Pactising Kicks Slowly vs. Quickly

[Jaeimseu]

This has probably been done to death on here but as experienced TKD people are, generally, kicking experts, I thought that you may be able to offer myself a little advice.

As some of you will be aware, I've been training in Kung Fu for a little while (~ 2 1/2 years). My leg flexibility when I first started was really poor - I could barely chamber my knee above waist height - and due to an operation I had on my right hip when I was little, I'm told that some of my muscles surrounding my right hip are shorter than my left.

2 1/2 years later and I can roundhouse, front kick and outside crescent on my left leg comfortably at head height - albeit, my technique isn't the best. With my right leg, the same is true but at around higher chest height - it might be worthwhile to note tar my right chamber is weak and I find it difficult to hold it above waist height, still. Side kicks are only effective for me with my left leg at lower chest height and with my right, bladder level - I can kick higher, but with considerably worse technique.

So, to improve technique, and build the strength required to execute reality high, powerful kicks I've been doing so e slow kicking in addition to my usual training for the past 6 months. The issue is I can only just kick above waist height really slowly with most kicks on my left, whilst my right, thigh height is about as high as I can go without compromising technique. I can feel the muscles in my left leg working overtime due to the pace of the kick, and I think with a lot of time and effort this will help get my kicks higher and higher, but with my right, I don't feel that I can even get the slow kick high enough to work my hip muscles enough to make much of a difference.

As the kicking experts that you all are would anyone care to share what has worked for them - or their students - to achieve strong mid to high level kicking?

I feel that I'm putting in a hell of a lot of effort for little return.

Everybody starts somewhere. I think it's important to remember that strength and flexibility/range of motion both play a role in kicking higher.

For me, the answer is simple yet difficult to do. You have to deliberately practice all the time, setting small goals that are just beyond your current ability. It's mind numbingly boring and frustrating, but it will lead to results.

For flexibilty, warm up and hold stretches for a long time Maybe look into some different types of stretching, like PNF. Really, I think you have to experiment a little and find out what's working for you. If you're consistently putting in the time and not improving, something's wrong with your method.

For slow kicks, I try to focus on raising my knee as high as I can and maintaing correct hip position/posture. I sometimes use a partner as a target, or a mirror, or stand as close as I can to an obstacle and chamber and kick over it. I like to vary the way I do it to disguise the repitition in my own mind, but it still sucks to continually practice aspects your not good at. You get results, but it's definitely not much fun.

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[Earl Weiss]

- and due to an operation I had on my right hip when I was little, I'm told that some of my muscles surrounding my right hip are shorter than my left.


As the kicking experts that you all are would anyone care to share what has worked for them - or their students - to achieve strong mid to high level kicking?

I feel that I'm putting in a hell of a lot of effort for little return.

Lots of things can help. Stretching is probably #1. Bungee cord kicking, ankle weights with controlled kicking (Fast Kicking with ankle weights can hyper extend joints) repetitions to build strength.
BUT - at the end of the day a person's physiology will limit their progress. Your muscles may limit your progress, Sometimes joint range of motion can limit progress. I was losing range of motion and kept trying to stretch more with ever increasing hip pain. Found out after a couple of years of suffering the arthritic calcification in the hip joint was limting the range. Stretching was just jamming the bones together harder. No exercise could solve this.

 

[Dinkydoo]

Everybody starts somewhere. I think it's important to remember that strength and flexibility/range of motion both play a role in kicking higher.

For me, the answer is simple yet difficult to do. You have to deliberately practice all the time, setting small goals that are just beyond your current ability. It's mind numbingly boring and frustrating, but it will lead to results.

I maybe need to start doing slow kicks more often but because I have a rather large syllabus to keep on top of (and the fact that I cross train - used to train in three, but I've now reduced this to two), it has been easier for me to recently prioritise other areas above slow kicks - which maybe I shouldn't be, if I want results...

I'm thinking that my main issue is muscular strength because fast kicking seems ok and I can usually get good chest to head level kicks out in sparring - for most kicks. Then if I try a slow front kick with my right leg, my leg lowers dramatically as soon as I extend from chambered position (its as if I can't hold it up). Dynamic stretching is similar, at medium speed after a few reps I can get up to head height (except my right side lift), but slow that right down to a slow lift and I'm only at a fraction of the height.

For flexibilty, warm up and hold stretches for a long time Maybe look into some different types of stretching, like PNF. Really, I think you have to experiment a little and find out what's working for you. If you're consistently putting in the time and not improving, something's wrong with your method.

I've heard two schools of thought about static stretching - do you think it has worked for you?

I felt that in the beginning hours of stretching per week really helped me - my flexibility was bad! But now, I'm not so sure. I've started isometric stretching (hurts like hell!) once per week in addition to dynamic twice per day and have noticed a little difference. I guess I just need to keep working at it.

For slow kicks, I try to focus on raising my knee as high as I can and maintaing correct hip position/posture. I sometimes use a partner as a target, or a mirror, or stand as close as I can to an obstacle and chamber and kick over it. I like to vary the way I do it to disguise the repitition in my own mind, but it still sucks to continually practice aspects your not good at. You get results, but it's definitely not much fun.

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I use a chair. With my left I can clear it but my right is still not even close with front or side kicks, and I need to hold onto something for balance.

Good to know that others don't find this aspect of training fun either, and maybe, I just need to up my training, set smaller goals in this area and persevere.

 

[Dinkydoo]

Lots of things can help. Stretching is probably #1. Bungee cord kicking, ankle weights with controlled kicking (Fast Kicking with ankle weights can hyper extend joints) repetitions to build strength.
BUT - at the end of the day a person's physiology will limit their progress. Your muscles may limit your progress, Sometimes joint range of motion can limit progress. I was losing range of motion and kept trying to stretch more with ever increasing hip pain. Found out after a couple of years of suffering the arthritic calcification in the hip joint was limting the range. Stretching was just jamming the bones together harder. No exercise could solve this.

Stretching as in dynamic or static, and does this translate to kicking slowly too? I want to be able to kick high with control, and lots of research over the past couple of years has lead me to believe that slow kicking is probably the best measure of that.

I do static usually only after training and dynamic twice daily already. Some static stretches I can hold pretty far, for quite a long time without feeling too strained.

I might see if I can discuss my congenital hip dislocation with my doctor but I think I already know what the answer will be - I've already accepted that I might never be able to execute kicks at an equal level between my legs, and realised that any new kicks take a lot longer to learn on my right side.

 

[Jaeimseu]

I maybe need to start doing slow kicks more often but because I have a rather large syllabus to keep on top of (and the fact that I cross train - used to train in three, but I've now reduced this to two), it has been easier for me to recently prioritise other areas above slow kicks - which maybe I shouldn't be, if I want results...

I'm thinking that my main issue is muscular strength because fast kicking seems ok and I can usually get good chest to head level kicks out in sparring - for most kicks. Then if I try a slow front kick with my right leg, my leg lowers dramatically as soon as I extend from chambered position (its as if I can't hold it up). Dynamic stretching is similar, at medium speed after a few reps I can get up to head height (except my right side lift), but slow that right down to a slow lift and I'm only at a fraction of the height.



I've heard two schools of thought about static stretching - do you think it has worked for you?

I felt that in the beginning hours of stretching per week really helped me - my flexibility was bad! But now, I'm not so sure. I've started isometric stretching (hurts like hell!) once per week in addition to dynamic twice per day and have noticed a little difference. I guess I just need to keep working at it.



I use a chair. With my left I can clear it but my right is still not even close with front or side kicks, and I need to hold onto something for balance.

Good to know that others don't find this aspect of training fun either, and maybe, I just need to up my training, set smaller goals in this area and persevere.

I know people who swear by static stretching. I personally don't do it until the end of my workout.

There is a point of diminishing returns, and maybe you've reached it in regard to static stretching, or maybe you have a physical limitation beyond your control like Master Weiss.

One of the most frustrating things is that progress tends to slow down as you get better. That's why few people are able to sustain that kind of practice...it's maximum effort for minimal gain at some point.

Having many different parts of a syllabus to work on doesn't make things easier. I think the key is to identify the reasons why you can't do something and then practice the things you don't do well until you can do them well.

Most people spend all their time "practicing" the things they are already good at or find enjoyable.

I think of music in the same way. I play guitar and bass. For a few years my practice was just jamming or playing songs I knew. It was fun, but I didn't really get better. When I started examining my weaker areas and spending time with focused practice on those areas, I was able to make measurable progress...but, yeah, it's no fun. I have to be very disciplined and force myself to do it every day, no matter what.

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[Earl Weiss]

I like the Dynamic and static but I felt my best progress came from Static right before I went to sleep (preceeded by a warmup of course.) Since static can really fatigue the muscles I don't think it's a good idea before a workout. If I did it a lot after th workout it could affect whatever i did later that day. Doiing it right before bed let everything rest overnight. I would do it 6 days a week with one day off.

 

[Thousand Kicks]

I have never understood why people practice kicks slowly. I know there are many muscles involved with kicks, but primarily the quads and hamstrings control the extension and retraction of a kick. The quads and hamstrings have a limited role in being able to raise and hold your leg at a certain height.

The ability to raise your leg and hold it up is mostly abdomen or core, hip flexor, and I believe the iliopsoas (sp). A method I use to strengthen these muscles is to place my leg on the back of a chair in side kick, front kick, or roundhouse position. The just raise your leg as high as you can without sacrificing posture and hold for a few seconds. As you get stronger, you can hold longer. In the beginning hold onto the wall or something to stabilize yourself. Want to work balance? Do the same exercise without holding onto anything.

You still have to work on flexibility to increase your range of motion, but these exercises help build strength to allow you full use of the range you have.

Personally I think practising slow kicks consumes too much time. There is a portion of slo-mo kicking where your aren't really gettiing work out of the muscles you are trying to target. Just my opinion though

 

[Balrog]

There's a reason they call that man Superfoot!

And his advice is dead on target. Commonality of technique makes it very difficult for your opponent to figure out what you are trying to do.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I have never understood why people practice kicks slowly. I know there are many muscles involved with kicks, but primarily the quads and hamstrings control the extension and retraction of a kick. The quads and hamstrings have a limited role in being able to raise and hold your leg at a certain height.

The ability to raise your leg and hold it up is mostly abdomen or core, hip flexor, and I believe the iliopsoas (sp). A method I use to strengthen these muscles is to place my leg on the back of a chair in side kick, front kick, or roundhouse position. The just raise your leg as high as you can without sacrificing posture and hold for a few seconds. As you get stronger, you can hold longer. In the beginning hold onto the wall or something to stabilize yourself. Want to work balance? Do the same exercise without holding onto anything.

You still have to work on flexibility to increase your range of motion, but these exercises help build strength to allow you full use of the range you have.

Personally I think practising slow kicks consumes too much time. There is a portion of slo-mo kicking where your aren't really gettiing work out of the muscles you are trying to target. Just my opinion though

Thank you, and I challange anyone to tell me how kicking slow helps you win a fight. This is all about impressing others and apparently yourself, but it isn't about kicking things.
Sean

 

[Touch Of Death]

There's a reason they call that man Superfoot!

And his advice is dead on target. Commonality of technique makes it very difficult for your opponent to figure out what you are trying to do.

Ok, now tell what the slow stuff is for.
Sean

 

[Dinkydoo]

Thank you, and I challange anyone to tell me how kicking slow helps you win a fight. This is all about impressing others and apparently yourself, but it isn't about kicking things.
Sean

I would assume that being able to kick slowly at head height would mean that you have maximum control over the technique through its whole range of motion. Something that I'd imagine would be extremely beneficial when it comes to actual sparring or fighting. My old instructor could kick like this (he was a brown belt kick boxer before starting Kung Fu) and could change direction at will whilst kicking and use roundhouse feints to direct his opponent to defend a particular side, before quickly switching to a hook kick at the opposite side of the head. Very unpredictable and difficult to spar against! His high-low/low-high double kicks were very effective too.

I'm not sure how one could achieve this without a lot of static-active flexibility and one way to develop that is by slow kicking and other strength exercises.

If there is a method better than slow kicking to develop this kind of control, then I'd definitely appreciate some insight! With kicks being my weakest area by far.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I would assume that being able to kick slowly at head height would mean that you have maximum control over the technique through its whole range of motion. Something that I'd imagine would be extremely beneficial when it comes to actual sparring or fighting. My old instructor could kick like this (he was a brown belt kick boxer before starting Kung Fu) and could change direction at will whilst kicking and use roundhouse feints to direct his opponent to defend a particular side, before quickly switching to a hook kick at the opposite side of the head. Very unpredictable and difficult to spar against! His high-low/low-high double kicks were very effective too.

I'm not sure how one could achieve this without a lot of static-active flexibility and one way to develop that is by slow kicking and other strength exercises.

If there is a method better than slow kicking to develop this kind of control, then I'd definitely appreciate some insight! With kicks being my weakest area by far.

Those switch ups don't happen slowly, they happen quickly; so, once you acheive sameness in your motion, practice in real time.
Sean

 

[Koshiki]

Ok, now tell what the slow stuff is for.

When you learn and drill and practice stances, you spend time moving swiftly from stance to stance, as needed. However, you also often hold them, or move slowly, to perfect the movement, to perfect the ideal position, to strengthen and stretch muscles. When you spar or play whatever fighting games you play, do you sink deep into a stance and remain fixed there? No, the stances are fast and fluid, to the un-knowing eye, there seem to be no stances. But try that hip throw without a decent back/cat stance and horse stance, perhaps a forward stance, and you'll find that the slow training of stances to perfect their motion and construction pays off.

When you train arm bars, sure, do them fast and focus on split-second timing. Of course. But do you not also practice them slowly, with exquisite control and hyper-attention to minute detail of movement and positioning?

When you train hand strikes, of course, train for speed, train for accuracy under duress, train fast and hard. But, how many of us never take a minute to perform the same techniques slow and controlled, striving for a perfection and smoothness which can then be gradually increased in speed? I hope we all do!

When you train ground-fighting, whatever your style may be, you must train for swiftness of motion, agility and control of the opponent throughout the rapid motion. But do you not train and practice and drill those same motions incredibly slowly, so as to be able to focus on minutia which escape your notice at speed? Then, as you gain awareness of such tiny details of weight and positioning, you can gradually translate that awareness into the full speed game.

When I teach, I make certain that all students can perform the motions slowly and precisely and with nuance before I try to incorporate speed. We even fight in slow motion. If you can manipulate/strike your opponent through deception, control, and nuance at slow speeds, how much greater will your sparring be at full speed?

If slow study is helpful for the novice, I believe it is helpful for the advanced student as well. There is always something to learn about a technique, about an application, about the way your and/or your opponents' bodies move, about how they don't, and about how your physicality changes over the years. Why abandon slow training, just because a certain level of comfort has been reached with a technique?

If all you want to do with your training is to tag spar, then perhaps such nuance and precision, gained through slow-practice, is unnecessary. Perhaps not, I am not much of a tag-sparrer, so I can't speak from personal experience. If your goal is effectiveness across as many situations as possible, detail and awareness of motion are your greatest friends, and slow is the street they live on.

 

[Touch Of Death]

When you learn and drill and practice stances, you spend time moving swiftly from stance to stance, as needed. However, you also often hold them, or move slowly, to perfect the movement, to perfect the ideal position, to strengthen and stretch muscles. When you spar or play whatever fighting games you play, do you sink deep into a stance and remain fixed there? No, the stances are fast and fluid, to the un-knowing eye, there seem to be no stances. But try that hip throw without a decent back/cat stance and horse stance, perhaps a forward stance, and you'll find that the slow training of stances to perfect their motion and construction pays off.

When you train arm bars, sure, do them fast and focus on split-second timing. Of course. But do you not also practice them slowly, with exquisite control and hyper-attention to minute detail of movement and positioning?

When you train hand strikes, of course, train for speed, train for accuracy under duress, train fast and hard. But, how many of us never take a minute to perform the same techniques slow and controlled, striving for a perfection and smoothness which can then be gradually increased in speed? I hope we all do!

When you train ground-fighting, whatever your style may be, you must train for swiftness of motion, agility and control of the opponent throughout the rapid motion. But do you not train and practice and drill those same motions incredibly slowly, so as to be able to focus on minutia which escape your notice at speed? Then, as you gain awareness of such tiny details of weight and positioning, you can gradually translate that awareness into the full speed game.

When I teach, I make certain that all students can perform the motions slowly and precisely and with nuance before I try to incorporate speed. We even fight in slow motion. If you can manipulate/strike your opponent through deception, control, and nuance at slow speeds, how much greater will your sparring be at full speed?

If slow study is helpful for the novice, I believe it is helpful for the advanced student as well. There is always something to learn about a technique, about an application, about the way your and/or your opponents' bodies move, about how they don't, and about how your physicality changes over the years. Why abandon slow training, just because a certain level of comfort has been reached with a technique?

If all you want to do with your training is to tag spar, then perhaps such nuance and precision, gained through slow-practice, is unnecessary. Perhaps not, I am not much of a tag-sparrer, so I can't speak from personal experience. If your goal is effectiveness across as many situations as possible, detail and awareness of motion are your greatest friends, and slow is the street they live on.

Well the idea is to acheive control at maximum speed. My issue for the most part is that, SLOW, make everything different. For instance, let us say we are slow kicking to the groin of our partner. Most novices pick up the knee, point and fire. But If you want to do it really fast you launch, tuck the foot to you butt, aim with the knee then fire. The weight distrubution is all off, from the slow version, and you aren't even using the same muscles!!!! So, it a good work out, but fast training is different from slow training, and I don't believe they are all that similar.
Sean

 

[Dinkydoo]

I like the Dynamic and static but I felt my best progress came from Static right before I went to sleep (preceeded by a warmup of course.) Since static can really fatigue the muscles I don't think it's a good idea before a workout. If I did it a lot after th workout it could affect whatever i did later that day. Doiing it right before bed let everything rest overnight. I would do it 6 days a week with one day off.

I read a long post on Martial Arts Planet a good few months ago by the author of "How to Stretch Scientifically" and he outright stated that static flexibility was not useful for kicking. From then until a couple of weeks ago I focussed more on dynamic stretching first thing in the morning and before the main training session for the day - static stretches were only for when I really had the time. I have noticed a small improvement in my kicking but that could just be down to the fact that I've been doing more and more kicking reps over the last little while, in attempt to finally get my right leg upto a good height. I agree with you though, I think static stretching is important and particularly good after a strength based workout. I've reintroduced static most days per week and I'm feeling looser generally after just a couple of weeks.

I've tried this exercise for the first time today after reading the post from Thousand Kicks and I would like to thank them for sharing. I needed to use an arm of a chair (upper thigh height) rather than the back over a waist height chair for these exercises and really felt the muscles burning, in that good, yea that's definitely working out the right area, kind of way. I think the reason why I've never been able to feel this muscle activity whilst slow kicking with my right is because my flexor strength isn't good enough to extend the kick high enough after chambering the knee. Having something above ground level to rest my leg on before raising and holding for 10 means that I can work on the strength needed without having to deal with my leg falling whilst extending from a chambered position, which means with my right flexor strength, I'm fighting a losing battle early on in the kick extension.

I have never understood why people practice kicks slowly. I know there are many muscles involved with kicks, but primarily the quads and hamstrings control the extension and retraction of a kick. The quads and hamstrings have a limited role in being able to raise and hold your leg at a certain height.

The ability to raise your leg and hold it up is mostly abdomen or core, hip flexor, and I believe the iliopsoas (sp). A method I use to strengthen these muscles is to place my leg on the back of a chair in side kick, front kick, or roundhouse position. The just raise your leg as high as you can without sacrificing posture and hold for a few seconds. As you get stronger, you can hold longer. In the beginning hold onto the wall or something to stabilize yourself. Want to work balance? Do the same exercise without holding onto anything.

You still have to work on flexibility to increase your range of motion, but these exercises help build strength to allow you full use of the range you have.

Personally I think practising slow kicks consumes too much time. There is a portion of slo-mo kicking where your aren't really gettiing work out of the muscles you are trying to target. Just my opinion though

Thanks for this.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Thank you, and I challange anyone to tell me how kicking slow helps you win a fight. This is all about impressing others and apparently yourself, but it isn't about kicking things.
Sean

When did anybody ever say slow kicks were about winning anything? Slow kicks are about improving technique. They're about improving your balance. They're about using core strength to elevate the leg rather than momentum.

 

[Touch Of Death]

When did anybody ever say slow kicks were about winning anything? Slow kicks are about improving technique. They're about improving your balance. They're about using core strength to elevate the leg rather than momentum.

As long as it is about your core, fine, but it doesn't make the fast kick better.

 

[Dirty Dog]

When did anybody ever say slow kicks were about winning anything? Slow kicks are about improving technique. They're about improving your balance. They're about using core strength to elevate the leg rather than momentum.

As long as it is about your core, fine, but it doesn't make the fast kick better.

I meant to include: they're about demonstrating a kick in a way that allows students to study the movement. In the video that started all this, I'd say this was pretty much the entire reason for doing the kicks in super slow mo.

 

[Koshiki]

Well the idea is to acheive control at maximum speed. My issue for the most part is that, SLOW, make everything different. For instance, let us say we are slow kicking to the groin of our partner. Most novices pick up the knee, point and fire. But If you want to do it really fast you launch, tuck the foot to you butt, aim with the knee then fire. The weight distrubution is all off, from the slow version, and you aren't even using the same muscles!!!! So, it a good work out, but fast training is different from slow training, and I don't believe they are all that similar.

...So why are you training the slow kick with different technique than the fast kick? The slow kick should follow EXACTLY the same route as the fast kick. When you can perform the technique slowly, you have more strength, more ability to incorporate the mass and rotation/thrust of the entire body into the fast kick, instead of relying entirely on the whip and speed of the kick, utilizing primarily only the mass of the kicking leg. Your slow kick should look as though you filmed the fast kick at 1000fps and watched it in slo-mo. I agree, if the novice is performing the slow and fast kick as different motions, they are not helping themselves.

I would suggest that if the student thinks that the slow kick you describe is the same as the fast kick you describe, they have a very poor understanding of the mechanics of the fast kick. Some dedication to learning the precise motions of the fast technique, at very slow speeds, might be a valuable training boon to such a student.

I notice a direct correlation between where I can kick with good technique, and where my technique begins to suffer; and where I can kick slowly. Take, for example, the round kick. Moving slow, I can pivot my foot, twist the torso and hips in the direction of the kick, arc the leg through the chamber and towards its extension, and as it extends, move my upper body in the opposite direction, forcing the leg into a short segment of added speed and full body commitment, maintaining good technique and foot position. That is all slow, and I can do it to about a solar-plexus level. When I perform the same kick at speed, the EXACT same motions are performed, and I can land a very powerful round kick, at that level.

When I kick high, I can do a decent kick, that looks every bit as good. However, as soon as I rely on momentum to force my leg/core past where it has the musculature to go without momentum, the power takes an instant dive. Suddenly, I have speed, but far less mass/commitment. The same goes for any of my other kicks as well.

I have also noticed, as I'm sure you have, the difference between many practitioners' in-the-air kicks, and their against-a-target kicks. Front thrusting kicks may be the clearest example. Students do the kicks in the air, and they automatically fall back on the fast, flashy snap kicks, that rely on momentum of leg lift to propel the kick into the target. Hold a target in front of them, and the kick changes, automatically, into a kick that compresses to the chest and propels outwards, relying on core strength and powerful leg extension. It amazes me how consistently students will make this switch automatically, and not even know that they do so.

Now, in my style, the first kick is NOT what we are looking for in a thrust kick, but the second one is. The first is easy to do fast, but not very powerful. The second requires a great deal of strength and control, but has greater body-mass involvement and thus penetrating power. By training slow, I have seen students air-kicks begin to more closely resemble their target-kicks, even over the course of a single class. Yes, it takes more time to practice 25 slow kicks than to fire off 100 full speed kicks, but the improvement I have seen in myself and others seems to justify this.

-----

Finally, of course fast and slow training are different. The muscle groups needed are in many cases even different, (cue introduction of elastic resistance bands to utilize correct muscle groups!!!) especially when the kicks are performed differently, as in the case you cite. However, the musculature needed for a slow kick is ALSO needed for the fast kick, but is often bypassed when relying on momentum, rather than muscular control, to propel the kick through the correct trajectory. By training slow kicks, you can train details of body mechanics which are difficult to enact at speed, and you build strength to assist the kick, instead of relying on momentum.

I have seen in students, immediate improvement in technique after practicing slow. I have felt in myself, immediate and long term improvement in detail of the kick, specifically focused on training slowly. Perhaps, with the mechanics of kicking differing from style to style, slow kicks are more beneficial in some systems than in others, but in mine, they have been quite literally proven to improve kicking technique.

It's a tricky subject to address in text, specifically because it DOES address such fine elements of detail, timing, and nuance, but for myself, I value slow kicks immensely.

Out of curiosity, how do you drill and teach the finer details of kicking if you don't practice and/or demonstrate slowly? At speed, it is, for most students I have seen, much more difficult to incorporate specifics of motion.

 

[Koshiki]

I meant to include: they're about demonstrating a kick in a way that allows students to study the movement. In the video that started all this, I'd say this was pretty much the entire reason for doing the kicks in super slow mo.

I might also add, they are about demonstrating the kick in a way that allows the KICKER THEMSELF to analyze and study their own movement. (yay, evolution of English)