advice for kicks

[hapkido princess]

I've been practicing my kicks for red belt brown strike and I was hoping you guys could give me some advice on the ones I'm having trouble with. Let me start of by saying I'm NOT a great kicker. My trouble kicks are double kick same leg, the first one is a low sweep-low sweep. I can do the first low sweep but I lose momentum for the second low sweep. The second one I haven't tried yet because I have trouble doing 1 let alone 2. It's a spinning heel-spinning heel. Any advice? Also my hook kicks are terrible. I have to do a sidekick-hook kick and a roundhouse-hook kick. I lose my balance after the hook kick and I have to hop. Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks

[ninjanurse]

1. It all comes down to posture . When you bend at the waist you pull yourself to one side and lose balance-try to keep your upper body in line with your lower body and this will help.

2. To improve your hook kick/heel kick , etc., think about this...a hook kicks power is generated by the side-kick motion just prior to the "hook" so if the side kick motion is weak you will not generate enough momentum to spin around and execute another kick.

[bushido_man96]

In order to improve the non-spinning kick combinations, I would start out by using the wall or a rail for balance, and perform them first slowly, at about belt level. Do about a 5 second count for each kick. This will build some muscle memory and strength. Then, start to pick up the speed. Gradually, work up the height, and then, move away from the wall.

For the spins, start slow, and make sure to spot your target each time.

[karatekid1975]

Heidi stole my advice hehehehehehe. Well, she told me that before, too. It does work. bushido_man96 also has great advice. When I first started, my worst kick was back kick. I did what he explained and it worked wonders.

[danbong]

The spinning heel - spinning heel combo brings back bad memories of my hapkido brown belt test After the first spinning heel kick try to keep your upper body fairly upright and chamber your kicking leg tightly - this keeps your body mass close to the axis that your are spinning around and will bring you around faster for the second kick. So the second kick actuall is more of a spinning hook than a pure spinning heel kick where the leg is straight the whole time.

[Ottman]

Great advice here so far!!

My two cents:

Break the combinations down into stages and take one kick at a time:

Execute the first kick and then return your body to chamber position of the next kick, but don't throw it until you have taken a second to regain your balance. In other words, you are starting over after the first kick, just without putting your leg down.

Practice like this until you have your balance down for the second kick, and then speed the motion up, but always remember to hit each stage:

-Chamber for kick 1

-kick 1

-re-chamber and balance for kick two

-kick 2

-re-chamber and balance for kick 3 (if you choose to throw a kick 3 and so on)

Eventually, this will look like one fluid motion, and remember everyone else's advice about keeping upright and practicing to build up better balance. Maintaining as straight a line as possible from your shoulder to your grounded foot is important, but can be tricky to pick up.

Also, you should only hop if you need to move forward (or back) to reach your target. If you just have to perform the kick, without hitting anything, take some of the power (power, not speed) off of your first kick to prevent it from pulling you off balance, and then finish strong with the second kick. This will help you to maintain balance throughout the combination.

Good Luck!

[bushido_man96]

When you do the two spinning heel kicks, are those done without setting the foot down between kicks?

[hapkido princess]

thanks everyone for the advice. I practiced my kicks this weekend I actually pulled off a few good low sweep-low sweep kicks. I noticed on my hook kicks (I said this a second before my instructor started to tell me, which he was proud of . hehe) my knee is dropping and is lower than my foot. So I've been doing as bushido_man96 said and practicing that kick while holding on to the railing.

bushido_man96 - I can put my foot down for a second after the first spinning heel. But it can't look to "choppy".

[bushido_man96]

Its great to hear that you are improving. That double spinning heel just seems a little tough to me. I will have to try it, though.

[Ottman]

I can put my foot down for a second after the first spinning heel. But it can't look to "choppy".

Lead with your head. Make sure you see your target before kicking, and your head will be the first part of the body to complete the spin. This will prevent you from losing track of your target and getting dizzy, because if you aren't focusing on a target, your vision will instead move with the rest of your body through the spin, and the room will appear to spin from your point of view. Looking over your shoulder just before the rest of the body spins stops this and makes it a lot easier to control the orientation of the rest of the body, resulting in much better balance. If you can train yourself to pivot on your grounded foot well enough, you won't even have to put your foot down.

Just remember:

Chamber

kick

re-chamber

kick

re-chamber . . .

It works for spinning kicks too!