Slow controlled kicks.

[Ironbear24]

I found this to be a lot of fun and incredible to get down all those steps needed for a great roundhouse kick. Basically what you do is perform the kick as if you are in slow motion or under water. This gives you the time to feel out how each step of the kick delivers power and transfer into the target.

This also requires lots of balance and leg strength as well. From what I understand the steps are push off the floor with the foot on the leg you will kick with. Rotate body while throwing fake hook or just using the hand to better balance. Bring the leg to the target as you are rotating while it is still chambered. Shift your balance foot from 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock as you "snap" the chambered leg into the target.

From here there is "Injecting". You fully extend the leg so that it is straight while leaning into it with upper body. This will inject your weight into the target and will "push" it after the initial strike. Now the cool part is this often pushes you off the target and you can use this momentum to easily put yourself back in your fighting stance.

Now that is a lot to do in so little time, which is why I feel that this is a great way to practice each important step that we often miss while doing it at full speed.

I might upload a video of it sometime.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

As with many things, it's a lot harder to do it slowly than it is to do it fast. Anyone can snap a head-high kick out, but can they do it slowly while maintaining their balance and still generating enough power to make a good hit. That's why when I watch kata performances I prefer to see them done slowly as that shows a greater degree of skill and control than doing it fast, particularly when weapons are involved.

 

[marques]

I train this way most of the time. It gives me balance, coordination and power due to improved technique. When I am confident (or nervous), I start increasing the speed. I learn faster this way and prevent injuries.

Sometimes I simplify the steps like this: touch, push, kick. Being the 'kick' a fast movement and 'push' and intermediate/transition quite slow movement.

It may not be suitable for everyone, but I have seen beginners clearly improving their kicking technique in minutes training this way.

 

[Headhunter]

Absoloutely, tai chi may get cristism from some about it's fighting application but you can't argue their movements are technically perfect because of it

 

[Kenposcholar]

Some of the best stretch/muscle-building routines can be found from Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. He has supplied some exceptional videos that can be found on Youtube. The best way to become good is to study someone who is good. Sounds like you're method is really similar to his.

 

[jobo]

Some of the best stretch/muscle-building routines can be found from Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. He has supplied some exceptional videos that can be found on Youtube. The best way to become good is to study someone who is good. Sounds like you're method is really similar to his.

I tried with a super foot video, but his beginner's starting point was well above what I could do,and there is no video for people at the utterly hopeless stage

 

[Kenposcholar]

I tried with a super foot video, but his beginner's starting point was well above what I could do,and there is no video for people at the utterly hopeless stage

I'm not sure there's going to be a video for utterly hopeless since dead people can't kick! It's not expected to kick as high as he can but to work your way up from what you've got. If you can do a wheel kick at your ankle, do it the best you can until you improve. I'd still suggest finding a coach though to help set goals with & teach proper form.

 

[Finlay]

Couldn't agree more

Slow kicking really teaches you a lot about .... well.... everything about the kick.

As an example I thought this video may interest some

 

[jobo]

I'm not sure there's going to be a video for utterly hopeless since dead people can't kick! It's not expected to kick as high as he can but to work your way up from what you've got. If you can do a wheel kick at your ankle, do it the best you can until you improve. I'd still suggest finding a coach though to help set goals with & teach proper form.

believe me I'm not much better than someone who is dead, to be fair in the general scheme of things I'm not that bad for a 78 yo, but the problem is I'm 58 and want to be able to do kicks with out the instructor and the 20odd year olds I share a class with laughing at me, which they do quite a lot

I have a serious issue with flexability around my hips and legs in general, which means my front kick is low, really low and my side kick isn't a kick at all. I cant get even close to touching my toes or get in the start position in that vid, where the legs are at a 90 degree angle. In fact I can't sit on the floor with my legs,straight out with out falling over backwards.

I put at least an hour stretching' in a day and I'm making a little process, i but not in the way that makes any noticable difference to my kicks.
.
I should add that if its a football/ soccer kick im fine, I'm much better if there is a target rather than an air kick. But generaly I'm rubbish

all the vids I've seen be they karate, style stretching or yoga style stretching, presume a starting level far in excess of what I can do. It's like they can't believe anyone is as restricted as me

 

[Ironbear24]

Absoloutely, tai chi may get cristism from some about it's fighting application but you can't argue their movements are technically perfect because of it

And tai chi has kicks in it too, I didn't even realize that the slowness of Tai chi could be for this reason.

 

[Ironbear24]

believe me I'm not much better than someone who is dead, to be fair in the general scheme of things I'm not that bad for a 78 yo, but the problem is I'm 58 and want to be able to do kicks with out the instructor and the 20odd year olds I share a class with laughing at me, which they do quite a lot

I have a serious issue with flexability around my hips and legs in general, which means my front kick is low, really low and my side kick isn't a kick at all. I cant get even close to touching my toes or get in the start position in that vid, where the legs are at a 90 degree angle. In fact I can't sit on the floor with my legs,straight out with out falling over backwards.

I put at least an hour stretching' in a day and I'm making a little process, i but not in the way that makes any noticable difference to my kicks.
.
I should add that if its a football/ soccer kick im fine, I'm much better if there is a target rather than an air kick. But generaly I'm rubbish

all the vids I've seen be they karate, style stretching or yoga style stretching, presume a starting level far in excess of what I can do. It's like they can't believe anyone is as restricted as me

Have you been progressively static stretching? Your legs will eventually have to become more flexible by doing these daily.

 

[jobo]

And tai chi has kicks in it too, I didn't even realize that the slowness of Tai chi could be for this reason.

a tai chi class was the most tyring thing I have ever done, I gave it up as to tough and went and did karate instead

 

[Gerry Seymour]

As with many things, it's a lot harder to do it slowly than it is to do it fast. Anyone can snap a head-high kick out, but can they do it slowly while maintaining their balance and still generating enough power to make a good hit. That's why when I watch kata performances I prefer to see them done slowly as that shows a greater degree of skill and control than doing it fast, particularly when weapons are involved.

For me, it's not even a matter of balance or strength. My dynamic flexibility is an order of magnitude better than my static flexibility. I can't get anywhere near the head with a slow kick, but can kick about my own head height at speed.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

believe me I'm not much better than someone who is dead, to be fair in the general scheme of things I'm not that bad for a 78 yo, but the problem is I'm 58 and want to be able to do kicks with out the instructor and the 20odd year olds I share a class with laughing at me, which they do quite a lot

I have a serious issue with flexability around my hips and legs in general, which means my front kick is low, really low and my side kick isn't a kick at all. I cant get even close to touching my toes or get in the start position in that vid, where the legs are at a 90 degree angle. In fact I can't sit on the floor with my legs,straight out with out falling over backwards.

I put at least an hour stretching' in a day and I'm making a little process, i but not in the way that makes any noticable difference to my kicks.
.
I should add that if its a football/ soccer kick im fine, I'm much better if there is a target rather than an air kick. But generaly I'm rubbish

all the vids I've seen be they karate, style stretching or yoga style stretching, presume a starting level far in excess of what I can do. It's like they can't believe anyone is as restricted as me

If you are doing static stretches, those won't have as much impact on your at-speed kicking as dynamic stretching will. Like you, I deal with low flexibility around the hips (plus hamstrings and lower back - they tend to go together, so you're probably in the same boat). I can't comfortably sit cross-legged, and sitting with legs out also leaves me toppling unless I have something to pull on (gi pants, for example). But I can kick as high as any of my students, and was among the highest-kicking (and fastest) of my training partners back in the day - still without much static flexibility.

 

[jobo]

Have you been progressively static stretching? Your legs will eventually have to become more flexible by doing these daily.

its the eventually bit that's worrying, I've only got a limited time till death,
its a life long thing, that hasn't affected my every day life since they stopped making us sit cross legged at primary school.

yes i do a lot of stretching . I am, I think, more flexible now than I was at twenty. And id just call it quits if I didn't feel the need to deliver a,karate kick at a height above knee level.

I cant work out what the cause is. It may be an actual defect in the length / position of my muscles, it may be a lack of strengh to lift my leg or it may be my nervous system firing the opposite muscle to restricts my movement. Or all three

if I'm air kicking its dreadful, no height no balance. If I have a target there more height and no balance problems.. But then I can do an over head kick with a football. But can't snap kick at two foot of the ground.

I'm of to class now to be subject to more ridicule from the instructor and very bendy 22 yos

 

[Xue Sheng]

And tai chi has kicks in it too, I didn't even realize that the slowness of Tai chi could be for this reason.

That is part of it.... now do the kick slowly and then stop and hold it out for say 10 seconds, hold your balance and don't let the leg drop. Then return it properly based on the form.

 

[Ironbear24]

its the eventually bit that's worrying, I've only got a limited time till death,
its a life long thing, that hasn't affected my every day life since they stopped making us sit cross legged at primary school.

yes i do a lot of stretching . I am, I think, more flexible now than I was at twenty. And id just call it quits if I didn't feel the need to deliver a,karate kick at a height above knee level.

I cant work out what the cause is. It may be an actual defect in the length / position of my muscles, it may be a lack of strengh to lift my leg or it may be my nervous system firing the opposite muscle to restricts my movement. Or all three

if I'm air kicking its dreadful, no height no balance. If I have a target there more height and no balance problems.. But then I can do an over head kick with a football. But can't snap kick at two foot of the ground.

I'm of to class now to be subject to more ridicule from the instructor and very bendy 22 yos

It shouldn't take you several years to reach your goal. Consistently stretching every other day should get you kicking at least to chest level within a year.

I was exposed to martial arts at the age of 5, did it for a few months and just liked the mindset and patience to keep doing it. Then again at 14 I was more prepared and I remember stretching often for at least 20 minutes of class. Lots of pain and discipline was required because damn did it hurt. Had to move when I was 16 so that ended the my training there, had a 10 year gap of trying to be a rockstar while going to college to get a degree in music.

That was a bust and waste of time, at least I got funny stories though. Went back to training at 26 and well, I couldn't kick anywhere near like I used to at 16 but I retained some of it and was able to kick at chest/stomach level.

Now I can kick again to the head but that was because I got back into stretching as well as rigouros training. I believe you can do it, it isn't easy, if it were easy everybody would be doing it.

And well, not everyone is doing it. Those 22 year olds were at a time where they had a difficult and impossible time to kick high as well.

 

[jobo]

It shouldn't take you several years to reach your goal. Consistently stretching every other day should get you kicking at least to chest level within a year.

I was exposed to martial arts at the age of 5, did it for a few months and just liked the mindset and patience to keep doing it. Then again at 14 I was more prepared and I remember stretching often for at least 20 minutes of class. Lots of pain and discipline was required because damn did it hurt. Had to move when I was 16 so that ended the my training there, had a 10 year gap of trying to be a rockstar while going to college to get a degree in music.

That was a bust and waste of time, at least I got funny stories though. Went back to training at 26 and well, I couldn't kick anywhere near like I used to at 16 but I retained some of it and was able to kick at chest/stomach level.

Now I can kick again to the head but that was because I got back into stretching as well as rigouros training. I believe you can do it, it isn't easy, if it were easy everybody would be doing it.

And well, not everyone is doing it. Those 22 year olds were at a time where they had a difficult and impossible time to kick high as well.

thanks for the encouragement, but I'm 6months into serious stretching with another year before that of less serious stretching and I'm barely above knee height , if I can get to waist height il call it quits

 

[jobo]

If you are doing static stretches, those won't have as much impact on your at-speed kicking as dynamic stretching will. Like you, I deal with low flexibility around the hips (plus hamstrings and lower back - they tend to go together, so you're probably in the same boat). I can't comfortably sit cross-legged, and sitting with legs out also leaves me toppling unless I have something to pull on (gi pants, for example). But I can kick as high as any of my students, and was among the highest-kicking (and fastest) of my training partners back in the day - still without much static flexibility.

I do more mobility that flexability ie I move through the tightness trying to improve range of movement, which it does, after an hour of that i can hardly walk but I'm a bit freed up, but then the next day I'm back where I started again. I'm getting really frustrated with it.
yes it tight back hips knees and hamstrings as you say, I've discovered that crunching my foot up and working my calves helps a bit.

my current exercise, is to throw a rope around a fence post and use it to hang on to whilst I side kick. I can get my left leg up about three foot, but with no power and direction and my right about two foot with a little more power and direction . Take the rope away and its back to a foot high or I fall over.

I'm determined to improve it, I don't care about how much pain I'm in, just want a kick that isn't embarrassing

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I do more mobility that flexability ie I move through the tightness trying to improve range of movement, which it does, after an hour of that i can hardly walk but I'm a bit freed up, but then the next day I'm back where I started again. I'm getting really frustrated with it.
yes it tight back hips knees and hamstrings as you say, I've discovered that crunching my foot up and working my calves helps a bit.

my current exercise, is to throw a rope around a fence post and use it to hang on to whilst I side kick. I can get my left leg up about three foot, but with no power and direction and my right about two foot with a little more power and direction . Take the rope away and its back to a foot high or I fall over.

I'm determined to improve it, I don't care about how much pain I'm in, just want a kick that isn't embarrassing

I've had good success regaining what flexibility I used to have (again, back about 17 years) through dynamic leg stretches like leg swings. These are like the warm-up you see a football (US) kicker doing before going on the field. I do them forward, backward, and to the side. I'll also do things like walking lunges (with as deep a step as I can manage) and side lunges, if my knees allow it that day. When I do give in to my desire for static stretches at the beginning of an exercise, I shorten them to a couple of seconds - slow enough to avoid "bouncing" them, but it avoids the natural tension that comes from static stretches. After a warm-up, static stretching. That combination has done well for me.

I'm probably going to seek a PT for some advice on which tissues are most limiting my hip movements, get some recommendations on exercises to stretch them. I discovered earlier this year, for example, that I wasn't paying enough attention to my iliotibial band, which is damnably hard to get at, and I'd been missing in my stretching.