Kickin'

[Goozeer]

Hey!

Is it a good thing to buy ankle weights to get better kickin'?

And can anybody give me some other advise to learn kickin' high.

And the last is streching. I don't know what's it called in English, but it's when you're legs are flat on the ground and the body still straight,
like this __|__ I hope somebody knows what I try to explain

[Bad Karma]

Ankle weights are not recommended. However, a better way to enhance your kicking would be using a bungee cord attachment. This works and works well.

That stretch is good for your hamstrings. As with most stretches, it's important to keep your back straight and eyes looking forward. Instead of trying to touch your knees with your head, think of laying your chest on your thighs.

I forgot to mention an additional stretch from that position to grab over your toes and hold the balls of your feet, then lift your heels off the ground keeping the same posture as before.

Peace

[Goozeer]

What is a bungee cord attachment?

I don't understand the last strect. Should I lay on the ground or stand up while doing the stretch?

Thank you for answering Bad Karma

[thekuntawman]

hi
i would not recommend any thing for better kicks other than just doing a lot of stecthing, strength exercise, and then kicking, a lot of them.

i use ankle weights for my footwork when i am doing other stuff like shadow boxing or sparring without feets. i read that a lot of what we did 10-20 years ago with kicking with weights on was bad for us, and now at even my age of 31 i see that they are right. its not worth it.

my grandfather was always for hard work and didnt like short cuts. i now agree. nothing replaces the high number of kicks you throw, either in the air or at a target or slow, or at the opponent, there s no replacement for that. my philosophy is that strength training has a place in a stregnth workout, but fighting training should focus on the fighting.

[Goozeer]

ok, thank you thekuntawman

[strblast]

bungee cord is the best

For better kicks, the bungee cord exercise is one of the best methods. You simply tie the bungee cord to a pole or hook it up to wall then place the end of the cord around your feet then simply kick away from the pole/wall.

The ankle weights make your legs heavy, your kicks does get stronger but it also makes em slower, plus the fact the it'll wear out your joint muscles quick.

[Monkey]

Ankle weights are good!

By your logic, if you did the same stuff with the bungee cord, your legs would get slower, its still just resistance.

They wont make your legs slower, they can only make them faster if you use them right... dont overuse them either. Make sure you dont lose suppleness or flexibility.

That just doesnt make sense, strblast. You say that it makes your kicks slower but more powerful... but speed and power are one and the same, almost! A slow kick wont hurt. I dont understand what you are talking about.

Ankle weights are good for kicking with resistance.

[strblast]

I still say that ankle weights slows you down. The same with weight lifting using the legs. Your legs does get stronger but it also gets slower.

I didn't say using ankle weights will make the kicks more powerful, I said that ankle weights or any weight lifting exercises that concentrates on the legs will make the legs stronger but slower. Muscles = Heaviness.

Besides, when kicking wearing ankle weights, the gravity pull is downward when your kicks are launched outwards, so the muscles are trained wrongly for kicking.

I agree that in order to be powerful you need speed and strength at the same time. However like Monkey said, if the ankle weights are used correctly, they can increase one's potential. Using the ankle weights in other exercises are okay, like side raises. But using them when training kicks will make you slower.

The bungee cord trains the legs to push outward, therefor training the legs muscles to extract rather than detract. You must be able to distinguish the difference between muscle building and muscle conditioning. If the resistance is to much, then that is muscle building training which will cause your kicks to be heavier and slower.

[Paul Sharp]

Oh man!! I can't believe someone is actually saying that strength training will make you slow. Jeez dude, its the year 2001 already.

I guess we could say incorrectly performed strength training will slow you down.

There is a reason athletes today go higher, faster and stronger. Superior training breeds superior results.

-Paul Sharp

[Chad W. Getz]

I'm still waiting for the other alter identity to jump in here.

[Kevin]

C'mon.... we all know that weight training will slow you down! You start liftin' weights.... your leg's get huge, and you can't move! One only has to look at Carl Lewis to see that!

Turn the clocks back... I thought that kinda thinking went out in the 50's!

The top brass in Professional Football used to think that way. Now look at how fast these big men are moving... and at heavier body weights! Moving more mass faster means more force since F=MA... A good thing. You would be hard pressed to find many professional athletes who don't weight train. Look into how these athletes train, and you will see that you can only reach your top by utilizing progressive resistance training.

~Kev

[strblast]

still on weights

Hi everyone,

Still on ankle weights or any weightlifting exercises. When I mention than ankle weights are not good for kicking, I was concerned with the direction of the kick and how to train the leg muscles to correspond with that direction. When you train kicking while wearing ankle weights, your energy direction (when perfoming kicks) are from downward to upwards, where as when kicking is concerned, the energy direction should be from inward to outward (front or sideways). So with ankle weights, you are misdirecting your energy and training your leg muscles to be strong downward to upward not inward to outward.

Where as the bungee cord will help increase your kicking performance as it produces resistance to a proper kicking. Hook the bungee cord up to your waist height, wrap it around the sole of the feet and kick away from the body. Using the bungee cord, you will train your leg muscles to move inward to outward as required by kicks.

Weight lifting is good for a martial artist but again you should distinguish between muscle building and muscle conditioning.

If you say weight lifting alone will increase your performance, then I guess all the Mr Universe has lightning speed.

[Paul Sharp]

"If you say weight lifting alone will increase your performance, then I guess all the Mr Universe has lightning speed."

Nope, but Frank Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Randy Couture and several thousand other athlete's I could name have used strength training to develop attributes necessary to fight at an elite level.

And thats the bottom line.

-Paul Sharp

[Chad W. Getz]

Originally posted by Paul Sharp
And thats the bottom line.

'Cause Stone Cold says so!

[Monkey]

For ****'s sake...

think of the fastest dude, the most explosive motion, and the most powerful at the same times (power and speed are mutually beneficial, I wish mother****ers would realize this)....

bruce lee right?...

do you have any idea how much resistance equipment he had and used??? it was unbelievable.

but... it doesnt matter WHAT THE EQUIPMENT IS, its HOW U USE IT!!!! with or without, ... legs still weigh a lot, and a leg itself is like a weight if you want to train it that way, just try side kick raises.

if you just lift your leg up with a weight on it, YEAH OK maybe it'll slow you down a little if you bulk up or something.

Im talking about training for explosiveness, for force.

you work your force up, your acceleration gets better. you sound a little bit confused when you throw these terms around like power and strength and speed without knowing what you are actually referring to, in specifics.