High Performance Wushu Training Forums

[d_headshot]

What exercises can I do to make my kicks faster? I have really slow kicks and thats probably why I touch the ground before throwing a kick. Ive lost jump outside kicks recently and now I can't do them. What would be the best exercises that work the fastest?

[HighPerformanceWushu]

If you're talking about kicks in general (on the ground), nothing really replaces doing the kicks a thousands of times. Literally. Those are the best exercises to do. You can do plyometrics, weight training, isometrics, etc., however, those will develop strength and possibly some speed. Despite that, you still need to be able to recruit the proper muscle fibers at the right time to execute a particular kick. The only way to develop that neuromuscular connection is to practice the technique.

When you practice a kick, it isn't just doing it a bunch of times and stopping when you are tired. You should be focusing on each kick every time. There are no half-attempted kicks. Everyone should be your full and best effort every time. This way, you train your muscle fibers and nerves to fully recruit every time, regardless of how tired you are. Try to make each one faster than the previous one. Again, as mentioned many times before, the kick has and extension portion and a retraction portion. Both are equally important despite the fact that most people tend to focus on the extension portion only. You can't kick fast if you can't bring your leg back fast. It just looks (and is) slow, especially if you need to do something afterwards.

In my opinion, some of the best and fastest kicks are done by Tae Kwon Do practitioners. They spend an great amount of time just doing the basic kicks. When I was practicing TKD seriously, we'd throw a few thousand kicks each practice - literally. That was on top of the conditioning exercises done at the beginning and end of practice. You should be doing something similar (maybe not to that extent in the begining but work up to it).

With that said, when you are kicking in the air, you need to realize that you don't have the ground to provide you with leverage. Therefore, your kick relies on the power generated by torquing the parts of your body. You can't push off the ground to generate power for the kick. To simulate this situation, a useful exercise is to do the kicks while holding yourself up with your hands on the edge of parallel bars or a roman chair (the one used to do knee-ups and leg lifts as well as dips). Start with your legs down and swing one leg up and down as fast as you can. Make sure your legs stop moving between each kick. You do not want to get used to using the swinging motion to help you kick. That defeats the purpose of this exercise. Start with something like 10 reps of each kick for each leg, then work your way up. In a few months, you'll be kicking way faster than before (in the air).
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Fundamentals of High Performance Wushu: Taolu Jumps and Spins

[d_headshot]

I don't have any bars to to work with. What else can I do?

[HighPerformanceWushu]

An important part of training is having the equipment necessary to train with. However, sometimes it is able to create or find makeshift equipment. Usually, they have bars or roman chairs at gyms at schools (like your high school). You can also try looking at playgrounds in the area - sometimes they have bars that you can use.

If you really can't find anything to suspend yourself with so you can isolate yourself from the ground, you can try doing standing jump kicks. Just jump straight up and do a front kick (stretch kick) in the air. Again, focus on getting that leg down as quickly if not faster than on the way up. At first, you may not be able to land on the kicking leg. That's ok. If you start out landing on the other leg, keep working on the timing. Eventually, you'll start landing on two feet. Then you'll get to landing on the kicking leg. Just the other day, I was teaching a Wushu Jumping class and there was one student who had trouble at first. She was not able to jump very high and could only land on the non-kicking leg. After some coaching and practice, she ended up landing on the kicking leg, in the same class!

Once you get to the point where you can land on the kicking leg, then work on the speed and height of the kick. Try to increase the time you can "float" in the air - the period where you have finished kicking but have yet to land on the ground.
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Fundamentals of High Performance Wushu: Taolu Jumps and Spins

[d_headshot]

When I tried this exercise, I jump, kick, but when I pull it back, Im off balance and can only get about 3 inches off the ground.

[murakumo32]

You might want to position yourself in the air similar to the jump front kick. Basically, its a two leg take off, tucking your left leg, then kicking and hitting your right leg with your right hand. When you land, go straight back down and jump while tucking your right leg, then kicking and hitting your left leg with your left hand. Rinse and repeat. This might fix your balance issues and will help you jump higher since you are doing squat jumps too.
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[HighPerformanceWushu]

It's going to take time to get better at things. The balance issue should be addressed as discussed by murakumo32. You'll have to adjust things when you try them to make them work for you. It is unrealistic to expect to suddenly double your vertical with just a few reps of an exercise. Set a realistic goal (a small improvement over your current level) every couple of weeks or so. Then work towards it. Don't worry if one session is good and another is not as good. That's normal - performance will vary depending on a multitude of factors. By the end of the couple of weeks, assess how much improvement you have made and then set new goals baed on your rate of improvement.

It's sort of like people trying to lose weight - don't get too critical on yourself and weigh yourself everyday. If you do, you're bound to be disappointed because your body weight can naturally vary several pounds up and down even though you haven't really changed your average weight.

It sounds like you're training alone. If possible, you may find it helpful to train with somebody else. Not only can they observe you and give you immediate feedback, it's a whole lot more fun. Plus, they can give you moral support when you need it. While I do train alone on occasion, I prefer training with my friends, regardless of sport it's for.
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Fundamentals of High Performance Wushu: Taolu Jumps and Spins

[d_headshot]

Wushu class is the only time where there is other people to train with. Nobody around where I live is interested in martial arts and that type of activity

[murakumo32]

Show off in front of your friends or do a demo. That's how I attempt to reel people in. All you have to do is look cool; fairly fast, sweet movements, and jumping. Judging by your videos, you look good enough to impress the average person. Sometimes it works, sometimes people just like watching.
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[d_headshot]

If I find someone really strong to spot me for a backflip, Ill reel people in with that too.

[ninasimren]

i found this post useful!!Wushu is the correct term for all Chinese martial arts therefore kung fu and wushu were originally the same. wushu remains the traditional fighting practice. Taijiquan is a major division of wushu that utilizing the body's internal energy or "chi".
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