Raising your Side Kicks to higher heights

[FrankCefalu]

Okay, is there a specific way to move your waist to do this? I know stretching is key, but is ther any specific movements u have to perform inorder to raise ur leg higher above.

Also I have a pain when I stretch now, like by the underside of the hips, does anyone know how to stretch out the pain?

[tang_sou_dao]

search for tom kurz, he has a great book on how to stretch

[YODA]

Search this forum for articles on stretching - KickChick has put out some great info in the past here.

[hwarang]

by underside of your hips, do you mean the two groin muscles? if they hurt when you start stretching, then start stretching slowly before moving to stronger longer stretches...stretching on the floor is not enough, being about to push your leg out fast and snap it back after the kick is also important

to make your side kicks higher - try lifting your knee up as close to your chest as you can when you chamber your leg for the kick. at this point don't drop/lean your body backwards - try to keep up right with your leading hip pointing forwards...then when you kick twist your hip over a bit more than their position when you were chambering your leg

strike with the heel part of your foot (i know some styles kick with a knife edge), you will get a stronger kick with the heel and by kicking with the heel, your hip rolls slightly more and you should be able to get higher

the most important thing though is to get your knee as high as you can at the start of the technique

some karate people may disagree (i've trained with shotokan people), but this is how we side-kick in taekwondo

[Andy Murray]

Originally posted by FrankCefalu
Okay, is there a specific way to move your waist to do this? I know stretching is key, but is ther any specific movements u have to perform inorder to raise ur leg higher above.



Flexibility is important across relevant muscle groups, but strength training and correct hip alignment may net you better results.

Check out Kurz as suggested.

Don't expect to be able to throw a high kick just because you stretch.

[Cain]

Try this -

When you chamber keep the chamber as high as possible and then bring out the kick don't concentrate on holding too much just concentrate on bringing it up as high as possible.

I usually chamber at the highest height and then shoot/chamber the leg slowly to try and get my flexibility used to that position, is also great for improving forms in kicks.

|Cain|

[aml01_ph]

If you do the technique properly, it is amazing what you height you can achieve even if you can never go down to full split.

To achieve higher kicks, your hip must be in the correct positon in the correct position to allow the kicking leg more degree of freedom. To do this, watch the way you pivot your supporting leg.

Let's say that you stand at the ready stance. If you try to do a side kick (with any leg), the height of the kick will be inhibited by the orientation of the supporting foot. If you pivot the supporting foot in such a way that the toes move outwards realtive to the axis of your upright body, you will definitely observe that you can achieve more height.

Kicking power is not the only reason for the foot pivot.

[Anth]

This thread has been dead for over a year, and the original poster hasnt been here for a year, so I dont think they will be reading your post ;)