# Kick weakness



## Vanice (May 27, 2016)

Hi everyone. I'm not good at kicks. Some people thought that it's beacause of my weight. Especially at 45 kick which is needed for sparing. Can anyone help me?


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## Buka (May 27, 2016)

Hi Vanice, welcome to MartialTalk.

I don't know, I guess the place to start is - what is your weight and how long have you been training?


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## Vanice (May 27, 2016)

70kg training about two weeks


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## Buka (May 27, 2016)

Good news, brother, we have numbers that explain. _Two weeks._

It's going to take longer to learn kicking. No worries, just keep training and have fun.


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## Don Johnson (May 28, 2016)

Turn your supporting foot past your target, and lean away from the kicking leg a bit.  That will allow your hip to rotate and achieve the 45.  As you develop more flexibility, you won't need to do that, however, you will have more power for full contact kicks on the street.  By the way, you may not want to use full contact in sparring unless you want a quick and painful reminder from a more experienced student of the power developed with more practice  

Practice slow, precise kicks while holding onto something for balance.  Most never practice slow, and thus never develop the proper muscle memory of best technique.  It is a great strength and flexibility builder too.  Slow is smooth.  Smooth is fast.  Practice consistently, for the long term.  Like Buka said, no worries, keep training and have fun!


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## Touch Of Death (May 28, 2016)

Ignore all this, "Go Slow", nonsense. The best way to add speed and power to a kick, is to act as if you are also kicking something with your knee on the way there. That first half of the motion is key.


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## Don Johnson (May 28, 2016)

Touch Of Death said:


> Ignore all this, "Go Slow", nonsense. The best way to add speed and power to a kick, is to act as if you are also kicking something with your knee on the way there. That first half of the motion is key.


Great idea, that way you can injure your hip and supporting knee when you do it wrong.  Perhaps you can experience a little "touch of death" as the pain shoots through your body and lingers for days, weeks, or even months.

No disrespect intended to Touch of Death.  Vanice has expressed a struggle with executing a basic technique.  A brand new student, with a genuine concern, and desire to be better, and apparently the instructor has not taught the basic body mechanics.  

Once you can execute the kick correctly, resistance and pain free, now you can pursue TOD's advice above to develop speed and power.  When focusing on speed and power as a beginner, be sure to do it against a heavy bag and hit with the lower shin, not the toes.  Again, lets keep you injury free while you learn


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## Kenpoguy123 (May 28, 2016)

It's been 2 weeks you're not going to be kicking like Bruce lee just give it time and practice do you think anyone was naturally amazing at kicks when they started remember a black belt is just a white belt who never quit


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## Tez3 (May 28, 2016)

Two weeks training,  that's about an hour to an hour and a half a week? No, you won't kick properly at this point, you may not have even been shown how to kick because there's a lot to learn first. Opinions on a forum are going to vary, if I were you I'd just *listen to your* *instructor and keep training*. The kicks will come, the strikes will come and soon you will be wondering why you were ever worried.


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## Dirty Dog (May 28, 2016)

Vanice said:


> Hi everyone. I'm not good at kicks. Some people thought that it's beacause of my weight. Especially at 45 kick which is needed for sparing. Can anyone help me?



The problem is almost certainly not your weight, but your newness. \
To start with, stop worrying about kicking fast or kicking hard.
Start worrying about proper technique.
Now, what "proper" is will vary somewhat depending on the art you're studying, so you need to talk to your instructor.
Break the kick down. Stance. Camber. Extension. Rechamber.
Now practice the parts. Slowly, focusing on your technique. 
You can kick hard and fast with crappy technique, if you're strong and fast. 
You can kick harder and faster if you have good technique.


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## Vanice (May 28, 2016)

Thanks . My instructor said I almost got it just a little bit of practice is needed


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## Gerry Seymour (May 28, 2016)

Vanice said:


> Hi everyone. I'm not good at kicks. Some people thought that it's beacause of my weight. Especially at 45 kick which is needed for sparing. Can anyone help me?


If you aren't athletic, the main issue is probably balance. The ability to balance properly (and shift weight while remaining balanced) is a muscular function. If you've not demanded much of your balance muscles (lower leg just above the ankle, around the knee, lower back, etc.), then they'll need a bit of time to strengthen. This is the real value of slow kicks - it recruits those muscles.

As others have said, two weeks isn't long enough for much improvement. Don't compare yourself to others around you - they likely didn't start at the same place you did. For instance, kicks were a bit easier for me because I played soccer (football if you're not in the States) growing up. For other folks, the arm strikes were easier than they were for me.


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## Tez3 (May 28, 2016)

Vanice said:


> Thanks . My instructor said I almost got it just a little bit of practice is needed



There you go, well done! It has to be proper practice though with your instructor correcting you to start with. It will all come together, don't worry.


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## Kenpoguy123 (May 29, 2016)

Vanice said:


> Thanks . My instructor said I almost got it just a little bit of practice is needed



Yep I'll tell you how long it'll take you to master how to kick perfectly. The rest of your life, you may learn how to kick well but no one on the entire planet can do anything perfectly not your instructor not his instructor no one martial arts you are always going to be learning


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## Tez3 (May 29, 2016)

Kenpoguy123 said:


> Yep I'll tell you how long it'll take you to master how to kick perfectly. The rest of your life, you may learn how to kick well but no one on the entire planet can do anything perfectly not your instructor not his instructor no one martial arts you are always going to be learning



That sort of thing always encourages new students I've found... not.


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## Kenpoguy123 (May 29, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> That sort of thing always encourages new students I've found... not.


It's the truth I'd rather not lie to my students and tell them they can master it in weeks and then if they don't they feel useless, if they know they will always be learning they know they have forever to master it and there's no race as everyone is always constantly improving. If new students can't deal with that then well that's up to them


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## Tez3 (May 29, 2016)

Kenpoguy123 said:


> It's the truth I'd rather not lie to my students and tell them they can master it in weeks and then if they don't they feel useless, if they know they will always be learning they know they have forever to master it and there's no race as everyone is always constantly improving. If new students can't deal with that then well that's up to them



You were talking about 'kicking perfectly', *no one* expects to kick perfectly, they want to kick effectively and going off like a pessimistic guru doesn't help do that. It's quite a simple process not a philosophical journey. Students want to kick effectively and kick well, a good instructor can teach them to do this. Yes, it takes practice but it's not rocket science.


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## JowGaWolf (May 29, 2016)

Dirty Dog said:


> The problem is almost certainly not your weight, but your newness. \
> To start with, stop worrying about kicking fast or kicking hard.
> Start worrying about proper technique.
> Now, what "proper" is will vary somewhat depending on the art you're studying, so you need to talk to your instructor.
> ...


Just to add to the proper technique.  Proper technique is what helps to prevent injury.  I tell students all the time, that they'll know when they do a technique wrong because it will hurt. Jow Ga has a lot of circular moves that can easily tear tendons and ligaments if done incorrectly.  People who train Kung Fu and develop bad knee and joint problems are probably doing a lot of the techniques wrong.



Don Johnson said:


> Great idea, that way you can injure your hip and supporting knee when you do it wrong.


 There's nothing like a good ole hip and knee damage to make someone reevaluate their training.   



Tez3 said:


> You were talking about 'kicking perfectly', *no one* expects to kick perfectly,


We ban the word "Perfect" in at my school. We are content to settle for correct and effective technique.  We also use alternative techniques for those who are having trouble with certain kicks.  A from may require a tornado kick but if the student is having too much trouble, then the instructors make the student do a half moon kick.  From there the student will slowly practice the difficult kick.


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## Touch Of Death (May 29, 2016)

There is no right way to do a wrong thing.


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## JowGaWolf (May 29, 2016)

Touch Of Death said:


> There is no right way to do a wrong thing.


Well If you were trying to do something wrong, then it means you did it right...lol... ok I'll shut up now.


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