# getting flexile enough to kick at head height



## headkickgoal

just wondering

how long did it take you to get flexible enough to be able to kick head height? what stretches did you do and how many times did you stretch a day?

thanks in adavance


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## Cyriacus

I can barely kick Head Height, and the only reason I can at all is because of how long My Legs are. We dont really put any focus on it.

I do however know that if You do Front AND Side Split Exercises, itll make High Kicking alot easier.
Coupled with Leg Raises and Sitting Single Leg Stretches where You reach down and grab Your foot whilst the leg is fully extended.

Im sure others can go into more detail.


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## yak sao

I'm copying this from another post that I responded to:

*Most people train for flexibility by doing static stretching, ie. trying to touch their chest to their leg while sitting on the floor, or any type of variation of that. The problem with that type of stretching is it doen't mimic the movement that you are stretching for, namely kicking.

To remedy this you should practice dynamic stretching.

first exercise: swing straight leg to the front as high as you can. Hold your outstretched arms out in front for a target.

second exercise : swing your leg out to the side stretching the inner thigh, again having your outstretched arm held out for a target.

third exercise : looking over your right shoulder swing your right leg to the rear as high as you can, torso will be inclined forward on this stretch. (And then repeat for left side)

IMPORTANT: warm up before doing these stretches. Many people think of streching as warming up, it's not. Run in place, do a stationary bike, jump rope, whatever to get a light sweat going and heart pumping a little, then perform these stretches. I do 3 sets of 10 of each stretch. Also don't try to go too far too fast. You may throw something out you'll want later. So progress slowly.

Then after your workout do the old fashioned static stretching as your cooldown.

Another tip. When kicking, practice slowly to bring more muscle memory into the kick instead of just relying on momentum.

Hope this helps. *


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## mook jong man

I just practice raising my leg a couple of feet off the ground and stamp down hard.

Because I only kick head height when the height of their head is on the ground.

But that's not what you want to hear is It?

You could try going down into a very low horse stance and holding that posture for a few minutes at a time , that's seemed to have had the most effect on my flexibility over the years.


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## elder999

headkickgoal said:
			
		

> just wondering
> 
> how long did it take you to get flexible enough to be able to kick head height?



I could kick over my head from the start.



			
				headkickgoal said:
			
		

> what stretches did you do and how many times did you stretch a day?



None, and not at all. I was *11 years old*. :lol:

_*What??*_ :lfao:



			
				headkickgoal said:
			
		

> thanks in adavance



No problemo.


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## Jason Striker II

A big factor is your age. In any event - AVOID INJURY. Stretch slowly, take your time, and progress will gradually come.

You can make a mark on the Dojo wall, or on a training bag to gauge the increase in height.


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## zDom

Remember that flexibility is only half of the what is needed.

The other half is strength to get the leg up that high.

Also good: muscular endurance to be able to do it more than just a couple of times


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## Touch Of Death

Do hurdler stretches and learn to fall.
Sean


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## Dirty Dog

There are two factors that determine not only how high you can kick, but also (and more importanly) how high you can kick *effectively*.
Flexibility is the obvious one. The other is the core strength and strength of the lifting muscles in the leg. You can kick with maximum power up to the height at which you can raise (not swing) and hold your leg. Above that height, your power will drop drastically.
Get your muscles well warmed up. The best time for heavy stretching is at the very end of your workout. I prefer passive stretches and partner stretches rather than stretch kicks. I believe that you get more stretching by holding the stretch and letting the muscles loosen up than by swinging the stretch. Active stretches are better suited for warmup, I believe.
Get a partner. Swing your leg up as in a front, roundhouse or side kick. Have them grab your ankle. Keeping your leg and body in the proper position for delivering the kick with maximum power, your partner raises the leg as far as possible and holds it there. Let the muscle relax for 10-15 seconds and then raise the foot another inch or so. Repeat with each kick 10,000,000 times. On both sides.

To build up the lifting muscles, do the same kicks without a partner. Raise the leg in the proper kicking position as high as you can and hold it as long as you can.


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## Banjin Tsuki

It is my understanding that kicking to head height is good practice and helps to generate speed and power when kicking at targets lower than the head.  My sensei (and pretty much every one I've had before) says kicking above the waist, certainly higher than the solar plexus (stomach) is dangerous in sparring and combat.  Higher kicks tend to be slower, leaves you with a potential to be off balance, and leaves your groin open for attack with little to defend it with!  Of course, there are exceptions.  I know several people who have fast kicks that can pull off quick head shots with ease. 

That said, they sure are pretty, and I want to get mine back.  But I too am inflexible, even was as a kid.  It took me two full years of stretching and training to be able to pull off a convincing head kick.  Now that I am older, rustier, and only six months back into training, I can do a good solar plexus kick.  What I am doing now is kicking a target (wall) at my max height, marking the spot and then practice kicking just an inch or two above it.  When I can do that with relative comfort I move the mark an inch above my max and repeat.

Keep at it!  You'll get there.  You kicks will be pretty and powerful and all the extra attempts to increase height will improve your technique!


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## zDom

Touch Of Death said:


> Do hurdler stretches and learn to fall.
> Sean



This stretch is held by many to be a bad choice as it puts stress on the meniscus as well as tendons and ligaments in and around the knee. 

We want to stretch muscle, not connective tissues.

There are safer ways to stretch the groin, quads and hamstrings.

However, learning to FALL (as in breakfall, i.e., techniques to safely fall) is ALWAYS good advice. Falling is a skill everyone can benefit from.


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## Zenjael

There is a kick I enjoy employing, that I call a vertical front-kick, though it may have other names. I do have full splits currently, as I am easing back into determined, hardcore training. 

But I have found despite losing certain aspects of my flexibility, so long as I continued repeating my kicks, I would not lose the flexibility in terms of kicking, which is the point of those stretches.
I suspect the reason for my ability to kick at that height is because of the butterfly stretch. For about the last decade I have been able to keep my legs rested comfortable with heals at my groin. I also augment the stretch by sitting atop my feet for a time.

And stretch which will allow you to further the flexibility of how far you can reach your knee to your body, the higher you will find your ability to kick. I think in part this is why TKD practioners focus on the stretch so much, and I honestly think it works.

I stretch once every morning for about 30 minutes, going through every stretch I know for about 20 seconds, or rotations per movement, depending on the requirement. To regain my splits, I am using x-ray paper and resting on the right, middle and left for about 2 minutes each. Eventually I'll go up to five minutes, but so far it is still excruciating.

The most important part of stretching is know your limit. If you tear something stretching, you have gone too far. So be careful when first exploring what stretches are recommended here. You will find many stretches to actually be detrimental. For example, placing your leg behind your back with the other extended can dramatically raise the likelihood of tearing your ACL, so always be aware of the risks associated with certain stretches.

Know your body, and it's limits. If you have an injury, or a disorder in say bone structure, you can seriously risk permanent injury from using stretches which while beneficial to others, can be harmful to your own body.

And in that, choose training partners who will assist and push you, not force. Your body is resilient, but a lot of MA people have a gung-ho attitude where they take pride in puking after practice. Pushing oneself gives growth, stretching oneself only does harm, and in the long run retard. Have trained for nearly two decades, I find it a BLESSING I have no injuries which are long term, and inhibiting my martial arts which is a very, very common tragedy.

A lot of the people I associate with are martial artists, and there is a particular individual I have trained with for many years, who is suffering many debilitating problems to his body from subjecting it to improper training. While he may be a beast in a confrontation, we have a nickname for him of 'old man Alec'. Fortunately he has found stretching, focused on realligning joints over time, to be very beneficial, but he is doing this with the assistance of a yoga chiropractor. Alec btw is 19.


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## luckiest

I can kick just about at head height but not above. As a kid it was easy! When I started again as an adult, I was in reasonably good shape (mostly from jogging) so I found I was nearly there, and just from practising kicking in class over the last year I've increased my height.

My favourite stretch is to get someone else to hold my leg up high, it's a more difficult stretch than doing it yourself but you do notice the difference. Basically you lean against a wall and they lift your leg up and hold it up and then slowly push it up further. I also do all the typical ones of touching toes, butterfly etc.

A lot of people in my class kick way above their head but to be honest I think that's too high, looks good but in a practical situation I think you'd have less strength that high and maybe even miss their head! Compared to say kicking them in the body to push them away.


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## rframe

Here's a few videos I've found on improving kicking flexibility and strength, to improve kick power, height, and accuracy.  They all seem to agree that it's a simple matter of frequency and quality of practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zHWAbvShNM


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## Zenjael

curiously, when I switched from WTF TKD to Chung Do Kwan, I noticed that my kicking height increased because of the chamber. Over time it's gotten more and more height, so that I can now kick vertically straight up. The only stretch I've done consistently, constantly, everyday, is the butterfly stretch, which is I've also heard very bad for you. But it's why I think my kicks are as they are.


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## Toast_in_the_Machine

As someone who started MA late in life (40's). but in above average shape (I did a 5k on a whim and posted a reasonable time), and who had spent their youth doing just about every sport a boy could play (soccer, basketball, baseball, etc.), I still 4 years on struggle to execute certain types of kicks high enough to use effectively in a TKD sparring match.

I can execute crescent kicks to score to the head but not side kicks. This is how I was after the first day of training, but my side kicks, round kicks and hook kicks are only now slowly moving up from above the belt height.

What helps me is (1) I determined if it was strength or flexibility - they lead to different types of exercises (for me it was just flexibility).

(2) Work on good technique and just swallow my pride and admit I'm just old and inflexible and that those MF'ing flexible a*holes (kids/women in general) can just kiss my old hairy behind. Sorry. Where I was going was that by working on good technique, and in particular good hip and upper body position, I am removing the flaws I had in technique in trying to "get my kick up". This has slowed my ability to quickly make height progress but has improved the kicks I do make.

(3) I ignore advice from people who have been in MA for their whole life and don't know how much it sucks to be so inflexible. I've asked many a person on tips and only those people who have struggled with flexibility and kicking height "get it". Those people who started MA when they were 11 just don't understand the difference between getting muscles that are 15 years old to stretch vs. getting muscles 40 years old to stretch in a whole new way. I'm sorry to pull the "it is different" card that is normally B.S., but yes, it is different learning flexibility after maturity. Flexibility isn't gained in a month or two, it is a slow and painful progression marked by long periods of no apparent gain.

(4) I work at it every day. I do dynamic stretches and if I could remember to do so I would do them twice a day. I simple cycle of front raise, back raise, side raise with a set of 10 on top of my regular activities has given me a much better range of motion. Oh and earlier I might have stretched the truth, I can do a round kick to the head with one of my legs, I'm just keeping my extra flexibility hidden from my regular training partners who don't keep their guard up when sparing with me.

Don't know if this helps, but good luck.


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## Gentle Fist

headkickgoal said:


> just wondering
> 
> how long did it take you to get flexible enough to be able to kick head height? what stretches did you do and how many times did you stretch a day?
> 
> thanks in adavance



I am super inflexible and can still kick to the head...   Not that I really try to kick that high...  but I would have to believe it is in the height in which I bring my knee up prior to extending my lower leg to complete the kick...   May want to ask a TKD/TSD person since that is one of their specialities...


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## Aurum

I'd also like to share a personal warning about stretching and practicing difficult kicks.

I've heard a lot about excessive stretching and how it was a terrible idea because it could rip something and require a looong time of healing. Sometimes this healing isn't even permanent because the muscle will always be more prone to injury than the rest, despite if It's healed.

A few weeks ago or so, I went for a few One-Two air kicks, and on one of these I stretched my second kick too high. I felt pain in the back of my leg and thought "Yep, you've done it now, good job" sarcastically. Even today I will feel a slight pain if I stretch my leg upwards and forward too high. It will take a while longer to heal completely I assume.

TL;DR: You should REALLY, REALLY be careful when stretching. Muscle rips are something you DON'T want to get, as tiny and insignificant as they might seem.


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