should get all the info you need and then some.

Happy training, and welcome to the board.

 

[risingfire]

Thanks for all the welcome call outs everyone! I will work on the kicking, I have a BOB and a nice paddle as well. I am just wondering if there is anything I can do in my cube at work/waiting on the bus/watching TV xyz, to help strengthen my left side a bit? I am working 50 hours a week, and I take 2 on campus courses and 1 online...so time is..limitied

I have always had excellent balance. I have been working on standing on the balls of my feet for as long as posible, up and down so to speak, and holding one foot high behind my back then slowly beinding down further and further as I get stronger. Sabum said this would help me gain the best balance out side the dojang...not super sure. While I can do these execersies much better now I am not sure if they really are helping with balance.
Look forward to the replies. Thanks everyone!

 

[Stac3y]

When in your cube (if you can stand), watching TV, coooking, standing in line at the grocery checkout--chamber your leg for a kick and just hold it there as long as you can. Do this twice as much with your left leg as with your right. Also, check into Bill Wallace's books--he has great exercises for strengthening legs and building kick speed and height.

Doing slow kicks (as someone mentioned above) is really helpful. Do more reps on the weak side.

 

[risingfire]

I will try this as much as possible, thank you all so much for the advice. A great group of people indeed!

 

[d1jinx]

i would suggest doing 2X's the amount with the weaker leg. if you do 10 kicks with the right, do 20 with the left.

also others mentioned good advise above as well.

Slo-Mo kicks work great for building leg strength and control...

 

[Gorilla]

Welcome!!!

 

[terryl965]

Welcome and remember to keep working on it....

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Become left-legged for a while. About 2 years ago I did an injury up in the top of the groin area on my right side. It hurt to kick right legged and so whenever we did kicking drills I would only use my left leg and in sparring I started to naturally favour my left leg because I could kick pain free. I was amazed how quickly my left leg gained strength, speed and power through the extra use of it. About 6 months later my right leg healed sufficiently and ever since I dont really favour one leg over the other and can do most kicks with equal ability with both legs. As my instructor says "use it or lose it".

 

[WC_lun]

Grats on the weight loss and getting back into martial arts!

everyone has a strong side and weak side, so don't let it get to you. Though if you want to strengthen your weak side then work it! Most people will take a lead suitable to thier strong side in sparring. Spar the opposite lead you normally would. This will get you comfortable doing things from your left side under stress. In my experience learning to do something under stress is more effective than just learning it. Don't do this while sparring someone you don't trust to control thier power. No reason to get knocked out while you are trying to work on something specific

 

[risingfire]

Thanks to all
I will ask my sabumnim if perhaps I can start going back into a left foot back fighting stance instead of a right so I build my left side. And so on.

Many Thanks

 

[StudentCarl]

Lots of good advice above about overtraining the weak side to build it up.

One addition: If you are not doing any strength exercises, you should--whether with weights or body weight. When you do them it is important to do exercises that work each leg independently so you can't cheat by relying more on your strong side. Examples include: 1) doing leg extensions with each leg separately rather than both together, and 2) lunges or single leg squats/leg presses.

Good luck in your efforts.

Carl