I started this thread based on another thread called: Jumping kicks. At our school our instructor encourages us to not focus on how high we jump but to make sure it's fast and powerful. What do you all think? Are you trained to get a lot of height with your jump kicks? Thanks! Kelly
I have been taught to move forward rather than upward with jumping kicks. The higher you are off the ground, the slower you can get to your follow-up technique. Also, if you get tagged by a nice stiff side kick or back kick while off the mat, you'll go flying. Same goes with front-leg skipping kicks. I see guys jumping three feet in the air on a "speed kick" way more often than I'd like. It's wasted energy.
Depends on the kick and purpose. If it's a demo kick, it's usually height (distance when we're jumping over people and the like), but if it's sparring, it's normally speed and timing. In my school (an ITF school) we usually use kicks to lead up to another close-range attack, so speed and bringing the guard down is essential. But, in terms of demo, we definately emphasise the height of our kicks. We do squat jumps and korean jumping jacks to strengthen our legs and get more height out of our leaps. Our general idea was the higher you jumped, the louder the crowd cheered, and that was generally true ^_~ -Kat
If you jump higher it gives you more time to perform the kick, pure and simple. Also, for something like a jumping reverse turning kick, I'm sure it's a heck of a lot easier to jump straight up and spin than it is to jump diagonally and spin, just seems common sense.
Depends on the situation. If your doing a pattern (or like xxblackkatxx said a demo) you want a high jump that will give lots of air time to let everyone see your jumping kick. However when sparring (or when fighting, don't want to start a debate on this but you it could happen) then you don't really want people seeing your kick and so speed, timing, power and accuracy are more important (even though the last two should be in pattern techniques anyway). But... I personally find it very difficult to kick up whilst jumping. Also I posted in the 'jumping kiks' thread that I think that the one of the reasons that jumping kicks are more powerful is that they tend to shoot out from the hip and so it you are kicking from the hip and the person you're fighting is the same size as you, your gonna need a decent jump. But hey you could just break their ribs instead.
Hi, I feel that as someone has already stated, the higher you can get the easier the power, focus and everything else becomes. If you do not jump very high, everything becomes more difficult! Stuart
A Korean Jumping Jack is where you are in a squat position, with your hands either behind your back or at your sides (or whichever way is comfortable). Basically you jump up, TUCK YOUR LEGS, turn 180 degrees, and land. Then repeat however many times. You can go around 360 degrees as well, it's just a matter of how good you are at turning, really. And if you're up for a challenge. I prefer to have my hands behind my back, so as to resist the urge to throw them up and make the jump 'easier' by creating additional momentum with them. Putting them behind my back lets me use only my legs, and nothing more, and thus is a more concentrated workout. We do about 40-50 of those in demo as a warm up.... they start to hurt after a while :bang: -Kat
Thats a good practical way to look at jump kick Kelly! Jumping should involve a bigger motion from your hips and use the momentum of the jump for impact. But thats a more practical view of them! It don't hurt to push yourself hard to get higher and travel farther though!!
Iv'e been taught to stay on a spot, jump as high as I can, tuck my knees in and execute the kick fast and powerful. If you jump forward or backwards its called a flying kick. Though because im a big built person its very hard for me to jump with out taking a small step forward and propelling backwards. :bang:
I think that you, the OP, should focus on getting the tecnhiques right, as it seem you're a green stripe - when you have the techniques perfected, you'll find that it's easier to do them high. The other way around, jumping high first, and then perfectioning the kicks, will only lead to a much slower training curve imho. By all means, once in a while it's fun to see how high you can jump, but the priority should be on the technnique itself. (Oh, and I hope you didn't feel I hit you with the "you're only a low rank", because that wasn't my intention...)
I think it depends on how aerodynamic the person is. Some of us just aren't made for aerial maneuvers. For example I like to keep my jumping spin side kick (a nice solution for the prison yard rush) tight, small and fast. I prefer keeping jumping techniques to a minimum, and when I do use them I want them to be done with as quickly as possible to limit exposure to counter attacks.
If you cannot do a jumping kick higher than a stationary kick, then don't jump. Jumping is designed to add height/distance to your technique. If your jumping kick gets to only their chest, then don't waste your time jumping. I see people in sparring jumping who obviously can't do it and end up kicking as high as if they had not jumped. Drives me crazy to see that. If you want to do jumping kicks, practice so that your jumping kicks are higher than your standing kicks. That's why you do them.
Hey Kelly, I will put it the way I was taught years ago in Shotokan. To leave the ground removes your base. The ability to generate power from the hips and ground is removed. It does not take much to push someone once they leave the ground. Since Shotokan did not emphasize head kicks, though we learned them, we stayed on the ground with focus of a strong base and fast, powerful kicks. Now, if you mean to do a demo, I can see where height would really be flashy. I am amazed in TKD how high some of the practitioners are able to kick and jump.
