I fell today in my Muay Thai class. I was in the ring with my teacher and two other students and we were practicing trotting (I think that's the right word) towards an opponent, tossing a left jap, then right hook, then left cross and toss out a right roundhouse. Then your supposed to trot back to the turnbuckle and sidestep to the next one and do the same thing etc. Well, when my turn came up I did the punches right as well as the kick, except it was too low(about upper thigh level). My teach goes "Try it again, higher, get it up there!" So I go "....screw this" and just toss one out as high as I can...only I lose my footing and end up on my back . My teach just goes "That's ok, happens ALOT to people. You'll get the hang of it eventualy." Lol, the other student asked me "Hey, did you take Tae Kwan do, that kick was pretty high!"afterwards. I told him I just went too high and screwed up . But yeah, pretty embaressing, has this happened to any of you guys. Oh yeah, I'm also having trouble witrh my left kicks, anybody got any tips? I can't seem to just bust it out as smoothly(I'm right handed by the way).
I think this happens to everybody!!! That's why high kicks are sometimes dangerous. For your left kicks,try to practice them more than you're right side,focusing on them.Do the techniques slowly step by step: make it in 6 step,then in 3 steps and eventually you will do it smoothly .
dont sweat it! i as kicking the heavy bag with my socks on and slipped, fell on my when i first started! everyone laughed, but not in that "haha" way. i just laughed, got up, took my socks of and carried on kicking
I had a humourous wipe-out in a sparring match. It was just a friendly match, I was sparring a guy about 80 pounds heavier than me, and I threw a thrusting front kick right off the bat. He just walked into it, and I wasn't expecting that much resistance, so I completely fall backwards. (Thank goodness for breakfalls.) I just started laughing and so did he, so it was a funny match.
Haha, today I was in class and everyone was practising their Thai kicks against the punching bags. My teach comes up and starts watching me kick for a few seconds and he's later joined by another trainer. The trainer looks at me throw a left roundhouse and says something to my teacher. I stop and ask "am I doing something wrong?" And my teacher says "No, he just asked me if you were left handed. I told him no, you're righthanded. Just that you're kicking better with your left today..." "Oh, thanks! Yeah, I've been working on it more...." and my teacher goes"Oh, you have? Well then stop it !" Me:" " Teacher:"....Just kidding !"
you need to stretch a lot more. Do more stretching at home and get comfortable with the high kicks. You can achieve dynamic flexibility in no time flat. Everybody falls on their ass. When in the ring wear socks and wet your foot with some water a little to make it stickier.
I'm sure it has happened to most of us at one time or another... and this is when you use this as a learning experience. What did you do wrong? How did yoou lose your footing? Because the kick was high does not necessarily mean you lose your footing. You can kick high and still keep yoour balance if you work on body mechanics. Where are your hands when throwing the kick.... are you leaning too far back....???? Concentrate on balancing on the standing leg when throwing out continuous roundhouse kicks and find out how and where you need to make adjustments in your footing, torso and hands. Weak left side??? Then you need to devote some extra time into training that side with kick drills on heavy bag.
We've all been on our butt at some time or other - in our class we have a good laugh(unless they're hurt) & then get on with it. Smoother kicks? Try relaxing the kick don't try to kill everything every time, practice the technique first, then slowly speed it up take your time. Mess one up go back start again........
do you have like a high shelf or something at home? the top of a taller cabinet? here's what I did to train and stretch my left kicks: I used a ledge in my house that was roughly 6' high from the floor or more. I padded the edge of it with soft stuff to cushion my foot. Reach out and hold onto something like a wall and bring your left foot up and out, slowly and try to place it on that ledge with the inner blade of your foot down. If you can't do it at first, simply post it up as high as you can. You should look like you're in a sidekick. Make sure your right foot is pointing away and raise yourself up on the ball of your right foot. This is important because this is how you will kick in thai boxing. Stretch your legs out as far as you can but don't relax too much into the stretch. TENSE your leg muscles especially between the legs and groin area. Take control of the stretch. Roll your hips over as if you were throwing a high thai kick and raise yourself up on tiptoes. What you're trying to do is train your leg muscles with some resistance to accept the stretch. When you are done, release slowly and slide your foot off the ledge. Massage the inner parts of your legs. It may be sore at first but after a few more sessions, you'll notice that you may be able to throw your leg up without any assistance at all. You should be able to kick higher with more stretching sessions. If you want to work on balance, simply stick one foot out for as long as you can and practice dipping your body back and forth and side to side. You can also blindfold yourself and stand on one leg for a real challenge. Work on maintaining an imaginary axis from the top of your head to your supporting foot.
Wow, didn't know anybody had responded to this thread again till today (last post i saw was the one nicolo made after my last one). Thanks everyone, my kicks have gotten alot better since I started this thread. I started stretching much more at home afterwards similar to how nicolo was describing.(using my desk and cabinets). One of my problems while kicking was htat I wasn't keeping my body straight would lean back a bit when I'd kick. I finally learned how to keep my body from leaning back and the kicks got much easier afterwards. My sparring partners where so surprised when I started tossing out roundhouses to their shoulders , as was my teacher. I also started doing a sidekick stretch (before it was more of a pushkick looking stretch) and my kicks really got better. Funny thing is, I fell in class today after weeks of not falling. I was sparring with another classmate and I thought "screw this...I think I can make it to his head..." so I went for it and wanted to do it, but my right leg (standing leg, was throwing a left roundhouse) slid forward as to say "Argh, no! We're not used to stretching that far yet!" and I fell on my butt. I think I mostly overestimated my ability. My form was right, I guess. My right hand was up covering the side of my head in case of a punch etc., my left hand was down on the side of my left leg (kinda like when you kick a soccer ball), how it is in most Thai roundhouses. As for my right leg, I was on the ball of my right foot and my foot was pointing sideways after I launched it, so I think I was ok in that respect. I probably should have leaned back, but I kind had the idea of "don't lean back!" programmed in my head so I kept from doing it. I just laughed it off and kept going. I know I'll be able to get there soon after some more stretching, but I think I'll practice high roundhouses on a bag before I try one on my sparring buddy again .
glad to hear...raising your supporting foot and spinning on tippy toes also gives you extra height when kicking high. When you're stretching out at home with your foot on a high ledge, make sure you fight to lean your body forward instead of backwards. Push away from an opposite wall or table if you have to and lean towards your outstretched left leg. Again you're conditioning your leg/groin muscles to accept the stretched state. Another thing you wanna do when kicking high is maybe hook your foot back so that when you strike the head or the neck, you can follow through and literally drag their head down with your retracting leg.
