Kicking accuracy

[Rumy73]

Hello TKD friends. I have some students who cannot seem to ever kick handheld pads. Either they miss, kick too deeply, or the contact is weak. In fact, the exercise is discouraging. Can you recommend a drill they can do at home ALONE? I emphasize the solitary point because many students do not have anyone to help them. Mind you, some of them spar well and have solid contact with the heavy bag.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

quick question: how often do you have them practice with handheld pads vs. heavy bags or sparring. It may simply be that they are not used to the pads.

 

[Dirty Dog]

1 - Obtain flat cardboard box from underneath a case of soda (or similar...).
2 - Stick one end in a door jamb at an appropriate height.
3 - Kick repeatedly and forcefully.
4 - Make box smaller as accuracy improves.
5 - When that's not good enough, try a bungee cord and a tennis ball...

I'm assuming you don't expect them to go spend money. This is about as cheap as it gets.

 

[jezr74]

1 - Obtain flat cardboard box from underneath a case of soda (or similar...).
2 - Stick one end in a door jamb at an appropriate height.
3 - Kick repeatedly and forcefully.
4 - Make box smaller as accuracy improves.
5 - When that's not good enough, try a bungee cord and a tennis ball...

I'm assuming you don't expect them to go spend money. This is about as cheap as it gets.

What type of kick(s) is this aimed at?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[Dirty Dog]

Well, sideways in a door jam is fine for just about any kick with a lateral impact, so roundhouse, hook, crescent...
For things like front snap kicks I'd stick in the top drawer of the dresser (for short people) or find a tree to nail it to (for taller people).
As said, it's the closest thing to target kicking I can think of off-hand that doesn't require a cash outlay and/or a partner.
A speedbag would be better, certainly, or one of the various commercially available target kicking stands, but that's going to be pricey.

 

[jezr74]

Well, sideways in a door jam is fine for just about any kick with a lateral impact, so roundhouse, hook, crescent...
For things like front snap kicks I'd stick in the top drawer of the dresser (for short people) or find a tree to nail it to (for taller people).
As said, it's the closest thing to target kicking I can think of off-hand that doesn't require a cash outlay and/or a partner.
A speedbag would be better, certainly, or one of the various commercially available target kicking stands, but that's going to be pricey.

I like this suggestion, just trying to visualize what your saying. Thanks

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[jks9199]

I saw one school in my area using cleaned plastic bottles (like detergent) in lieu of kicking targets in class. Add a piece of rope, and hang it from a convenient hook... and you have a solo kicking target.

 

[mook jong man]

Throw some balloons up in the air and kick them as they come down.

 

[Haakon]

When I was younger and obsessive about TKD I hung tennis balls from the ceiling at different heights to kick and punch at. One of the benefits of this practice vs someone holding a pad is they don't move until hit. Many people will flinch and move the target, even if they know they aren't going to get hit. That only makes things harder for people who have accuracy problems to begin with.

 

[DennisBreene]

Are they kicking while you hold still or are you moving and retreating. Static vs. moving is a whole different ball game. If moving you might try some drills that require them to move forward, back or tangentially while kicking. Also, how is their stretch? If the knee doesn't come up easily, the kick is essentially ballistic and less controlled. The higher they can lift their knee with ease the better their control and targeting will get. (I speak from the vantage of one who has terrible stretch for lateral kicks like round house or side kick).

 

[ATC]

Simply keep holding targets (paddles) for them, and every time they kick your hand or miss the target simply make them do something like Burpees or jump squats. Not right away but after their set. So if they are doing a set of 10 kick reps and they hit your hand 2 times, and miss the target 3 times that's 5 misses. I would then tell them that every miss is 20 jump squats. 5 misses x 20 jump squats = 100 jump squats. Watch how fast their accuracy improves. They will focus better. Right now they are just kicking and if they miss they don't care. They just want to get the drill over with. I do this with 5 year olds and you would not believe how fast they improve just because they focus on making sure they hit the target. lack of focus, focus, focus is why they miss. Nothing special is needed, just simple reinforcement is all.

 

[Rumy73]

Are they kicking while you hold still or are you moving and retreating. Static vs. moving is a whole different ball game. If moving you might try some drills that require them to move forward, back or tangentially while kicking. Also, how is their stretch? If the knee doesn't come up easily, the kick is essentially ballistic and less controlled. The higher they can lift their knee with ease the better their control and targeting will get. (I speak from the vantage of one who has terrible stretch for lateral kicks like round house or side kick).

No movement. Static targets.

 

[BoA36]

While the target practice will ultimately work, I think there is a more subtle approach that you should consider. If they aren't hitting targets, it is because their muscles are not responding to what they believe their brains are saying. I believe this is because they don't properly understand form. Work on slow motion kicking - roundhouse, side kick, axe kick, etc. Don't have them trying to kick high until the form is precise going low, and can then hit lower targets. If they get the technique down, then hitting targets will be simple, all that will be necessary is guaging distance. To be clear, work on side kicks, etc. at knee level first. Teach the proper hip rotation low and then work on moving it up.

 

[Gnarlie]

While the target practice will ultimately work, I think there is a more subtle approach that you should consider. If they aren't hitting targets, it is because their muscles are not responding to what they believe their brains are saying. I believe this is because they don't properly understand form. Work on slow motion kicking - roundhouse, side kick, axe kick, etc. Don't have them trying to kick high until the form is precise going low, and can then hit lower targets. If they get the technique down, then hitting targets will be simple, all that will be necessary is guaging distance. To be clear, work on side kicks, etc. at knee level first. Teach the proper hip rotation low and then work on moving it up.

^^^This. Also, when things start to come back up to normal speed, leave the power out until the accuracy and speed are working. Power comes on its own later. I find that often people's accuracy is poor because they are trying to muscle the kick onto the target and end up twisting their body in a funny way.

Also not to be underestimated is the effect of inconsistent arm movement during the kick. If the kicker waves their arms around in a different way every time, they will never kick with stability. Encourage kicks with the arms in an effective guard against the counter to that kick, so the guard becomes part of the form of the kick.

Consistency is key and comes from slow repetition of correct form. Slow kicking also increases muscular endurance, meaning that the accuracy doesn't go due to tiredness when the number of repetitions increases.

 

[Rumy73]

Great tips.

 

[Thousand Kicks]

Before dropping my two cents, I will say that the kicker is at the mercy of the holder when stricking paddles; they could flinch move etc. And, I assume we are talking about the double, "clap" style, paddles commonly seen in TKD.

Slow motion kicking or kicking without rying to blast the target is a great place to start.

1. Missing the paddle completely can be as simple a not concentrating on the target. It could also be that, for a roundhouse kick, they are not properly turning the kick over so it comes out more like an angled front kick than a round house. Without actually see the person kick it's hard to say why they are missing.

2. kicking too deeply. If you mean they are hitting with the ankle or bottom part of the shin as opposed to the instep then it is a problem with them understanding proper distance (since we are talking stationary targets). One common reason this happens is the kicker is moving prior to the kick. If you are at the proper distance for a round house kick, but move your base foot prior to kicking, you will not hit with the instep. Have the student mark the floor, or use the lines on puzzle mats as the start point. Execute the kick the look at the ending foot position. Is the pivot foot still on the mark or line? if not figure out where in the kick the base foot is moving.

3. Weak contact. This could be a combination of things. One thing I used to have a problem with was the chamber. For fornt kick and round house kick you should be able to draw a straight line from your knee to the target. High, low, left, or right of the target means you miss or your foot is not moving fast enough to make a good impact.

There's also a mental aspect to kicking targets. On a heavy bag most people don't worry about missing or hyper extending their knee because the bag is big and solid. Targets are light and being held by another person. If you are not confident in hitting the target you consciously or sub-consciously hold back so you don't injure yourself.

Okay, so maybe that was more like four cents