Kicking Power

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by cluebird, Aug 29, 2007.

  1. cluebird

    cluebird For various reasons --

    I'm wondering if anyone has good advice on how to get the explosive strengh needed for powerful kicks. You know, the kind that make the heavybag swing way up.
     
  2. Dragon Brush

    Dragon Brush Valued Member

    Hit those weights, then hit that bag!

    You need to do resistance training to build strength, either through use of weights, or your own bodyweight. Plyometric type exercises (do a search in the forums) will also help build power by teaching your body how to use your strength more effectively (em i rite?).

    Second, you need a solid heavy bag routine. With better kicking technique, comes better, more powerful kicks. A bag-swinger isn't built overnight! Lots of hard work. You want to have better kicks? The kick, kick, kick until your legs fall off! And by that, I mean have well-established rounds and intensity. :cool:
     
  3. tekkengod

    tekkengod the MAP MP

    Glad you asked, my right kick is my best weapon. Technique technique technique, make sure you've got that in line, and the rest will come. be sure to hit the leg extension and reverse leg extension one leg at a time, have a stretching routine and kick with every fiber of your being, remember that almost every time your throwing a kick, be it high or low, you're looking to inflict maximum damage, thats what they're for. use resistance cables, they do wonders for power and i swear by them. spend lots of time on the bag and shield. be sure not to telegraph, kicks tend to do that at first. make sure you have good setups in mind too, you'll never be able to just walk into the ring and crush someone without a set up, unless of course your name is
    Mirko Filipovic.
     
  4. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    I second what others have said. If you can (or want to), look into olympic style weight lifting. If promotes explosive strength more then any other kind of lifting.
     
  5. spirez

    spirez Valued Member

    I think one key component is missing from the above replies, besides technique..

    Rotational strength!

    Wood chops and russian twists are great for this, amongst things suck as twisting deadlifts
     
  6. geto2143

    geto2143 New Member

    Agreed the rotational power is extremely important. I used to have a helluva time with kicks. But i did a bit of hip flexibility training then my teacher had us doing extremely basic kicks at slow speeds so your balance and core are all engaged and they got much easier. It is also important when doing them full speed to use the kicking leg to push and accelerate off the floor rather than lift and then try to kick.
     
  7. cluebird

    cluebird For various reasons --

    Thanks for the answers. When you say telegraph, what exactly does that mean. As for the olympic style weight lifting, I've heard of that. Not to turn this into a style vs. style thread, but does anyone here have an opinion on whether or not the Muay Thai kicks, or the Karate style kicks are more powerful or effective?
     
  8. tekkengod

    tekkengod the MAP MP

    Telegraph means to give away your next move, to make the motion of the kick so obvious they know its coming, ya know? and yes, a muay thai round house is about the most powerful move you'll have.
     
  9. Dragon Brush

    Dragon Brush Valued Member

    The Thai kick packs a huge wallop, it's just a tiny bit slower than your typical roundhouse kick. It also requires FULL commitment. That means if you miss, you'll spin around in a nice circle from the force carrying through. This effect, and complementary defenses with it, are sometimes drilled along with the kick by purposely moving the pad at random intervals.

    You'll find that most martial arts have their own variation on the roundhouse kick.
     
  10. spirez

    spirez Valued Member

    Which is where a nice spinning hook kick comes into play! I suck at those though, big time!

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPXLmqdz7E[/ame]
     
  11. cluebird

    cluebird For various reasons --


    That's one of the things I've thought about the Thai style roundhouse, which seems to be effective but the total commitment is a drawback. Some of the less powerful but more whiplike kicks seem to be more useful is certain situations. I think I'd go with a Muay Thai style kick for maximum power.
     
  12. Kwan Jang

    Kwan Jang Valued Member

    I came across this thread in the archieves and decided to add my two cents on the topic. For developing explosive power in your kicks, there are a few factors to work on. First is good form/mechanics. Technique makes the most effective use of your power. By working slow kick drills in the air or in a pool with the resistance of water, you can greatly improve your form, then take it to contact work on the bags and shield at full speed and power to top it off.

    The second factor that I recommend is a good stretching program. By increasing your flexibility, you will not only increase your range of motion, but decrease the antagonistic tension on the muscles. Also, a flexible muscle is going to be a relaxed and faster one.

    The third factor is a good progressive resistance (weight) program to increase your power and physical capabilities so that you have more raw capacity to refine with your technique. I recommend high intensity work on basic movements such as squats and stiff-leg deadlifts for the legs working on a variety of rep ranges. There are three components of a muscle cell that respond/adapt to exercise/stimuli. Each component responds to a different rep range (to failure) and each contributes to your overall athletic performance. To hit all three a half pyramid starting at 20 reps and working through the 12-15 range, then down to the 5-6 rep range would cover this.

    It is important to note that the body is one organism as a whole and that any chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Therefore, though we are talking specifically about leg strength and kickiing, it's essential to keep a balanced development throughout the entire body along the natural strength curves. For this reason, IMO a well planned bodybuilding routine is FAR superior to the fad of Olympic style lifting that is going on now. A proper bodybuilding routine is mostly compound exersises and contains many of the olympic lifts, but stresses even and total development of all aspects of every major muscle group.

    I am sure that I will have many who disagree with me on this, but I see the recent fitness fads towards the olympic lifts and kettlebells as very similar to the low carb diet fad a few years ago. In nutrition, we knew back in the '70's the pros and cons of low carb diets and that they were far from the most effective way to go. However, since they had been pushed aside for so long, it was a way for some people to cash in by promoting it as something new and beneficial. The fad didn't last too long because the same drawbacks arose as when these types of diets were used in the past. I see the same thing happening in fitness circles w/ oly lifting and kettlebell training. Some people are marketing it as this great move forward in strength training and fitness, but it's just bascially a different thing for them to sell and market something "new". (OK, I'll get off my soapbox now)

    Back on topic, regarding kicking, the three tiered approach I've desribed should work wonders for you. It has been great for me; if you look on youtube under KJN David Hughes, you can see the results this has had for me over the years. I want to finish this post by addressing the muay thai vs. karate/TKD styles of kicks. Obviously if you are comparing which style has the harder hitting round kick, MT wins hands down. The karate version is more of a probing strike comparable to a jab, especially with the lead leg. The lesser body rotation and commitment is usually safer to throw and works better in kicking combos. In karate/TKD, the power kicks are the back kicks and Side kicks (though most people don't perform the side kick correctly). Though both versions of the round use similar trajectories, they are different tools for diferent purposes.
     

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