Simple Techniques to Add Power to Your Martial Arts Sparring Kicks
Many martial artists that are used to either point sparring or light contact fighting, often get used to attacking with punches and kicks that either don't follow through or do not make the most use of their body in order to get the most power.
Here are three simple strategies to improve your combat skills so you can ensure you are training to apply the most power to your attacks.
Kick like a Mule Some of the most powerful martial art concepts are often the simplest.
This is yet another very effective strategy to learn.
The idea is simple, but it will take practice to perfect it.
The idea is to kick more with the back of your leg.
This is the largest and strongest muscle for you to use in kicking.
To learn more about the back leg kick and watch a video on how to perform a back kick, you can refer to my article on the Back Kick, "Martial Arts Sparring Tips - How to Perform a Back Kick".
Copy the exact term and look online.
An easy way to see how effective this type of kick is will be for you to kick your bag with a regular side kick.
The traditional side kick or one taught in many schools will usually come with a slight circular attack.
What I want to ensure is that what you are doing is throwing what would be a combination of a back kick and a side kick to make sure you are getting more power from the back of your leg.
With practice, you can throw a mean side kick or the kick I invented for close quarter combat - called the Rising Side Kick.
Take time to master this drill and take it into your next sparring session.
It works great as a jamming defensive attack or as an offensive kick.
Don't limit yourself to side kicks either.
Be sure to add back kicks, thrust kicks, and stomping kicks to your repertoire so you have an arsenal of powerful kicks.
Follow Through There are many instances where the act of following through will lead you to success.
Consider when you are attempting to break a wooden board with the palm of your hand; if you do not strike past the board and follow through with your strike, you will have a harder chance at breaking that piece of wood.
This is of course skipping the concept of energy transference promoted by many martial art systems.
Consider a round kick to the head.
Stand in front of the punching bag.
Now throw a round kick (any kick that comes from one side in a circular motion) at your bag with only a pivot of your ground leg.
The typical kick like this will have some power, but not as much if you were to follow through the way you do when breaking a piece of wood.
To do this, when you kick the bag - be sure to kick (target) 1-2 feet past the bag.
Actually, assume your target is past the contact point if you want to get the most power from your kicks.
This is something taught in Muay Thai fighting and explained a little more in using the body to add more power to your kicks below.
Put Your Weight into your Kick There are two ways to throw a powerful kick - one includes kicking with the body and one includes kicking with the force of speed.
Combine them both and you have a deadly kick.
The strategy is simple - just lean into and towards your kick.
Many martial artists do the opposite.
What a typical beginner does is lean away in order to get their leg higher.
This makes them an easy target to tackle as you have less to worry about with their kick and you can practically push them over.
If you look at many photos of martial artists kicking, you will see many of them leaning very far away from their kick.
Some almost have their heads touching the ground - especially in a split kick.
If you want power - try leaning into your kicks and get all of your weight behind that kick.
Otherwise you are only kicking with you leg.
Again, I did mention that speed can make a difference and you need to properly combine them both for the most power and technique.
However, if you are leaning away, you might as well be attacking mosquito's.
If you are throwing a Muay Thai style of round kick, it will be good for you to first step the outside with the ground leg (just prior to kicking) to ensure that you are kicking with your body.
Get a Muay Thai Heavy Bag to practice and master your kicks at home.
Get some safe sparring gear before attempting to go all out with your partner.
Take some time to use these strategies as a bouncing board for your own personal power in the martial art of combat fighting and sparring.
Here are three simple strategies to improve your combat skills so you can ensure you are training to apply the most power to your attacks.
Kick like a Mule Some of the most powerful martial art concepts are often the simplest.
This is yet another very effective strategy to learn.
The idea is simple, but it will take practice to perfect it.
The idea is to kick more with the back of your leg.
This is the largest and strongest muscle for you to use in kicking.
To learn more about the back leg kick and watch a video on how to perform a back kick, you can refer to my article on the Back Kick, "Martial Arts Sparring Tips - How to Perform a Back Kick".
Copy the exact term and look online.
An easy way to see how effective this type of kick is will be for you to kick your bag with a regular side kick.
The traditional side kick or one taught in many schools will usually come with a slight circular attack.
What I want to ensure is that what you are doing is throwing what would be a combination of a back kick and a side kick to make sure you are getting more power from the back of your leg.
With practice, you can throw a mean side kick or the kick I invented for close quarter combat - called the Rising Side Kick.
Take time to master this drill and take it into your next sparring session.
It works great as a jamming defensive attack or as an offensive kick.
Don't limit yourself to side kicks either.
Be sure to add back kicks, thrust kicks, and stomping kicks to your repertoire so you have an arsenal of powerful kicks.
Follow Through There are many instances where the act of following through will lead you to success.
Consider when you are attempting to break a wooden board with the palm of your hand; if you do not strike past the board and follow through with your strike, you will have a harder chance at breaking that piece of wood.
This is of course skipping the concept of energy transference promoted by many martial art systems.
Consider a round kick to the head.
Stand in front of the punching bag.
Now throw a round kick (any kick that comes from one side in a circular motion) at your bag with only a pivot of your ground leg.
The typical kick like this will have some power, but not as much if you were to follow through the way you do when breaking a piece of wood.
To do this, when you kick the bag - be sure to kick (target) 1-2 feet past the bag.
Actually, assume your target is past the contact point if you want to get the most power from your kicks.
This is something taught in Muay Thai fighting and explained a little more in using the body to add more power to your kicks below.
Put Your Weight into your Kick There are two ways to throw a powerful kick - one includes kicking with the body and one includes kicking with the force of speed.
Combine them both and you have a deadly kick.
The strategy is simple - just lean into and towards your kick.
Many martial artists do the opposite.
What a typical beginner does is lean away in order to get their leg higher.
This makes them an easy target to tackle as you have less to worry about with their kick and you can practically push them over.
If you look at many photos of martial artists kicking, you will see many of them leaning very far away from their kick.
Some almost have their heads touching the ground - especially in a split kick.
If you want power - try leaning into your kicks and get all of your weight behind that kick.
Otherwise you are only kicking with you leg.
Again, I did mention that speed can make a difference and you need to properly combine them both for the most power and technique.
However, if you are leaning away, you might as well be attacking mosquito's.
If you are throwing a Muay Thai style of round kick, it will be good for you to first step the outside with the ground leg (just prior to kicking) to ensure that you are kicking with your body.
Get a Muay Thai Heavy Bag to practice and master your kicks at home.
Get some safe sparring gear before attempting to go all out with your partner.
Take some time to use these strategies as a bouncing board for your own personal power in the martial art of combat fighting and sparring.
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