Hey, I’m new to this forum, this is the main reason I wanted to sign up,
I’ve been training kung fu with a shaolin master for about 8 months,
I’m 6ft 3in and am currently really trying to get my front kicks higher and much more effortless. when the Master kicks, it’s totally effortless and he can hold his leg up so high. I can kick quite high straight forward, but trying to get higher my standing leg will bend! not good, but it feels almost totally joined ha, I can’t seem to get out of it.
I wondered if this is a problem or just something everyone gets when they need to find more ways of stretching out, I’m very flexible but seem to have hit my limit ha.
If you’re kicking for a warm up and flexibility training by doing the walk forward front kick straight up and slapping your foot thing then a straight back leg is fine. If you are training for martial application then the back leg can be bent. If it doesn’t bend a little then you won’t have any power or a good root which will make it easier for your opponent to pull you off your feet.
Also, some people just aren’t ever going to be very flexible. Especially if you start your training later in life. If you’re one of those people then I’d suggest not using front kicks higher than sternam level when it really matters such as in a fight. By all means keep training the high kick and working on your flexibility but don’t be too surprised if you hit a plateau.
So you would say that it’s normal to get to a point where the back leg bends to get it any higher, and that just stretching more and doing that kick more should help?
That’s great news yeah I’m 23 and I can already hold my body flat against my legs etc so I don’t think flexibility should be an issue too soon, was just worried I was broken
[QUOTE=cturts;1274115]So you would say that it’s normal to get to a point where the back leg bends to get it any higher, and that just stretching more and doing that kick more should help?
That’s great news yeah I’m 23 and I can already hold my body flat against my legs etc so I don’t think flexibility should be an issue too soon, was just worried I was broken :p[/QUOTE]
Higher or not, the back leg should still be bent a little to provide force generation and still have balance. In time the kick will be higher if that’s your goal. I rarely throw high kicks but rather bring their head down in order to provide a finish kick. For example: kick the groin, kick the head as a follow up, or head hunt for a while with my hands and wait for them to duck then kick the head. I NEVER lead with a roundhouse or front kick to the head unless they are noobs and beg for it by keeping their hands down. I expect to be dumped on my ass when leading with a high kick because that’s what I’m going to do to them.
Here’s a textbook combative front kick except for the hands. I don’t teach to drop the hands ever unless throwing a roundhouse, side or spin back kick. In those three cases I block with cloud hands which is one hand high to block the head and one low to block the groin. A good counter to either of those kicks is a simple front or slap kick to the groin, but be ready to follow up because it usually just pisses people off since they are normally wearing a cup in sparring. We allow groin striking in order to learn to defend against it. Anyway, back to the kick below. Notice the back leg is bent.
I don’t mean for my kicks to be for fighting, I mean for traditional kung fu, my sifu tells me to keep my back leg straight, just a straight kick, we use the push kick too which is what silva is doing in that photo but I want one more like this;
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1274149]The traditional kung fu is for fighting.
The modern Wushu front kick is all wrong. To keep your rooting leg bending is a must.[/QUOTE]
100% correct on all three points.
No offense meant curtis, but the kick in the photo you posted is not good kung fu, it’s dancing. It’s cool if that’s what you want to do, but if that was thrown at me all I’d have to do is lift your foot another few inches and you’d fall over backwards. It’s just not practical for martial arts.
Also, a push/thrust kick is a stomping front kick with more of a heal lead. The kick that Silva threw is a ball of foot landing in an upward direction kick which makes it more of a front snap. Actually, when I look at the video it looks a lot like the Han toe kick that YKW posted.
[QUOTE=cturts;1274147]I don’t mean for my kicks to be for fighting, I mean for traditional kung fu, my sifu tells me to keep my back leg straight, just a straight kick, we use the push kick too which is what silva is doing in that photo but I want one more like this;
I want that kind of kick but if I go any higher than the photo my back leg bends.[/QUOTE]
The reason your support knee bends is because that is natural body mechanics. If you were talking about a straight-leg front stretch kick, then it is best to keep the base leg straight as well. But in a front kick that fires from a chambered (bent knee) position, the base knee must have some bend to it.
YKW is right, traditional kung fu IS for fighting. Performance wushu keeps the base leg straight on front kicks. Try to kick a heavy bag, either the bottom of it with your instep like a groin kick, or into the body of the bag w/ball of foot. Either way, you need a slight bend in the support knee. Otherwise your kick will be floaty/lack penetration, and you will fall back.
He already said his kicks aren’t for fighting, so may as well skip the toe kick and go straight to butterfly twist…
But while we’re talking about fighting application, snapping front kicks really shouldn’t be too high. They work best to the groin, and are alright to the body, (but I prefer a push kick.) If you want to throw a snapping front kick to the head, it’s better to do it as a jumping kick by lifting the opposite leg first, so the groin isn’t over exposed.
That’s not saying you can’t be successful with high toe kicks, of course, it’s just less practical.
[QUOTE=Jimbo;1274161]The reason your support knee bends is because that is natural body mechanics. If you were talking about a straight-leg front stretch kick, then it is best to keep the base leg straight as well. But in a front kick that fires from a chambered (bent knee) position, the base knee must have some bend to it.
YKW is right, traditional kung fu IS for fighting. Performance wushu keeps the base leg straight on front kicks. Try to kick a heavy bag, either the bottom of it with your instep like a groin kick, or into the body of the bag w/ball of foot. Either way, you need a slight bend in the support knee. Otherwise your kick will be floaty/lack penetration, and you will fall back.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=cturts;1274147]I don’t mean for my kicks to be for fighting, I mean for traditional kung fu, my sifu tells me to keep my back leg straight, just a straight kick, we use the push kick too which is what silva is doing in that photo but I want one more like this;
My bad haha I meant the Wu Shu as someone said on here, of course, I want to use it for fighting, but I dont want to be the typical kid in the movies who tries to use kung fu for fighting before he’s ready ha? So I like to think of it as a study until I have to use it as a fighting application, we don’t train heavy bag, just forms.
[QUOTE=cturts;1274191] So I like to think of it as a study until I have to use it as a fighting application, we don’t train heavy bag, just forms.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, you will never be ready to use it in fighting if you just train forms.
Ancient secret: Skill of Sandbags is most important method of traditional Shaolin Gong Fu. Start training heavy bag now, for the sake of the art.
[QUOTE=Kellen Bassette;1274163]He already said his kicks aren’t for fighting, so may as well skip the toe kick and go straight to butterfly twist…
[/QUOTE]
You don’t appreciate Wushu? That’s exactly what I’m practicing at the moment, toe kick & butterfly twist mania over here.
So anyway, does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my leg higher, or is it just to continue practicing the kicks. Thanks
[QUOTE=Neeros;1274179]It has been said multiple times now but it must be said again…
Traditional kung fu IS fighting.[/QUOTE]
hahahahahahaha ohhh you guys beat me to it…i would go one step further TRADITIONAL KUNG FU IS ABOUT KILLING and not much else
anyway looks like your doing the 5 step form (think thats the name) and as others have said not much use in it going higher than the groin, but maybe your hip flexors would be worth a stretch ? can you do front splits?
anyway looks like your doing the 5 step form (think thats the name) and as others have said not much use in it going higher than the groin, but maybe your hip flexors would be worth a stretch ? can you do front splits?
[/QUOTE]
Thanks buddy, I can almost do the front splits but not all the way there, great idea, I had totally forgotten about these! thanks man. Are there any stretches you would recommend for getting the last bit of the way? I just want to ask people who do it for real rather than watching bad videos on youtube lol.
I didn’t mean to kick anything off but it was only my first post here so seemed a little harsh ha, as far as I was concerned Wushu was traditional, but I’ve now been told that it’s not.
yeah I’m 23 and I can already hold my body flat against my legs etc so I don’t think flexibility should be an issue too soon, was just worried I was broken 
yeah I’m 23 and I can already hold my body flat against my legs etc so I don’t think flexibility should be an issue too soon, was just worried I was broken :p[/QUOTE]
