# Improving my sidekick



## Ivan (Dec 6, 2020)

Hey, a while ago I made a post about improving my sidekick. I took all of that into consideration and applied as best as I could. I aim to perfect my sidekick and polish it to the best it can be. I have another video of myself, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback or criticism as to how to improve it. Thank you very much.


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## Ivan (Dec 6, 2020)

Ivan said:


> Hey, a while ago I made a post about improving my sidekick. I took all of that into consideration and applied as best as I could. I aim to perfect my sidekick and polish it to the best it can be. I have another video of myself, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback or criticism as to how to improve it. Thank you very much.


Currently my flexibility is limited as I lost some of it over lockdown


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## JowGaWolf (Dec 6, 2020)

Ivan said:


> Hey, a while ago I made a post about improving my sidekick. I took all of that into consideration and applied as best as I could. I aim to perfect my sidekick and polish it to the best it can be. I have another video of myself, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback or criticism as to how to improve it. Thank you very much.


Are you going for function or looks with your side kick?


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## Ivan (Dec 6, 2020)

JowGaWolf said:


> Are you going for function or looks with your side kick?


Both. I saw a video here "cleanest side kick" and I want it to look as best possible technique-wise but I also need it to still be useful


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## paitingman (Dec 6, 2020)

@Ivan looking good. All I was going to say was that you looked a little stiff. I was in a similar state months back when Covid first took off in the US. 
You already know what you need to do lol STRETCH. 

Get your hips back to where you are *free* to yank your foot off the floor and shoot out whatever kick you need. 

If you want that side kick you're aiming for, you have got to keep stretching and keep doing movement exercises. 
You have to do the boring, tedious work regularly. 
I know this gets old, so my advice is to do whatever you can to keep it fresh and at least a little fun. 
Throw in some funky, tricky movements. Try with resistance bands. Any exercise or movement that increases your range of motion and strength. 

Keep it up!


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## JowGaWolf (Dec 6, 2020)

Ivan said:


> Both. I saw a video here "cleanest side kick" and I want it to look as best possible technique-wise but I also need it to still be useful


Depending on what you'll accept  for your side kick the two may not meet in the same place.  Something that looks nice may not necessarily be functional.  But with that said if you want to get any use out of the side kick then you'll need to get a good chamber. I don't have the best looking side kick but I have a could good functional ones.  The first thing I can tell from your video, is that you weren't reloading the kick.

You have to be in the habit of reloading it.  Chamber that knee


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## JowGaWolf (Dec 6, 2020)

paitingman said:


> You have to do the boring, tedious work regularly.


This is a lot of things including stuff outside of the Martial arts.  But it's true. It's all of that boring stuff that makes a person good at something


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## dvcochran (Dec 6, 2020)

Ivan said:


> Hey, a while ago I made a post about improving my sidekick. I took all of that into consideration and applied as best as I could. I aim to perfect my sidekick and polish it to the best it can be. I have another video of myself, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback or criticism as to how to improve it. Thank you very much.


Ivan, the first thing that I noticed is the difference in your knee on the out and your knee on the return. Your knee is actually higher on the return, which I would consider unusual. Unusual but good. If you can keep it high post kick then you can start high. Go back and watch the video and tell me it you can see what I am saying. There a variables and different ways to use the knee but for a single kick the opening chamber should be high and the knee driving up should aid in driving your body rotation.
Speaking of, your rotation is just a little short leaving your front shoulder back and hips open. This leaves you open to a counter. This is usually done in an effort to help with the return but with repetition you can accomplish both good rotation and a quick return.


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## Kung Fu Wang (Dec 6, 2020)

paitingman said:


> You have to do the boring, tedious work regularly.


If you feel boring in your training, you may quite some day. It's better to modify your training so you can always enjoy your training.

IMO, to design a training program that you always "enjoy" of doing it is very important.


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## Acronym (Dec 14, 2020)

Ivan said:


> Hey, a while ago I made a post about improving my sidekick. I took all of that into consideration and applied as best as I could. I aim to perfect my sidekick and polish it to the best it can be. I have another video of myself, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback or criticism as to how to improve it. Thank you very much.



You have good end form, your weaknesses is your set up.

 Here some tips for you: think of your body as an acordian and try to do a push-pull effect with your body and leg. The best side kicks emphasizes the hip.

Your hip is good also so it really is the starting and mid motions that you need to focus on.


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## Acronym (Dec 14, 2020)

Also, get your knee up higher before you kick. it won't feel good at first but it's the only way to get it right. You don't need to be flexible, this is a muscle memory thing.


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## jobo (Dec 15, 2020)

Acronym said:


> Also, get your knee up higher before you kick. it won't feel good at first but it's the only way to get it right. You don't need to be flexible, this is a muscle memory thing.


but flexability is controlled by " muscle memory"


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## Acronym (Dec 15, 2020)

jobo said:


> but flexability is controlled by " muscle memory"



Which is why he needs to reprogram his brain to lift it higher.


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## dvcochran (Dec 15, 2020)

@Ivan ; there have been several comments about the knee position in the video. 

Questions: 
What is the primary muscle group used to perform a side kick? Hint: The answer is the primary difference between a side kick and a roundhouse kick.
Is a side kick a linear kick or an arc kick? Hint: A front kick is also linear.
Where is the Heel of your standing foot when you make contact (kick fully extended)? Hint: The heel and front shoulder should be pointing in the same direction.

You are an analytical person. I feel thinking through these questions will help you with the mechanics of the kick.


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## MadMartigan (May 2, 2021)

Just saw this today. I don't have much to add that hasn't already been pointed out besides the following:
I noticed when you started kicking toward the camera, that you were still raising your leg while the kick was extending... especially your right leg. (this is caused by the lack of chambering at the beginning, as people have already said).
You could see your kicking foot moving up mid kick, rather than straight at the target. This takes away power from the finished kick, and makes it more likely that someone can step in and jam your leg (preventing you from completing the kick at all).
My 2 cents for what it's worth.
Keep on working these small details, and it all comes together with time.


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## Kung Fu Wang (May 2, 2021)

Ivan said:


> feedback or criticism as to how to improve it.


May be you should consider when your opponent blocks your side kick, his blocking may cause your body to spin to your right. or spin to your left, what will you do then?


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## isshinryuronin (May 2, 2021)

Good to see you're not striving for height at the expense of form now.  I agree with the above comments and have a couple additional criticism, though fairly minor.  dvcochran may have cryptically touched upon the first:  There is a slight arc in some of the kicks that is most noticeable when you did it straight on into the camera, though I noticed it in the side view first. 

You can see your left kicking knee position is slightly off to the right, causing your foot to travel a little horizontally to the right instead of perpendicular to your body axis, directly toward the target.  This raises your foot to the left, causing a slight roundhouse kick effect. Knee position is critical to many kicks.  It's slight as I said, but since you're looking for the "cleanest" kick, it's something to work on along with your chambering.  Your foot should travel in a straight line from your supporting knee all the way to the target.  

The other thing, I believe it's important (for me, critical) to keep your lead hand from dropping down.  I like to keep my hands in the guard position throughout all kicks. allowing for defense or a quick follow-up jab or reverse punch.  Overall, pretty clean.  Next year it will be excellent.


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## Yokozuna514 (May 3, 2021)

Ivan, test your side kick out on a bag.   The feedback will give you some idea on where to make some changes.  Although it looks reasonable from where you are starting, a little resistance hitting will hopefully start making you ask more questions.


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## Shatteredzen (May 4, 2021)

Yokozuna514 said:


> Ivan, test your side kick out on a bag.   The feedback will give you some idea on where to make some changes.  Although it looks reasonable from where you are starting, a little resistance hitting will hopefully start making you ask more questions.


 
This, your support foot is pointed away from you at an angle, you will lose balance if you kick something like a bag or body. Your form looks good but you should practice delivering the kick as a strike, which comes from the bag work. Also, you drop your hands for balance, you need to practice all of your kicks while maintaining a good boxing guard or someone is going to give that nose a boop when you drop your hands to fire a kick. Also, dropping the hands telegraphs the kick, if you are eye to eye with an opponent you don't want him to see the kick coming in your face/guard. The whole point and advantage of a kick is explosive power, you want it to hit like a freight train, a good looking miss doesn't help you, it exposes you.


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## Việt Võ Đạo Sinh (May 5, 2021)

This is Yoko Geri right ?


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## seasoned (Sep 29, 2021)

It appears the power is originating from the knee as opposed to trusting from the hip...


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## InfiniteLoop (Oct 7, 2021)

seasoned said:


> It appears the power is originating from the knee as opposed to trusting from the hip...



Yes. The problem is that the end position will look the same regardless, so students can and will neglect these things.

If on the other hand correct end position was a necessary consequence of the hip thrust, then he would never even have to ask this question.


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## seasoned (Oct 8, 2021)

InfiniteLoop said:


> Yes. The problem is that the end position will look the same regardless, so students can and will neglect these things.
> 
> If on the other hand correct end position was a necessary consequence of the hip thrust, then he would never even have to ask this question.


Correct seems to be the issue, although as you said, the end result is the same. But, is it? For years I corrected side thrust kicks that had more knee then hip thrust. It may be a different "arts" thing.


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## InfiniteLoop (Oct 8, 2021)

seasoned said:


> Correct seems to be the issue, although as you said, the end result is the same. But, is it? .



It can be visually indistinguishable to the naked eye.  I have stills of sidekicks and roundhouses that looked on point in the end position, but were crappy during execution. When I say crappy, I mean like too low knee raise. I still kept the stills because the end position was correct as a reference.


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## seasoned (Oct 8, 2021)

InfiniteLoop said:


> It can be visually indistinguishable to the naked eye.  I have stills of sidekicks and roundhouses that looked on point in the end position, but were crappy during execution. When I say crappy, I mean like too low knee raise. I still kept the stills because the end position was correct as a reference.


I could digress into front snap vs front thrust with the end position being the same but that is for another thread...Some dojo gear more towards tournaments and competition where the end result is points and winning. And some dojo try to mix the two with....life preservation vs sport tournaments. Then there are the dojo that spar less, drill more and train in the old ways.....


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## dvcochran (Oct 8, 2021)

InfiniteLoop said:


> It can be visually indistinguishable to the naked eye.  I have stills of sidekicks and roundhouses that looked on point in the end position, but were crappy during execution. When I say crappy, I mean like too low knee raise. I still kept the stills because the end position was correct as a reference.


Okay, let’s try to reset. 
In regards to the original intent of this thread, ask one question about one kick. 

It has completely devolved.


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## InfiniteLoop (Oct 8, 2021)

dvcochran said:


> Okay, let’s try to reset.
> In regards to the original intent of this thread, ask one question about one kick.
> 
> It has completely devolved.


Not much more to say


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## seasoned (Oct 8, 2021)

dvcochran said:


> Okay, let’s try to reset.
> In regards to the original intent of this thread, ask one question about one kick.
> 
> It has completely devolved.


Exactly, The question was "Improving my sidekick". We went full circle on opinions and when that was exhausted we started to digress into what I would describe as hybrids. Straight out of Okinawa Goju the side kick is strictly for breaking and destroying things and is always below the waist.


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