Getting the balance

[ShotoMan]

When in a lesson involving breaking down kicks to the count, I often find that the majority of people find it quite hard to snap the back foot up beside the supporting leg knee and hold their balance there; maybe you are one of them?

 

A simple thing I have found since learning the kata Gankaku is that if your kicking foot touches the supporting knee, you can hold your balance for a very long time.

 

Now, I do realise that your kicking knee should be kept high and bent, thus bring the foot above the supporting knee height but still, if you are starting to hop about to keep your balance, just touch the side of your foot to your knee and you will see what I mean. If necessary, hook the foot of the kicking leg behind the knee to get your balance.

 

Same thing with the spinning ushiro-geri. Bring the kicking foot instep to the back of the supporting knee (just like the kick in Gankaku) and then pivot and kick - you should see better results. As you practice this, you will find you can immediately pivot and hence, deliver the ushiro-geri a split second after the isntep-back of knee touch.

 

I hope that makes sense?

 

Most important of all, keep that supporting leg bent and tense your stomach to centre yourself.

 

[Killer Miller]

It makes sense, but NOT correct...

 

Bend your supporting leg to where the knee is over the toe. This brings your body's center of gravity distributed over the entire foot via the center of the supporting foot. When you pivit, coil down by bending your knee. If you bend too much, your weight will be forward of the foot. If you bend too little, your weight will be rearward of the foot - hobling and wobbling more or less. Bend it just right, you will be very controlled and sound in your stance...

 

- Killer Miller -

[Killer Miller]

I guess you did state that - I didn't catch that sentence.

 

- Killer Miller -

Most important of all, keep that supporting leg bent and tense your stomach to centre yourself.

[Red Triangle student]

yes i have tried this before absent mindedly butm now irealise what it means.

[aefibird]

Yeah, its a good way of helping you to keep your balance, especially when you're learning to kick.

 

I used it to practice Ren-Geri (hope I've remembered the name correctly) for when I was about to take my Shodan. (ren-geri is where you do 3 or more kicks with one leg, without putting your foot to the floor after each kick. great for improving your balance!!)

[Ironberg]

You should all try the Bill Wallace method of the "kicking stance". Chamber a side-kick to the point where you are almost knee-ing yourself in the face. Then do multiple side, round, or hook kicks while rechambering as best as you can - that keeps you from using the knee-pressing handicap.

 

Yeah, easier said than done - I can only do about three before I have to slow down and regain my momentum .

 

Just thought I'd throw in an interesting idea to challenge balance !

[Killer Miller]

It's not the quanity of kicks, but the quality. 100 incorrect fast kicks are not half as effective as 10 fast correct kicks.

 

- Killer Miller -

You should all try the Bill Wallace method of the "kicking stance". Chamber a side-kick to the point where you are almost knee-ing yourself in the face. Then do multiple side, round, or hook kicks while rechambering as best as you can - that keeps you from using the knee-pressing handicap. !

[Ironberg]

I never said quality was unimportant.

[Killer Miller]

I just re-read your previous post - my bad... When I read it, it looked like it implied to do as many as you can regardless of quality. After re-reading, it didn't imply that.

 

- Killer Miller -

I never said quality was unimportant.