my sensei made us do some drills last lesson involving extension of the legs from a crane stance. i.e. bring the knee up and extend the leg in maegeri position to c how high and how long u can hold it. i just cudnt hold it out at all! and also it wasnt high at all. any ideas on how to improve this coz i think it will make my kicks much better...my sensei called it passive static something. any ideas?

practice and stretching

Depends on what you mean by making your kicks "better." The type of flexibility (static), and muscle control your sensei wants you to develop are great for holding a kick out at a high angle and for a protracted amount of time as in certain kata and for demonstration purposes. This type of strength and flexibility is less useful for powerful dynamic kicking as might be used in full contact fighting, real life applications or breaking.

In order to develop the skills your sensei desires, practice the kicks slowly and do many repetitions. You can support yourself against a wall or using a ballet type bar for these exercises.

do it every night and morning, you'll see a difference.

Just keep doing it. It does help.

thanks guys

running training is the best for kicking techniques. bruce lee did that.