help with kicks...tkd

[l32]

I started taking TKD in May and I am a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Shotokan. In Shotokan, we didn't do all of these kicks and I'm having trouble. My instructor keeps trying to assure me that I'm doing fine, but I don't feel like I'm doing fine, especially when I'm standing there with a black belt and green belts are doing better kicks than me. She just keeps saying "well, you've never done this before and you have to keep practicing". I know this and I understand this, but I get so frustrated. Anyway, my questions....hook kicks, i just don't get this kick. I have been trying to do this kick since May, and I don't think I've done a decent one yet. Any tips on how to throw this kick? Round kick: because I come from Shotokan, I throw this kick ALOT different than my instructor wants me to. How can I train my leg to chamber to the side for this kick instead of at an angle infront of me when I've been doing it that way for 12 years? Any suggestions would be helpful. My instructor has had me holding on to a wavemaster and just chambering. I can do it ok like that, but as soon as I try to do it and keep my balance, I fall right back into my old way of doing it.

[White_Tiger]

I think your problem is totally understandable. Old habits are hard to break, and you have been doing the kicks a certain way for a long time in another style. Though the styles are similar there are lots of differences. Would you be against starting at a white belt in TKD? You said you felt bad because you had on a black belt and a green belt was kicking better. Your rank is in karate not TKD. If you started at white belt maybe you wouldn't feel the pressure of having to do the kicks at a black belt level. Just a thought...please keep us informed.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Akaratechick]

Don't sweat it, it will take time and retraining your mind. Some moves are harder than others. It is like in kata, where you are doing one technique and the next thing you know you are doing a technique from a different kata because it feels natural. I am a TKDer and I have taken some boxing and I catch and correct myself constantly to get out of the TKD stance On a hook kick, it is just like a side kick where the kick comes straight off the hip using your quads and hamstrings to push the kick off then before you fully extend the kick you bend the knee and close the door with the heel of the foot. On a roundhouse just remember to roll your hip completely around, point the knee at the target with toes pointed straight out, extend the kick and rechamber and try to hit your butt with the heel of the kicking leg. On both of these kicks the other foot must pivot and the heel will be pointing at the target. Your instructor is right by having you work on your balance with the wavemaster, you will get it. try to be patient. We all go through this when we learn a new art and the pressure is on us because of our higher rank, but it is in another art so that is ok. If you can make it through the uncomfortable time you will get there soon.

[Zorbasan]

i agree, i dont think you should be given a BB in TKD because you have one in Shotokan.

i also train in both until recently and its really just a mind set, you can do the moves you just need to tell your body how to do it.

learning a new art is easier for someone that has an art behind them than for someone off the street.

[ps1]

To throw a hook kick should be easy for you to learn.

Simply throw a side kick and rechamber it as you would a roundhouse kick. The contact is made with the heel on the rechambering action. That's the most basic way to do it.

[bushido_man96]

Ok, we'll start with the hook kick.

Stand with a hand supporting you on the wall. Now, chamber you leg as for a side kick, with the chamber being parallel to the floor. Next, extend your leg like a side kick, but instead of straight out to the side, do it to a 45 degree angle (if kicking with the right leg, your foot will extend to the left of center). Upon extension, you rechamber your leg, pulling through to a side kick position, using your butt muscles, and then finish by pulling the foot of the kicking leg back toward your butt, still parallel to the floor.

Now, the round kick. Same thing, stand with a hand on the wall. With both of these kicks, your body is facing side ways, not to the front. Pick up your kicking leg, parallel to the floor again, and point the knee toward your imaginary target. Slowly extend your leg, pulling the toes back to kick with the ball of the foot. Then, rechamber back.

If you want to change it up, combine these two drills. When you finish the hook kick, your are chambered to extend a round kick. These drills should help you out. As you get better, you will be flicking that hook kick in no time! Keep plugging away!

[Azmyth]

I would say, I myself would have probably went for an art that would complement my current art.. like jiu jitsu.. or something that didn't require me to do kicks 2 different ways. Neither is wrong.. just different styles.

[aefibird]

I do both Karate and TKD and started again as a white belt in TKD, even though I was already a dan grade in Karate.

I felt that starting as a BB in TKD would be a bit fraudulant, especially seen as I'd nevery earned any grade in that art. The instructor offered to let me keep my current grade or start at 1st kup (one just before black) but I knew that for myself I had to go through all the grading system.

Because I've trained before in MA it has taken me a year to go from 10th kup (white belt) to 3rd kup (blue belt, red tag). Although I already have "done" those grades in Karate I don't feel that it was a waste of a year - I feel I've learned a lot more by going in as a white belt and learning like a true beginner than starting at black belt and always trying to play "catch up". I shall soon be grading for 2nd kyu, so (because of my previous experience) it hasn't taken me long to get up the grades anyway. (Not that it is all about grading, but I'm sure you know what I mean.)

[l32]

Thx for the tips bushido_man96

[l32]

I think your problem is totally understandable. Old habits are hard to break, and you have been doing the kicks a certain way for a long time in another style. Though the styles are similar there are lots of differences. Would you be against starting at a white belt in TKD? You said you felt bad because you had on a black belt and a green belt was kicking better. Your rank is in karate not TKD. If you started at white belt maybe you wouldn't feel the pressure of having to do the kicks at a black belt level. Just a thought...please keep us informed.

GOOD LUCK!!

When I started TKD in May, I talked with the instructor about starting over at white belt. I totally did not have a problem with that. Then, we started talking about rank progression, tournaments, etc. and I expressed to her that if I were to compete, I would not compete against white belts because of my previous experience. Even though I was new in TKD in May, my skill level for competition was above white belt level, but at the same time (and I know this is kindof me being a butt, but) if I had to wear a white belt in class, I was going to wear one at the tournament as well. She did a few private classes with me to see where my skill level was at. All of my techniques, in her words, were outstanding, except for my kicks. In Shotokan we did a basic front kick, round kick, and side kick, and with the exception of the front kick, all of the kicks were chambered differently. I've never been a great kicker anyway, but she said that was what I needed to focus on. She told me after a few private classes that she felt like I would get bored if I were to start completely over at white belt because it wouldn't be fair for her to teach me more than she teaches any other white belt.

When I started, there was a 12 year old and 20 year old who were already yellow belts. The 12 year old used to be one of my students when I taught Shotokan. They both started training in February when the school opened, I started in May. At this point, I am "technically" at Blue Belt level and they are only green belts. My instructor is moving me along with the patterns faster because I can learn them faster and the only techniques I'm struggling with is the kicks. During the first two weeks of my training, she actually taught me a 2nd Degree Black Belt Pattern (Choon-Jang) so that I could go to a tournament. In two weeks, I learned this pattern and competed with it in the 18-34 1st and 2nd Degree Division. I placed 4th after working on it only two weeks. About a month ago, I went to another tournament and placed 2nd against other black belts when I've only been doing TKD since May. I actually sat down with my instructor a couple of weeks ago and discussed my progression with her. She said that my problem is mental. I am struggling with re-training my body to do different things, and she tried to assure me that my kicks were 100% better now, than when I started, and told me to keep coming into the dojang when I have time and practice (I'm a gym rat).

So, no, when I started, I wasn't opposed to going to white belt, and when my instructor and I talked about this again a couple of weeks ago, she said my technique in my patterns is at Black Belt Level, even the Founder of the CTF (8th Dan, and my instructor's instructor) has seen me compete and has trained me himself at a black belt women's camp during the summer agrees that I should hold my rank, and he was so excited to see me get 2nd place at the last tournament. He even came to me after the last tournament to give me advice, which I thought was awesome.

She says my kicks are improving and that they are good, it is just MY perspective that they are bad. I think it's because for 12 years in Shotokan, I was always "the best" at our dojo, and I don't know how to handle someone else doing something better than me during class.