Kung Fu Kickboxing Article

Improve Your Flexibility And Increase The Speed And Power Of Your Muay Thai Kicks

Everyone is impressed by a high, powerful, Muay Thai kick when it lands square on someones scone (head). It's what everyone who starts martial arts aspires to do...I know I did.

Very early in my karate days I sought out someone who knew how kick high and hard and could teach me how to stretch. I even went to a seminar by the great kickboxing legend Bill Wallace during one of the only times he came to Australia.

Sensei Wallace taught us some great things (they didn't call him "Superfoot" for nothing) and you can get some of his stretching ideas and routines here. But he didn't have the most efficient strategies that allow maximum power because his stretches were mostly 'relaxing' in nature. They take a long time but the other exercises he suggests for high snappy kicking are quite good.

I then came across a guy who wrote a book called Stretching Scientifically whose methods allow you to kick very hard at extreme ranges of flexibility. The main method used for this is called 'isometric' stretching or 'PNF' stretching. This method is where you tense the muscles that you are actively stretching for a specified length of time.

The author, Thomas Kurz, also explains when you should do certain types of stretches, and when it's dangerous to do others. The main point I got from it, as I mentioned on the 'fighter training' page, is that you shouldn't do hard static type stretches before a workout.

The hard static type stretching (where your body isn't moving) should always be done at the end of a workout when you're warmed up properly and your muscles are tired. Thomas Kurz explains in the book why tired muscles are more flexible but I won't go into the details here.

He also explains how dynamic stretching (moving stretches like leg swings) should be done as soon as you wake up and before a workout. This is the secret behind kicking head high without a warmup (as boasted on the cover).

The science behind Stretching Scientifically is the solid, results oriented, studies done by the eastern European countries who produce all those amazing gymnasts who always win. So it will get you doing the splits in no time fast. The only complaint is that there is too much 'science' in the book which kinda seems like filler.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great book and I even have the video version of it which helped me reach the splits and kick very high.