How to improve kicks?

[blitz]

Well, my right kicks haven't been improving, I want them to reach higher and with more strength, secondly, my left kicks blow so whats a good workout to improve kicking strength/speed and flexibility. I don't know a good stretching routine for them so plz tell me.

Thanks

[gabbah]

You should take a look at the threat "my kicks are wips" as it has several tips.

As for developing power in you left kick, I have found that a certain exercise is good for it.
Let a partner hold thai pads at waist level for you to kick (for your left leg, your lead leg). Make sure the angle of the pads are right! They should be held close together, and it's very important he doesn't let them fall down (facing the floor)! They should be at a 45 degree angle or more form the floor. It's also importand that they are not rotated to much away from you, as this will force you to extend your leg to hit them straight on. I see many beginners doing this, forcing the kicker to execute the kick wrong. The pads should be facing at a 45 degree angle from a line connect you with him. So you should be able to barely see the face of the pads.
He must stand close enough so that you can't load the kick up. It's so close that all you need to do is pick your left leg up and kick the pad.
Before you start the kick, you stand in your normal muay thai stance, with just a little weight on your left leg. Let your toes bounce; one, two, KICK... one, two, KICK.
Now, because you are not allowed to load up the kick (like you would if you were kicking with your right leg where you can step in), the only way you can develop power is by rotating your hips a lot. Your body will discover this after a while, so don't be frustrated when you don't have power to begin with. You will also find out how to use you upperbody to help with the rotation of your hips.
I have used this exercise myself and have used it on a friend to whom I was teaching thai kicks, and it worked great. The reason probably being that you FORCE your body to discover the rotation of hips, becuase all other options of generating force have been eliminated.

After a while you will have discovered the power in your left leg and when you then make a slight foot shift before the left kick it will be slamming! WHAM!

Observe that the foot shift is VERY fast, and that you move both feet at once, moving your left foot slightly behind your right. You can let the left foot land slightly before the right foot and start pushing off if you want to move your body forward as well (for instance, if your opponent is backing up).
Personally I land both feet simultanously most of the time, and like to do this kick as the opponent is moving in on me.
You should NOT jump up to shift your legs. Your upperbody should be perfectly still in the air while your legs are shifting, and as soon as your left foot touches the ground, WHAM, you have kicked him in the ribs as he was throwing his right cross at you!
Another important thing is that when you shift, your right foot must land under your center of gravity (or slightly in front of it if you plan to move forward as you kick). This will insure a fast left kick.
Ok I'm rambling now... anyway, if you get the chance to see Pur Pramuk fight in K-1 world max, you can study his left kick, as he illustrates what I have said about the left kick and foot shift perfectly. He likes to use it when an opponent is moving in at him.
If anything is unclear just ask.

I'll leave stretching and speed exercises to someone else. I will just say that for speed, think "speed" and not "power" when you practice your kicks. Don't change the form of the kick.

[blitz]

Thanks hehe, nothing is unclear but thing is, I train my kicks and punches alone.. I don't have a sparring partner :/ Can't find a good thai school around these parts, I know there is one I just don't know the exact location.

[gabbah]

Well... in that case you will have a very hard time learning anything. You will have to be VERY talented to be able to learn kicks and punches from instructional tapes only. You need a coach, and to actually be able to fight, you will need sparring partners.
So find a school. Any school is better than none at all.

[blitz]

Well I can only join a thai school after january, I might start bjj right now. I'm getting a heavy bag though, is that ok to practice my left kicks on?

[gabbah]

Yeah. Better to kick than not kick.
At least that will prepare you somewhat for when you start the school.

[shirase]

Before I started muay thai i was interested in the kick so i actually got pretty good at it experimenting on my own. I picked up the basics of how to do it by watching fights, reading on these forums, and experimenting on my heavy bag. Of course I had a few bad habits like not holding up my hands to guard while kicking but now that im in the gym ive improved alot on that. So id suggest that if you can find a muay thai, kickboxing or anything similar(mma, san shou or maybe even jkd) you should go to one of those places. If in the very unlikely circumstance you cant find any then you could just try kicking at home and continue asking on here or watching instructional tapes. Of course you cant become a world class fighter without sparring or getting in the ring, but you could definitely get really skilled at the techniques themselves(punches, kicks etc).

[ls048299]

The only way you'll get more power and precision on your kicks is technique. if you don't have a partner I definately suggest practicing on the heavy bag. Make sure you're on your toe when you kick and rotate your hips. Also move your upper body correctly. If you're doing a right kick for example, your right arm acts as a pendulum and your left arm kinda comes around quickly right back to your face.

Not only does the heavy bag let your practice as much as you want, you also condition your shins that way. And don't forget it takes alot of time. best of luck to you.

[ciscodog]

I would suggest the following, throw 20 of each kick you know before going to the heavy bag. 20 right foot forward round kicks, 20 left foot rear, 20 right foot forward front, 20 left foot back front........you get the idea. Dont try to kill the bag, relax and concentrate on technique, make sure that your kick starts from a bent knee position for all of them so your opponent cant jam it.

[Ryukyu Damashi]

bent knee position

[Khun Kao]

Yeah, I'm with Ryukyu.... What is the bent-knee position? Could you please explain what that is?

Different gyms, different terminologies, ya know?

[ciscodog]

sure......alot of folks simply swing their leg up and forward for a front kick....if you start by bending & raising the knee up and then kicking the leg out you will have less of a chance of your kick being jammed. If you still dont understand what i'm saying, stand in a fighting position left leg forward, we are throwing a front kick remember. Lift your left leg up s0 your lower leg from the knee down is off the ground but remains in a vertical position, and your left thigh is horizontal to the ground. The knee points to the target, and you then extend the lower leg form a vertical position to a horizontal position, making contact with the bottom of your foot. If you simply whip your leg out and up your opponent will probably jam the kick, closing the gap while doing so, and unleash many knee/elbow combos on you. This does apply for most kicks be it front or rear leg. For a round kick its the same start but you need to turn your hips first then extend the lower leg(the hips help generate power but are slower than your leg so the hip needs to rotate first and the leg plays catch up so to speak.) A side kick works the same way with the leg coming up bent in front of you, then being thrust to the side. Alot of people simply lift there leg up from a side stance and throw the side kick but these can also be easily jammed. Hope this clarifies what i was saying in the earlier post.

[Khun Kao]

Oh, thats pretty similar to the way we teach our kicks. Pretty much as I thought, different terminology.

[ciscodog]

what is the teminology you use at your dojo out of curiousity?

[ciscodog]

This is how we teach beginners in shorin ryu.........I have a thai background and making the change was pretty easy, and when sparring i fall back to a thai defense out of habit. Its always weird starting a new dojo, though i had past martial art exp, I wore the white belt until i was awarded my yellow and allowed to spar. It become aparrent to the sempai's that when the yellow belt is beating all the other higher belts, along with some of the instructors, that i was a "oddity" in the class. I know all the forms now up to a blue or purple belt, but fight with the black belts. This threw alot of other students off, and actual may have created some resentment with other students. They assumed because they had a higher rank they could beat me. They seem very concerned with rank while I tend to focus on ability. I'd rather have a black belt ability to fight than a black belt. While others are so focused on the rank, I just train. The katas are actually harder for me than any smokers we have.