what exercise will help make it easy to kick harder in Martial Arts?
I disagree with practicing your kicks in the air. It is unrealistic to think you will learn to kick harder by kicking air. All you are really doing is practicing your balance. If you want to learn to kick harder, kick a heavy bag or have someone hold a kicking shield or Thai pads for you. Your body needs to learn what it feels like to impact an object if you want to kick with accuracy and power. Think of it this way, you can’t learn to play the guitar by practicing on an air-guitar. You may get the movement down, but you won’t know how hard or soft to pluck the strings.
Alex
Squats, running stairs or hills, plyometric jumping, and weighted knee lifts.
Also, practice your kicks with shoes on to increase your speed. Practice on a heavy bag as well as in the air. The bag will help you develop power, kicking the air will help with your speed (especially your retraction speed) and also with your control.
References :
martial arts off and on since 1992
Steven A
All the exercises the first answerer gave you will help. I just wanted to give you another tip for developing better kicks.
Practice kicking in the air to work on your balance and increase your power. Execute your kick and hold your leg in a locked out position while you concentrate on stabilizing your supporting leg. Shoot for five sets of ten reps per foot per kick, holding your foot out for five seconds each time. As you get better, try throwing multiple kicks without letting your foot touch the ground.
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Hyouden
In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, the answer here is that you improve your kicking by actually kicking.
Individual muscle strengthening won’t help, because when you kick, you don’t use one muscle, but rather a group of them in unison. If you want to improve your kicking strength, train them all together, including your core, which is crucial in kicking power. Keep an eye on your footwork and stance as well, as it’s equally important.
Additionally, weighted training is a good way to improve speed, and as such, fa ting, or explosive power.
References :
9 years in MA
Desk3Bound
1) Makiwara training. Kicking the rope lined or wrapped spring board will help develop power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPrXkJ8HAg0
2) Stand waste deep in water (pool, lake, or in my case, the ocean) and practice your kicks that way.
Both are basic fundamental ways of developing harder kicks in the striking arts.
References :
thx_ac3
I disagree with practicing your kicks in the air. It is unrealistic to think you will learn to kick harder by kicking air. All you are really doing is practicing your balance. If you want to learn to kick harder, kick a heavy bag or have someone hold a kicking shield or Thai pads for you. Your body needs to learn what it feels like to impact an object if you want to kick with accuracy and power. Think of it this way, you can’t learn to play the guitar by practicing on an air-guitar. You may get the movement down, but you won’t know how hard or soft to pluck the strings.
References :
MA training and playing the air-guitar.
Rambo220
All the exercises Alex said. Also practice your kicks holding on to something and kicking as high as you can or kick over something, gradually increasing the height. This increases the strengths in your legs with helps you control the kick more. This in itself helps increase the speed and power of the kick. Also, technique is very important.
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