How A Martial Artist Can Increase Their Kicking Speed With No Effort
Being in a great shape and strong condition is how a martial artist can increase their kicking speed. But it is more than just doing the basics to achieve more speed. One must dedicate themselves to making their body even stronger, sleeker, and more flexible to see a difference in their practice.
One way to create a faster kick is actually to slow things down. Stretching is a powerful tool to create longer, stronger muscles but it is often the aspect of practice that gets either shorthanded or overlooked entirely. How you stretch is just as important as stretching itself. If you do not approach it with the safety of your body in mind you can cause an injury. So go slow and take your time.
Warmth is the crucial aspect to stretching. Getting up and stretching first thing is not the most effective way to help your body. After a night of sleep and little movement your muscles are tight and slow. Taking a hot bath or shower is a wonderful way to wake up the muscles warmly and get them ready for stretching. Once you are warm start moving to allow the blood to begin flowing throughout the body and relaxing your muscles.
To kick higher you have to get stronger. Do this by adding extra weights to your legs during the day to push your normal activity to the next level. However, do not start kicking when you first put the weights on. Let your muscles get used to them. Just wearing them doing your normal activities is building up your muscle tone. When you feel like you are used to wearing them then you can start with low kicks to let your legs learn the new movement.
Try target practice to raise that speed. Hang an object about six inches higher than you can kick and use it to aim at. Start off just slowly aiming and hitting the object or getting as close as possible. Having a target will give you the eye and mind connection and allow you to see where you want to kick.
Once you are comfortable wearing the weights it is time to begin kicking the target. Make sure that you do the proper stretching routine to limber up the legs. This kicking with the extra weight is pushing you to the next level in conditioning.
Then have someone video record your kick and see if you are wasting any movements. Are you taking too many steps to set up? Are you adding an extra step that not only is taking away from your speed by telling your opponent what you plan to do? Watch the tape and see where you can economize your movements to create a smoother, faster kicking process.
When you begin to see that your weighted foot is almost to the target take the weights off and see how incredibly light your feet feel and how easily you can kick. This is how a martial artist can increase their kicking speed and height.
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Filed under Health and Fitness by on Aug 14th, 2010. 