trouble with roundhouse kick

[Liam888]

Ive just started karate about a month ago and everything is fine and im really enjoying it i have poweerful kicks but i am really having trouble with trhe roundhouse kicks i cant seem to swivel my hip and getting a high kick my instructor said i am facing my knee downwards but it hurts if i pointy it up and then swivel and extend my leg out. at the end of the lesson on monday he said that your roundhouse kicks are much improved do you think it is that i gt there 5 minutes late and was rushed straight in without a proper warm up or is my hip locked or something!

[JusticeZero]

How about if you break down exactly how your instructor wants you to do a roundhouse kick and explain it in very small steps so that you can isolate for us exactly where the problem is? Not all arts do roundhouse the same.

In fact, stand up, and slowly do a roundhouse kick, as if your leg was wrapped in bells and you didn't want any of them to ring. constant rate .Leg in the air for no less than 10 seconds and you cannot stop in the middle, it has to be a clean motion.

Once you've done that, try explaining the trouble you're having, again.

[Liver Punch]

^^I agree^^ In Muay Thai, you pretty much want the knee pointed down or horizontally, but never up. Karate is going to be different, and every brand within is going to even more different. So, yeah - what's it supposed to look like?

[joesteph]

When you say that it hurts if you point your knee up, Liam, are you saying that it hurts your hip or knee? The knee up, to me, is doing a roundhouse that, when sparring, slips under the opponent's arm/elbow and strikes his ribs. (But watch out for that elbow!)

I agree with JusticeZero that you should do the kick slowly in order to pinpoint where the problem lies. If your form is off, where is it off? A slow, controlled speed can tell you.

The downward knee Liver Punch is referring to is also used in Jeet Kune Do. If you do a downward roundhouse whack against someone's knee with your shin, you've used the body's "baseball bat" for impact.

[Liam888]

My hip

[joesteph]

Since it's your hip, I'm guessing it's where the leg (thigh/femur bone) inserts into the hip joint. The pressure is likely great on the neck of the femur, which is buried within the hip. It means you have to turn your hip more, so that the pressure leverage isn't on this insertion.

When my father was younger, he had a fall that to all appearances would seem to be a broken hip, but he actually broke his thigh bone. He needed an operation, not a cast, and a pin put in, because he broke the neck of the femur.

[Liam888]

Yh I can feel it there it's quite annoying though as the pain stops me from fully extending my leg out and also lifting my leg high do you know how I can exercise my hip so that it becomes easier and less painful to do ?

Thanks liam

[JusticeZero]

Yh I can feel it there it's quite annoying though as the pain stops me from fully extending my leg out and also lifting my leg high do you know how I can exercise my hip so that it becomes easier and less painful to do ?

Can you do the kick with proper form without pain if you just do it angled lower? It could just be that you haven't developed the flexibility yet, and you need to do the kicks at the limit of your non-pain range of motion while that range develops. Do a lot of movements that move your hip to the point where it is vaguely uncomfortable but doesn't hurt, not very fast, when you can. After intense exercize, cool down with stretches.

Also, ask your instructor to help with your form; explain the problems you're having and go through the movement. You might be doing something subtly wrong that they can catch and help you solve.

[DWx]

Yh I can feel it there it's quite annoying though as the pain stops me from fully extending my leg out and also lifting my leg high do you know how I can exercise my hip so that it becomes easier and less painful to do ?

Can you do the kick with proper form without pain if you just do it angled lower? It could just be that you haven't developed the flexibility yet, and you need to do the kicks at the limit of your non-pain range of motion while that range develops. Do a lot of movements that move your hip to the point where it is vaguely uncomfortable but doesn't hurt, not very fast, when you can. After intense exercize, cool down with stretches.

Also, ask your instructor to help with your form; explain the problems you're having and go through the movement. You might be doing something subtly wrong that they can catch and help you solve.

Great post Justice. What I would have said.

I get similar hip pain when I try to kick too high for my flexibility or if I'm not fully warmed up enough. Your kicks should improve over time and they'll gradually get easier if you keep practicing, stretch and work on mobility exercises.

[Liam888]

Thanks both for the advice and I will ask him on Monday and let him look at my kick. I seem to beable to so it with the instructor holding a bag with less pain than doin it on the spot and kicking the air

Cheers liam