phase slowly, too.”
Push with the Toes
I found this little trick to dramatically accelerate the chambering portion of the sidekick. Here is what Holmes says about it.
“Another component to raising the knee, is to push off the floor with the kicking foot when you bring your knee up. To do this, push with the toes of the kicking foot, rather than just lifting or pulling the knee up. The keyword here is push. When your leg is chambered in the correct position, knee high but close to the body, you will be able to throw your strongest kick.”
Thrust with Momentum
Holmes says to put your entire body behind the kick. “The final component to developing strong sidekicks is the thrust from the chambered position. You are trying to thrust your leg in a horizontal line, parallel to the floor. All your body weight should travel in this same line, which is to say you do not bob up and down. The support leg should drive your entire body mass in the direction of the kick. If you perform a sidekick from a fighting stance with the lead leg, the support foot should move forward at least a few inches from the momentum of the kick.
“To get an idea of the thrusting motion required, begin in a traditional horse stance and spring forward with a lead leg sidekick. Regardless of whether you step forward or hop forward, take care to move in a horizontal plane. If you bob up and down, you will minimize your forward momentum because your energy is wasted moving you up and down. Move straight forward into the target for maximum power.”
Michael Holmes thoughts on momentum apply to all techniques that involve a forward thrust. Think of momentum as a straight line of energy to the target. If you allow your head and body to come up and then go back down again when you, say, lunge punch, you break that straight line of energy and you have destroyed your momentum.
Keep your head and body at the same level.
9. FRONT KICK
The muscles you use to execute a front kick get a lot of exercise from your horse stance and any other exercise that involves squatting. Here are three other ways to make this mother of all kicks the pile driver that it should be.
Standing Slow Kicks
You can never go wrong with slow kicks as a way to strengthen the specific muscles that are used for front kicking. Slow kicks hurt and they can be a little boring to do, but they will definitely put power in the thrust. To get the hip muscles involved, the ones that are used in picking your leg up into the chambered position, ensure that you always lift your knee as high as you can when doing slow reps.
Although you should never fully extend your leg when kicking full power, that is, lock out your knee joint, it’s recommended that you do so when practicing slow kicking. This ensures that you stimulate the muscles around the knee to keep them strong to protect the joint. Remember the difference: Lock out on the slow kick exercise, but never lock out when doing fast ones.
Do two sets of 10 reps, two to three times a week.
Technique: Side Kick
Assume a fairly narrow horse stance and begin to chamber your sidekick with a hard push off your lead-foot toes.
By simultaneously thrusting your side kick with a thrust of your support leg, you will scoot one to three feet. Be sure to keep your head at the same level.
Kneeling Slow Kicks
The motion of your slow kick when kneeling is the same as when standing, but it hurts a lot more. Kneel down so that your right knee is on the floor and your left leg is bent. Hold onto something, grit your teeth and slowly extend your left leg until it’s locked out. Retract slowly and replace your foot on the floor. If you get cramps in your thighs, simply shake it out or massage the muscle and then continue with the reps.
Two sets of 10 should be plenty.
Leg Extensions
You need a leg extension machine to do this. If you don’t have access to one, you should know that this exercise is so effective that it’s well worth the effort to seek one out. It’s a good exercise, because the movement with the extension machine is similar to the movement of the front kick, and whenever you can find that feature in a martial arts exercise, go for it.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
