High Performance Wushu Training Forums

[jcarteagaf]

Hi....first of all....this is a great forum, congratulations to the moderators and all the practitioners.

I am practicing Tai Chi and I want your help to improve my front kick, at this time I am improving my stretching, however I can't do a full split yet. When I do the kick I can raise my foot until my chest, but with a bad performance.

What exercices do you recommend to improve this kick?..... Remember that this kick must be done in a slow move.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[HighPerformanceWushu]

What you're looking for is called active flexibility, which is harder to obtain compared to passive flexibility. Active flexibility means you can move your body through the range of motion under its own power against any gravity, and with control. This is unlike passive flexibility which is the maximum range of motion you can achieve, with the help of external forces (e.g. somebody pushing) and or momentum. Active flexibility requires your muscles to be properly trained.

There are a couple of things you can do to improve active flexibility. One is stretching against a force opposite of the direction you want to stretch. You can do this with a person or some other kind of resistance (e.g. stretching bands or weights). Another type of training you can try is doing the actual move but slowly and with static holds at certain positions. This is like doing the taichi kick but then holding it at the top for 10 seconds (or longer), while maintaining proper form throughout the whole repetition. Do several repetitions (8-15) per set and do a couple of sets. When you get stronger, you can try adding resistance to this training. However, the key is to make sure you maintain proper form, since you are also training the other supporting muscles, not just your leg/hip muscles. You don't want to develop bad habits during training which you end up repeating thousands of times.

Of course, the above exercises are based on the assumption that your passive flexibility is already at or greater than the range you need for your technique. If not, work on it. Also, keep in mind that when you are stretching, at the limits of your passive flexibility range, your body will naturally want to return to a less stretched position. This is extra force that you will have to work against while performing an active flexibility technique (that's why active flexibility range of motion is usually less than that for passive flexiblity). To work against this, increase your passive flexibility range beyond the position needed for the technique.

Hope this helps!
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[jcarteagaf]

Thank you very much for your advices......I will follow your directions.