Hip trouble with the the Jump 360 Round Kick

[Ivan]

I have been trying to do this kick for a while now. Up until a month or so ago, I had been spending a lot of effort on mastering the normal roundhouse kick. I would practice my right leg's kick, with the right leg at the front and back of my stance, and also did the same with my left leg. I used to have the same problem with the normal roundhouse kick but eventually it went away and I progressed. I know different people have different names for each kick so I will link a video just here so you know which kick I am talking about.

I can now comfortably do a normal roundhouse kick to my head height with both legs, regardless of where they are positioned. However, whenever I try to do the kick shown in the video, I get a pain on the side of my hip - it feels like muscle pain rather than something to do with the bones. It's almost as if I somehow can't turn my hip enough to turn it into the intended kick, and when I force it, I get the pain. I can do a normal Jump 360 Inside Crescent kick, but the pain comes when I try to twist the kicking foot into the motion that allows contact with my shin and my target. I used to have this pain whenever I tried to execute a normal roundhouse kick but that went away a long time ago. I try to stretch daily, twice a day, morning and evening, and these stretches include several exercises for opening up my hips such as the frog split. What can I do? Has anyone ever encountered this issue before, and if so, how did you get past it?

 

[Earl Weiss]

A place to start is to have someone with an educated eye watch you perform each side to try and determine if the issue is physical - something to do with your body or mechanical- something to do with your methodology. You might be able to do it by using a smart phone, filming at regular speed and slow motion and comparing the mechanics of each side to see if they are the same.. Absent that you may need some analysis of your range of motion. Finally if all that is negative you may need a medical exam.

 

[dvcochran]

The 360° kick has several movements to it. One good way to practice the kick is to break it down in to pieces, much like is done in training in gymnastics. The video does a very good job at breaking the kick down IMHO.
As Mr. Weiss said feedback through various mediums is very helpful. Mirrors are always your friend when practicing. In my opinion, this kick really needs a hard target to practice on.

You mentioned that you 'used' to have pain with the Roundhouse kick but it went away. A sign that your flexibility and acclimation to such movements are improving. The Tornado kick is a significantly more involved kick until you get it down so I would expect some discomfort.
If however, the discomfort worsens I would suggest getting it checked out. Boilerplate disclaimer.

 

[skribs]

First off, what Earl said is 100% correct. You should have someone who knows how to teach these kicks watch and see your motion, to identify if it's a technique issue. Otherwise, you should get a medical exam.

However, I have to ask: why are you going straight from a standing roundhouse kick to the 360 jump roundhouse? There's two kicks I recommend getting first:
First, the jumping roundhouse kick (bicycle motion):

Second, do a grounded tornado kick. For example, start with your right leg back. Roundhouse kick with the right leg and land in front of you (to build momentum), then do a pivot step with the left leg, and roundhouse kick with the right leg again. (I'm having trouble finding a video, but basically do roundhouse-spin step-roundhouse).

The purpose of this is twofold:

1. Build up the technique in stages until you're ready to do the tornado kick
2. Isolate a variable, to see if it's the jump motion or the turning motion where you experience hip pain