Small tips to kicking faster (especially with rear leg)

[Hatake88]

Hey guys

Does anyone have any neat tricks to kicking faster, especially with the rear leg? Asking because its a very high scoring move yet the rear leg is easier to catch than the lead leg (assuming its orthodox fighting orthodox).

Please no answers like "more reps" as I'm already putting in the numbers after class. I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight, the kicking leg kicking upwards until I twist my hips, keeping my torso straight etc. Maybe I'm stepping out too much and telegraphing the kick? Or I'm not swinging the hand down enough? Gah, my thai coach went "you kick slow because your legs fat" which doesn't really help lol.

 

[spacetime]

Hey guys

Does anyone have any neat tricks to kicking faster, especially with the rear leg? Asking because its a very high scoring move yet the rear leg is easier to catch than the lead leg (assuming its orthodox fighting orthodox).

Please no answers like "more reps" as I'm already putting in the numbers after class. I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight, the kicking leg kicking upwards until I twist my hips, keeping my torso straight etc. Maybe I'm stepping out too much and telegraphing the kick? Or I'm not swinging the hand down enough? Gah, my thai coach went "you kick slow because your legs fat" which doesn't really help lol.

Most of it due to your muscle fibers, which won't change. But skipping ropes supposedly helps.

 

[Gfreak]

Practicing each kick with the focus of getting faster is what will help that. Lots and lots of reps, with the specific intent at kicking with as fast as you can. then rest until your muscles are recovered, and do it again.

increasing muscle strength and explosiveness too. (sprints, olympic lifts, etc..)

 

[spacetime]

I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight, the kicking leg kicking upwards until I twist my hips

Whether you bend or keep your supporting leg fairly straight has nothing to do with speed. What you can do is chamber the leg like a front kick and then turn it over at the last second. But that's not Muay Thai however.

 

[ARIZE]

Maybe I'm stepping out too much and telegraphing the kick?

Stepping out in general is a tell. If you want speed, most of the times, you will have to sacrifice some power. Adding a snap like a TKD kick can add speed, but again, it will loose power.
You can also try to train with some resistance bands.
But without a video of your kick, gonna be hard for people to see what's wrong and what you can do better.

If your problem is them catching your kick, you can try to aim a bit higher for your first couple mid round. Instead of going for the ribs, go for the shoulder. That will take of his mind the catching for a bit, then you can mix regulars one. Also try to occupy his hand with long range punches before goin for the mid round. Dont start an attack with a rear mid roundhouse.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight.

Don't do that.

One of my major psychotic hatreds is how muay thai kicking has gotten the reputation of stiff or baseball bat like - which couldn't be further from the truth.

If your brain is thinking about keeping the standing leg straight, then all you are doing is creating unnecessary tension in your standing leg.

Kicking leg should be relaxed, standing leg should be as relaxed as can be while supporting your weight. If either leg is bolt straight you lose power and speed because your body weight isn't allowed to sink into the ground, and your muscles can't focus on moving, because they're too busy focusing on stiffening.

Get into your stance, and shift your weight backwards and forwards between each foot, rock back and forth to the beat of four. On the fourth beat your weight will be coming forward onto your front foot and that is when you kick. Focus just on pivoting and turning the hips over, nothing else, legs relaxed.
1
2
3
4 KICK.
1
2
3
4 KICK

Do this for a while, and when you get comfortable with it start kicking on the second beat too.

1
2 Kick
3
4 Kick

More reps is only effective if the reps you're doing are good, if you keep practising with muscle tension you'll just commit to the 'wrong' technique. You should only be tense when your kick lands on the target, best way to make sure you get that tension on impact is with the old grunt.

Watch his kick and see how loose it is

You see the same looseness here.

 

[DeJulez]

Whether you bend or keep your supporting leg fairly straight has nothing to do with speed. What you can do is chamber the leg like a front kick and then turn it over at the last second. But that's not Muay Thai however.

He would really need to see u demonstrate that to understand the technique behind it.

 

[spacetime]

He would really need to see u demonstrate that to understand the technique behind it.

My sarcasm detection is going off here

 

[spacetime]

Adding a snap like a TKD kick can add speed, but again, it will loose power.

Total myth that TMA kicks are less powerful.

 

[Sherdog Oliver]

Mire training, more reps, more excercises, heavybag, live training partners

I learned to kick by just practicing alone, while being at a boxing gym

At home heavybag rounds

You feel it with time

 

[Inquisitus]

Hey guys

Does anyone have any neat tricks to kicking faster, especially with the rear leg? Asking because its a very high scoring move yet the rear leg is easier to catch than the lead leg (assuming its orthodox fighting orthodox).

Please no answers like "more reps" as I'm already putting in the numbers after class. I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight, the kicking leg kicking upwards until I twist my hips, keeping my torso straight etc. Maybe I'm stepping out too much and telegraphing the kick? Or I'm not swinging the hand down enough? Gah, my thai coach went "you kick slow because your legs fat" which doesn't really help lol.

Do you know where in the process you are "slow"? No one can really answer you because this is about how your mechanics.

Some things that helped me was concentrating on;
1. Placing the supporting leg at the correct distance
2. Smoothing the transfer of weight to above the supporting leg to make it quicker
3. Starting the hip rotation phase at the same time as executing the above.

 

[spinup]

Hey guys

Does anyone have any neat tricks to kicking faster, especially with the rear leg? Asking because its a very high scoring move yet the rear leg is easier to catch than the lead leg (assuming its orthodox fighting orthodox).

No helpful tips for the speed per se but...

If your body kicks are easily caught, you can take advantage of it.
Throw a couple of kicks, let him enjoy catching them, then feint a kick and throw a superman punch.

If your leg kicks are easily checked, you an also take advantage of it.
Feint a kick and throw another one, either under the checking leg, or when he puts his foot down.

 

[Cole train]

Give me your bank account number so i can send you the tip then post video of you kicking faster because of it

 

[shincheckin]

Hey guys

Does anyone have any neat tricks to kicking faster, especially with the rear leg? Asking because its a very high scoring move yet the rear leg is easier to catch than the lead leg (assuming its orthodox fighting orthodox).

Please no answers like "more reps" as I'm already putting in the numbers after class. I'm also trying to keep the supporting leg straight, the kicking leg kicking upwards until I twist my hips, keeping my torso straight etc. Maybe I'm stepping out too much and telegraphing the kick? Or I'm not swinging the hand down enough? Gah, my thai coach went "you kick slow because your legs fat" which doesn't really help lol.

Punch before kick.

swing your arm to the side rather than down.

My guess is coach means get up on the ball of your foot.

 

[aerius]

Study Singdam Kiatmoo9, fortunately, there's a lot of video of him around.
IMO his rear leg kicks are textbook, very clean, plenty fast, and not much tell unless he's loading up on them.
There's also some fun stuff he does like kicking straight from his stance without a setup step along with changing the timing on his kicks that makes them harder to read.

 

[1 2 3]

I think a lot of people start off thinking too much about the leg, and not enough about the body.

When you're just standing straight, not in athletic stance, or a fighting stance or anything, just waiting for the bus, standing straight... your body makes a flat surface, more or less. Your arms and legs and your head are all in the same plane. When you start a kick, you're starting from a fighting stance, you're kind of offset. You've got one leg out in front, one leg in back, and your body's kind of angled diagonally, but still pretty upright.
When you land the kick, your leg is horizontal out, and your body is leaned back, and your two legs and your body are all kind of flat in the same plane again, just tilted over and facing to the side. People think about getting their leg out, but they don't think about the fact that their body has to angle up and away from the opponent, and that their body has to face almost directly out to the side when their leg makes impact. Your hip drops back when you start the kick, but at the moment it lands, it's swung all the way out and you are turning your hip over, facing your torso completely to the side. If people pushed off the ground thinking about ultimately landing their body in that position, through the peak of the arc, they would land their kicks harder, and faster, and more smoothly.
You should feel like you're pushing off of the outer edges of your feet against the ground when you start your kick. You're rotating your two legs and your body into that side-on, tilted-over upside down letter 'y' position. You're not throwing your leg out. You're flipping your body over a 45 degree axis.

 

[esdoornblad]

A proper kick is a coordinated combination of core and leg movement. You can add power by more aggressively using arms to develop core "torque" but this is more typically done at the end of a combination. A "step-off" with the kicking leg (like a runner off the starting block) is also key for fast initiation. The step-off is critical in Muay Thai and TKD ... with a difference. In TKD a fast counter with a roundhouse is very explosive and (at the highest level) includes a slight jump in which the supporting leg leaves the ground. When I switched to Muay Thai I was immediately called on this (by Saekson Janjira). He yelled "oh, jump kick!". The mechanics are nearly the same in Muay Thai but the supporting leg should stay grounded.

 

[eternaldarkness]

Practicing each kick with the focus of getting faster is what will help that. Lots and lots of reps, with the specific intent at kicking with as fast as you can. then rest until your muscles are recovered, and do it again.

increasing muscle strength and explosiveness too. (sprints, olympic lifts, etc..)

I have the same idea about practicing power, throw hard and then recover, don't just try to hit flat out as you mainly work on cardio. You either sprint or you run, it is impossible to sprint a long distance, it just becomes running.

 

[eternaldarkness]

Don't do that.

One of my major psychotic hatreds is how muay thai kicking has gotten the reputation of stiff or baseball bat like - which couldn't be further from the truth.

If your brain is thinking about keeping the standing leg straight, then all you are doing is creating unnecessary tension in your standing leg.

Kicking leg should be relaxed, standing leg should be as relaxed as can be while supporting your weight. If either leg is bolt straight you lose power and speed because your body weight isn't allowed to sink into the ground, and your muscles can't focus on moving, because they're too busy focusing on stiffening.

Get into your stance, and shift your weight backwards and forwards between each foot, rock back and forth to the beat of four. On the fourth beat your weight will be coming forward onto your front foot and that is when you kick. Focus just on pivoting and turning the hips over, nothing else, legs relaxed.
1
2
3
4 KICK.
1
2
3
4 KICK

Do this for a while, and when you get comfortable with it start kicking on the second beat too.

1
2 Kick
3
4 Kick

More reps is only effective if the reps you're doing are good, if you keep practising with muscle tension you'll just commit to the 'wrong' technique. You should only be tense when your kick lands on the target, best way to make sure you get that tension on impact is with the old grunt.

Watch his kick and see how loose it is

You see the same looseness here.

Great advice.