Kickboxers - To squat or not to squat?

[Jocky Balboa]

I've had tireless discussions with fellow students (and even several teachers) over the years over the merits of using squats in your weight training programme, especially where Muay Thai and Kickboxing are concerned. Some say it tightens us your hip area, some say it slows the legs down, among other things.

Your thoughts? Perhaps you could give reasons why you do squat or why you do not? Maybe even give examples of a typical leg workout which has enhanced your kicking performance? I look forward to hearing your views on this divisive subject!

[Ranzan]

I Love squats do em tons it will not tighten you up unless you neglet to practice flexibility.

[Yost]

Squats actually require a great deal of flexibility to do properly. Full squats, I mean.

[Yohan]

I don't squat - i do a lot of deadlifts. It gives me excellent strength and endurance. I don't think they hurt my kicks, in fact they are my strongest suite standing up. I stretch regularly though, so I don't lose flexibility in my hips.

[Hiroji]

Squats all the way for me.

As long as you don’t over do them, ie every day of the week you will be fine. Once or twice a week is all i do. Don’t forget that you need decent conditioning in those legs too, so overdoing the heavyish squats might do more harm.

I also do squat jumps. I never used to squat, but since i did my kicks are much better.

Think about it, if your legs are stronger, lifting you leg up and kicking should be easier right? as long as you don’t neglect your actual kicking!

[Knight_Errant]

Some say it tightens us your hip area, some say it slows the legs down, among other things.
They're talking cobblers.

[Yohan]

They're talking cobblers.

Heavy lifting will tighten you up. There's no way around it - you have to stretch to counteract it, which is what I'm about to go do.

[Mitch]

I've got a quote from a paper running around in the back of my head that lifters doing deep squats were more flexible than their counterparts in a number of sports who angaged in stretching programmes.

Anyone remember it or is my memory giving up like the rest of me?:confused:

Mitch

[Knight_Errant]

Heavy lifting will tighten you up. There's no way around it - you have to stretch to counteract it, which is what I'm about to go do.
Really? I read that the sports scientists have changed their minds about that one. I might be wrong, though? :confused:

[Hiroji]

I think the consensus is, if you lift heavy and increase muscle mass, you have the possibility to increase your flexibility.

But heavy lifting alone won’t help. You still need to stretch and do your specific movements, in this case kicking. But increasing your muscle mass and strength as well as stretching will increase your flexibility, and in this case your kicking ten fold

[Kwan Jang]

I am in complete agreement with Hiroji.

[Yohan]

I am in complete agreement with Hiroji.

Ditto

[Cuchulain82]

I'm with Hiroji, et al. as well. I don't train right now, but when I did we did squats at the end of class. Granted, they were just bodyweight squats, but the motion was important that we included it in our conditioning.

How do you like them apples? ;)

[Rayson]

I want to be in the Hiroji bandwagon too!

[Hiroji]

im popular and i didnt even know it!! come gather around me team mates! :D

[Su lin]

I started doing squats on the cable machine a while back (before H decided they were all the rage :D) I do them about twice a week with either cables or weights and sometimes just bodyweight too.My legs were strong anyway but feeling good.

[Hyung]

Since I squat, my kicks are more powerful... I mean, in strength and in speed (believe it or not).
I have not tighten up even a little my inner thigh areas. I practice stretching just after heavy squats. I recommend to do them fully, to the ground (as baseball catchers sit on their feet and bend knees), to fully stretch the inner thigh too. Full range of motion is absolutely essential; none of this “squatting down to parallel” stuff. Squeeze your butt all the way down to your ankles. The misconception is that you lose power “out of the hole” when you go below parallel, but the opposite is true: the lower you squat, the more compression you build in your quads and the more explosion you have off the bottom. Since I max out on my last set, good form is foremost in my mind. No pitching forward, no arching my back, and I keep my butt lower than my body’s centre of gravity. Never does it thrust backward and upward. Concentrate on getting a pump in your quads.

I also strongly recommend to do hack squats, leg press, lunges (specially these, cause kick power comes from the buttocks) and leg extensions (much of the power of round house kicks, TKD, karate or muay thai style, come from quadriceps, and their capacity to fully extend in fast and explosiveness ways). Deadlifts are also good, to the back side of the knees and the femoral biceps.... but depends on how you do them to also exercise low back muscles.

Don't ever forget to exercise your calves, with seated raises, and jumping the rope.
Much of the power of a kick, depends on the hability of the calf muscle to raise up the leg along with the major psoas and iliacus muscles. I exercise them, by kicking with a cable strapped at my ankle, and doing side kicks with 20lbs about 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps, or by doing knee strikes with 60lbs strapped at my ankle, about 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Be very careful with your knees when squatting heavy, because cartilage/meniscus damage is irreplaceble. I use Inzer elastic bands, to properly protect my knee's cartilages, but only with very heavy squats (above 220 lbs). I only do leg training once every 2 weeks.

Good luck in your leg training. And remember, for martial artists these are for power, and not volumen or aesthetics.

[DRMA]

I don't squat - i do a lot of deadlifts. It gives me excellent strength and endurance. I don't think they hurt my kicks, in fact they are my strongest suite standing up. I stretch regularly though, so I don't lose flexibility in my hips.

Yohan, why don't you squat, are you trying to stay in a weight division? I think deadlifts are great, but I wouldn't say they replace squats. Personally, I alternate between squating and deadlifting in my routine.

[Yost]

Yohan, why don't you squat, are you trying to stay in a weight division? I think deadlifts are great, but I wouldn't say they replace squats. Personally, I alternate between squating and deadlifting in my routine.

If I remember correctly from the workout check-in thread, Yohan does at least some trap bar deadlifts, which more closely resemble a squat.

I personally do both, as well. (Squats and Deadlifts, not Deadlifts and Trap Bar Deads =p)

[axelb]

I'm joining the Hiroji team! Squats (and Deadlifts) here for a few years now and my flexibilty is great, kicking is great (probably better then my handwork).

[Su lin]

grrrrr last few times I have been to the gym there have been 2 groups of lads in the freeweights bit, with ALL the weights out on ALL the benches and none of them using them,just standing around comparing muscles!

So I just squat on the cable machines instead and not do deadlifts :(

[axelb]

grrrrr last few times I have been to the gym there have been 2 groups of lads in the freeweights bit, with ALL the weights out on ALL the benches and none of them using them,just standing around comparing muscles!

So I just squat on the cable machines instead and not do deadlifts :(

That really grinds my gears! I feel like going up to them and telling them how to use 1 piece of equipment at the time.

Maybe if they took the mirrors out then they would spend less time there. :(