CheekyMusician Posted April 9, 2003 Posted April 9, 2003 I must admit that I have the same problem. My speed sucks! My club spars constantly and that's when I find it hardest to speed up. I can still be a little slow kicking the pads and practicing in thin air too sometimes, but I tend to announce my moves when I'm sparring. I think its really hard to kick fast yet relatively gently. I can kick fast and hard, or slowly and gently, but not fast and gentle!! For a while I just went at it and kicked as fast as I could no matter how hard I was kicking but then people started to complain that I was hurting them and I don't want that when I'm training every week. I mean if I keep going at that rate I'll soon find it hard to find a sparring partner! I practice with the pads and kicking punch bags etc. a lot, but nothing seems to come of it. My kicks and punches get technically better and get more power behind them, but they don't seem to get any faster. Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to.
Rich Posted April 9, 2003 Posted April 9, 2003 Speed is not just achieved through faster limbs. You have identified trying not to telegraph your moves- work with an observant partner on this. Then you need to look at movement in general- how gravity moves you. Keeping the whole body completely relaxed is another key, very difficult to do under pressure. Within those three things are a lifetimes work and particularly point number two is worthy of whole books but will be best discovered through practice. The secret is in walking- and herein Karate and other great Japanese arts and/or masters are doing the same thing. BTW mustn't forget to mention ma-ai. The observed speed between you and your opponent can be manipulated by timing and distancing. You could do worse than start off practising some of Bruce Lees rhythms and attacks to start to gain familiarity. HTH Rich
Ghost Posted April 9, 2003 Posted April 9, 2003 Its so easy when you know how. Heres how, Im a boxer of 6 years and im fast. How? Get some light hand weights. No more than 2 Kg thats 4 lbs. Punch 30 secs straight line as fast as you can jab cross jab cross then 30 secs rest. repeat 3 times more. Then do uppercur hook uppercut hook. It works
Samurai_Steel Posted April 11, 2003 Posted April 11, 2003 All the things mentioned are pretty much spot on. You definately need to relax, a tense body is counteracting itself and cannot work at speed. Put in the tension at the end and harness it with the technique to generate power. Practise is also important, but dont just practise punching or kicking quick because your technique will go out the window. You can only practise at the maximum speed that YOU can deliver the technique well. Any faster than that it is a waste of time. Speed is not everything in any case, 80 punches in 20 seconds is very impressive, but not so much so if they are having no effect, and if you are punching 4 times a second they arent going to as you dont even have time for the penetration to come in. Then again it depends on what you want this skill for. The problem with your kicking sounds like a common one that you see quite a bit. Kill the apprehension, relax and dont worry about hitting the target , practise at home with soft slow music and treat it not as an aggressive subject but one you are going to enjoy. Relax your entire body (shoulders are important here). Then simply kick. Ok a lot has to go in to make this right but that is why we have instructors, stick around long enough and he will fix it I am sure. Keep trying but you cant fix everything yourself simply through hard work.
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