Stretches leading to perfect roundhouse kick

[JohnyZ]

Hi everybody. I am following Kurz's stretching method, it improved my flexibility a lot, but there are still many workouts awaiting. My goal is to be able to kick perfect roundhouse kick. I am doing dynamic stretching, static stretching and such strenght extercises as adductor flys and squats. Unfortunately, my roundhouse is tje best after warming up and doing some dynamic stretching. I can reach opponent's head everytime I want but the problem with my kick is that I can't lift my knee high. The leg reaches greatest height only if it is straightened. If knee is bend I cannot lift my leg over 90 degrees. The next problem is that sometimes my heel is higher than toes. It looks a bit different than it should, because my knee is low, then leg straightens and the leg lifts a lot, and after all knee falls down. Could anybody suggest any strenghtening and stretching exercises leading to great high when one lifts his knee up to the side? What are other strenght exercises important if you want to perform perfect roundhouse kick. And what about toes. Should they point up or down? I need more information, because I'd love to perform high roundhouse, not only with straight leg.

[Thomas Kurz]

See forum Drills and Technical Tips, subject: "advice needed. Do I need more strength?"

[JohnyZ]

Thank you very much for your reply I didn't supose you would answer. But I really appreciate that, and I think that stadion, and your sacrifice is great. May I give you a link of my roundhouse, so that you could see what is wrong with it, and give me some tips?
P.S I come from Poland and Your book helped me a lot ...

[Thomas Kurz]

May I give you a link of my roundhouse, so that you could see what is wrong with it, and give me some tips?

Yes, although I think that jrlefty in his response to "advice needed. Do I need more strength?" has covered this subject so well that there is little to be added.

[JohnyZ]

I've read this topic about roundhouse kick. Well I think I can kick pritty well after warming up. I can lift my knee high, but only in the first phase of the kick. I have problems with holding my knee high after the kick. I will give you a link tomorrow. I am writing, because I've found out that I am experiencing a pain in my supporting legs while kicking. I suppose the are too weak. I feel this pain also when doing side split. I remember about tilting my pelvis forward, but I think that my groin muscles are short and weak. I'm not sure if adductor's flys are proper exercises for my groin muscles. Could you suggest any other exercises, or just ensure me? The next important think about my side split is that I am practically unable to do it with my toes pointing up. I don't know what's the reason, but I can only do side split with toes pointing forward, and I am still about 20 centimeters above the ground. I cannot stretch with my toes pointing up, because then I feel this pain in my groins. Could you suggest anything? I do adductor flys and static stretching regularly.

[JohnyZ]

http://www.freebsd.lublin.pl/~johnyz/Kicking/roundhouse.wmv
Here is my roundhouse kick. As you can see, left-leg kick differs from right-leg. What advice could you give me to improve this kick?

[Thomas Kurz]

Now I see that solving your problem will take more than just following [http://www.stadion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=380#p1264]jrlefty's advice[/url] on improving your condition and correcting the form of movement. This is because you have neglected all fundamental skills.

The form of your roundhouse kick shows that you have not learned the skills that are prerequisites for learning the roundhouse kick (see my column number 7). From the way you carry your arms I can see that you have not learned punching well, let alone the simpler kicks, learning of which ought to precede learning the roundhouse kick. There is a purpose to teaching kicks in a certain sequence on the video “Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up!” and that purpose is to end up with powerful and useful kicks and not liabilities.

Were you in good fighting shape, you could overcome some of your kicks' problems, but without the right form you'd still kick at half power or less and set yourself up for easy counters.

If you learned your way of kicking on your own, then you can still fix it by starting anew. If this is how someone else teaches you, then change the teacher. Find someone competent.

[JohnyZ]

Ok Thanks. I'll control my arms more. Personally I think that my problem is not only in technique but also in lack of strenght and flexibility. I am working very hard, using your book - Stretching Scientifically. I think I need Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up. The problem is that I am from Poland, and i don't know how can I buy it. Have you got any dealer in Europe, or do I have to order It from Canada? Thanks for all your replies.

[mmeloon]

JohnyZ, I strongly recommend getting Power High Kicks with No Warm Up. You can take a look at my review at amazon.com for more details. It's a video about far more than simply increasing the height of one's kicks. It's really a must-have for anyone doing kicking-based martial arts.

Mr. Kurz, I am still quite poor at being able to identify flaws in people's techniques. Obviously the arms were easy to spot but you also stated that JohnyZ wasn't in good fighting shape -- an assessment that he seems to agree with. Can you tell us what you can see in the video that points to a lack of strength and flexibility? My instructor will probably be looking at me to assist lower-belts in our class and I need to get some practice at identifying flaws in the techniques of others.

-Mark

[Thomas Kurz]

Signs of poor conditioning and lack of fundamentals: Tension in wrong places and at wrong times--result of not doing enough reps of both practice of fundamental techniques and of general conditioning exercises. Specifically, wrong carrying of arms (position, tension) shows mainly not enough correct practice of arm techniques (also not enough upper body conditioning). Wrong fist and wrong forearm and fist alignment shows mainly not enough fist pushups, and then not enough correct practice of arm techniques. Form and dynamics of roundhouse kicks shows lack of sufficient practice of knee kick (hiza geri) and groin kick (mae kin geri). Legs and trunk are not strong and loose enough to make the kicks smooth (regardless of mechanical efficiency of their form).

Every time I have seen errors of the type JohnyZ's video shows, they were due to poor conditioning (and neglect of fundamentals), and the worse the condition the more obvious the errors were. Compared to grossness of errors displayed by typical students from "family martial arts" gyms (some of these students shameless enough to wear black belts), his are are not so bad.

Poor form of movement and poor conditioning go together. Someone who is in a shape good enough for martial arts shows looseness, economy of movement, and metal focus, which people who take it easy do not have. Keep also in mind that fundamentals (kihon) are used as conditioning exercises as soon as their correct form is learned--for example, a set of 1000 punches or a set of 500 or 1000 knee kicks. It is good for conditioning and it gets rid of wasteful motions and needless tension.

When you see an error that is usually corrected with enough reps of conditioning exercises, then you know that this error is due to poor condition. In other words, when you do not see a habit that comes with enough reps of conditioning exercises then it means that not enough conditioning was done.

[Thomas Kurz]

I think I need Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up. The problem is that I am from Poland, and i don't know how can I buy it. Have you got any dealer in Europe, or do I have to order It from Canada? Thanks for all your replies.

You can order it directly from Stadion Publishing at http://www.stadion.com/power.html or you can try www.martial-arts-fitness.com in UK and www.mikado.nl in the Netherlands. I do not know if these European dealers have “Power High Kicks” DVD in stock though.

[mmeloon]

Mr. Kurz:

Thanks for the detailed reply!

-Mark

[tyciol]

I think if one does stuff like side splits and side-raises it'd help prepare for this. Practicing knee flexion like how people bend the back knee in front splits probably helps with chambing too.