How long can you hold your side kick up? and if so what excersises do you use to strengthen the muscles that you use for the side kick? I also know that it not only requires strength but also flexability, what kind of stretches should i do to improve the height of my side kick? I just wanted to hear from TKD practioners and anyone who has knowledge about this because my goal is to heighten my side kick to its limit while holding the postion any replies will be much appreciated thankyou
Active stretching improves active flexibility, which is basically holding a kick out for an extended period of time. Including active stretches in your training and you'll strengthen those hip flexors and increase kick control. Warm-up your muscles before doing any stretching particularly active stretching, otherwise you put undo stress on the lower back. Some points to bear in mind when performing active stretching is not to hold the stretch for an abnormally long period of time. If you hold it at a given height for a long time you will be improving holding the kick at that particular height. It is best to hold it higher for shorter periods of time to improve getting it higher. Practice stretches in timed sets. Which means you hold it for a period of time then rest. Then the next set you repeat or do the other side. You should hold the stretch between 10-25 seconds and you should take rest in between each of your sets.( one min. max rest between sets for one side) The point of this is to get it high. So hold it as high as you possibly can, then rest. Try to work on height first then on duration of your kick.
Yup i agree completely. Beyond 30 seconds there isnt a great deal of benefit to be had. I started conditioning my hip flexors by holding my sidekick for about 10 secs before it burned so bad i had to put it down. After about 2 weeks of doing it every day I could hold it at my own head height for as long as i wanted. I would start by using a chair or something to support yourself to start with. But its definately very beneficial, my sidekicks have improved alot, especially 'cold' i.e. not warmed up.
I had held a side kick for about 1min 30 secs just 'cause I felt macho , but normally I hold for about 20 secs per count....pity I can hold almost to face level but not able to do the splits I find after doing isometric stretches I am able to hold the kicks a lot better! |Cain|
Thanks for the replies, KickChick: I will practice what you have told me that sounds very helpful. Would anyone happen to know of any books or videos on this subject?
Now that I'm a little bit more "experienced" in TKD I can hold in the sidekick position form how long that I want(i'm talking about a minute or a little bit more) This tehnique is useable agains people who don't have the right defense. And also you can make more than one tipe of kick from this position, let's say: Doljo Chagi, Hurio Chagi, Jop Chagi, Up chagi,.....maybe some of them are unknown to you because of the names...sorry
(i'm not the same person as hwoarang...that's the tekken character...my hwarang refers to the hwarang warriors during the old korean days - you can look up your korean history for that...) anyway, why do you want to hold you side-kicks up for extended periods of time for? i thought it was hard fighting/sparring on one leg... in my opinion, unless your posing for a photo, or doing a demonstration, i wouldn't hold up my side-kick when fighting/sparring, i don't see it serving any real purpose...this is not to say i don't defend kicks with my legs (eg. you could side-kick or push-kick your opponents hips or leg as they start a reverse turning kick...) anyway, that's my 2 cents worth (with the australian currency worth less they the US currency, my 2 cents is probably not worth that much)
I would guess that the purpose of standing still holding your leg in the air has more to do with stretching/strengthening/and conditioning the muscle(s) involved to improve the actual kick than for combative purposes. Point taken, standing still on one leg isn't a good idea when fighting/sparring
This is one of my week points and have been doing the exact exercises that KC refers to (in Brad Appleton's e-book). I have seen marked success in doing these exercies, but still have a ways to go. Diligence is the key! TKDshane Ÿ
I can hold my side kick up for about 3 minutes. I think a lot of pliometrics and leg weghts help. Constantly try to stretch, i find the splits helps a lot.
