10 Kicking tips - principles of movement and body mechanics that allow you to kick with more power for less effort
- Principle based so you can apply to kicks you already know (and those you’ll learn in the future)
- Being principle based it applies to any style
- Will help you get kicks higher if you’re not very flexible
- Will improve balance
- Less wear and tear on your joint
What the experts say
I thought you kicking DVD was very good too. You presented well and the info was strong”
Geoff Thompson: 7th Dan, co-founder of the British Combat Association, author of 34 books, 5 multi award winning films and BAFTA winner.
“Well explained simple adjustments to improve kicking techniques. Top tips for intermediate and advanced karate-ka”.
Rob Jones: 5th Dan Shotokai Karate.
“I was also able to check out Wildish’s “10 Kicking Tips”, which guides the viewers not through specific kicks, but through some of the basic physics and ideas that make kicking effective. This DVD was also an ejoyable watch, especially as Wildish describes way in which kicks can be thrown in a true straight line.
The procedures used in these DVD’s are sound fundamentally and can be relied upon to elicit positive results”.
Matt Apsokardu: 4th Dan Okinawan Kenpo Karate & Kobudo.
“I have looked at both DVDs [Inside Bassai Dai & 10 Kicking Tips] and they look quite instructive with a comprehensive overview and in depth look at Kata Bunkai. I fully endorse their publication for the discerning Karate student”.
Arthur Wallace: 6th Dan Shotokan Karate.
Some people just seem to be naturally flexible, coordinated and learn things easily with very little effort.
Don’t you just hate them! 🙂
Well in my younger days, I was one of them; you’d have hated me back then! 🙂
I picked things up relatively easily, I could do the splits in both directions and had a reputation as being a good kicker. It helped that I also have a rather anally retentive attention to detail as well!
However, some years later in my mid 20’s, I tore my cartilage due to miss-timing a kick on a kick-bag. Ouch!
2 cartilage operations and about 18 months later when I did finally get back to training, my knee was never quite the same and I learned what it had been like for other people who had struggled with their kicks.
However, I did still have 2 advantages. Firstly I knew what the kick should feel and be like, so I knew exactly what I was aiming for.
Secondly, my attention to fine detail and technique allowed me to really closely examine anything that I might now be doing differently compared to how I was doing it before.
In time, my kicks improved and again I was noted as being a good kicker!
However, your cartilage is there for a reason and when you have part of it removed, there is over time a price to pay. Over the years . . . . okay . . . . decades (I’m no spring chicken), of bone rubbing on bone, this led to me developing severe osteoarthritis, especially in my left knee which had the operation.
So again, I’ve had to use that anally retentive attention to detail to allow me to continue training and kicking without doing myself undue damage.
So why is any of that important to you?
Firstly my attention to detail has allowed me to identify core principles of movement which apply to nearly all of the majority of kicks you’ll encounter. So rather then try to teach you a bunch of different kicking techniques, I can show you principles of movement that you can apply to improve the kicks you already know. All of them.
Secondly, I know how to manage and overcome some physical limitations.
Thirdly, so many people kick almost correctly, but in way that will damage their joints over time. Sometimes just a very minor adjustment in how you actually kick can not only make it more effective, but can stop you from accumulating joint damage over the years. Trust me, things you get away with when you’re young can come back and haunt you when you’re a bit older.
Note: If you get the Inside Bassai Dai Download at the same time, you get a $10 discount over buying them separately