Learn how to shorten the time it takes your feet to land on your opponent's face, neck, knees, and other body parts. If you follow these steps, you should be able to kick faster than your opponent in a few weeks, unless your opponent is also practicing the same technique.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Heating
Step 1. Don't forget to warm up
Make sure your body is warm enough before you start kicking. Focus on stretching your legs. At the very least, stretch your knees, then do the half splits, splits, front splits, and butterfly stretches. Don't forget to add depth with each stretch to increase flexibility and allow you to kick higher.
Step 2. Don't forget to do cardio to build endurance
You can run, do burpees, cardio kickboxing, swim, or whatever works your heart. Endurance is very important in taekwondo!
Step 3. Practice the kick
Practice all kinds of kicks in general, hit the target, and do it as often as possible. Focus on form and make sure your movements are accurate.
Step 4. Do leg drills to increase your foot movement speed
Similar to soccer or basketball, taekwondo also requires agile footwork. Make sure you know how to move back and forth, side to side, how to slide, or cross your legs. This exercise will increase the speed of movement when performing kicks in general.
Method 2 of 3: Increase Speed
Step 1. Find the target
You can use a kicking pad or kicking target specifically for taekwondo. You can also use folded paper as a target, or a sheet of X-ray paper.
If you need a target and don't have a partner to practice with, make one using nails, string, tennis balls and a small plastic bag. Put the ball in a plastic bag, then seal the bag with string and leave a few centimeters. Put nails in the ceiling, or door frames, if you can't kick above 1.5 meters. Tie the free end of the string to a nail in the ceiling so that it hangs about 15 cm lower than the height of your kick
Step 2. First of all, just practice your kicks
Don't try to kick quickly or forcefully. Just make sure your moves are perfect. Hit your target, but focus more on the movement than the power of the kick.
Step 3. Continue to practice kicking slowly, and make sure your movements are perfectly precise and accurate
Step 4. When your kick is perfect, increase the speed a little and hit the target
Once your kick moves are perfect at this new speed, add some more speed to your kick.
Step 5. Increase kick power as you practice
However, keep your kicks perfect.
When you're training to improve your strength and speed, don't forget kicking accuracy. Accuracy is just as important as kick speed
Step 6. To practice accuracy, speed and kick control at the same time, use a smaller target
Ask your friend to raise their fist or simply hold a small target, such as a wad of paper at different heights for you to kick.
Step 7. Practice a quick knee lift
Since your knee needs to be lifted for some of the kicking motion, if your knee lift speed increases, your kick speed will automatically increase as well.
Step 8. Know the importance of leading in to the kick
Practice gliding and stepping toward the kick. If the line towards your kick is getting faster, the momentum given to kicking is also faster. Combine fast footwork and kicks to increase your overall speed.
Step 9. The lead out movement is equally important so you can get ready for the next step
Practice stepping away from your opponent after kicking.
Step 10. Keep both legs light to increase your speed
If you keep your weight in front of your feet, you can move faster than keeping your weight on the heels of your feet.
Method 3 of 3: Using Foot Weights
Step 1. Purchase ankle weights from a sports or supermarket
Seek advice from a taekwondo expert to find a weight that is appropriate for your height, weight, and experience.
Step 2. Put on thick socks
Wear leg weights after getting dressed in the morning to the rest of the day, even when driving or working, if possible. If the weights are uncomfortable to the point of being unbearable, take them off for a few minutes and put them back on.
Step 3. Don't practice kicks with leg weights because there is a risk of knee injury
Step 4. When putting on weights, do various leg exercises, such as lateral leg raises, lunges, squats
Thus, the muscles of both your legs are trained and become stronger.
Step 5. Practice your kick as usual, but without the weights
Make sure you focus on kick accuracy before working on kick speed.
Step 6. Note that after a few weeks you will be able to kick quickly when you are not wearing weights
You can even wait for your opponent to start kicking you, and respond faster.
Tips
- Learning to trust control will speed up your kicks as it dispels your doubts and fears of hurting your training partner.
- You can reduce your risk of cramps from kicking by stretching. This means you can kick faster with less risk of injury and resistance.
- When you first remove the weights, your feet will feel very light. This is a good time to kick the ball hanging from the ceiling.
- When kicking the ball, try not to kick too hard but kick as fast as you can. If you learn to relax, your kicks will go faster. When it comes to strength training, simply work on tightening all your muscles at the time of impact.
- Moving your legs doesn't really matter if the kick doesn't move accurately and uses the right muscles, or you lose your balance. This is why slow kicks are so useful.
- Do agility exercises in the open air every day.
- Don't waste your energy all at once. Make sure you kick strategically and in control.
Warning
- Be careful when wearing leg weights for a long time. If you're not careful, your knees or ankles run the risk of serious injury. If you have persistent joint pain, remove the weights and see a doctor.
- Consult a doctor before starting any exercise program.
- The practice of kicking and hitting with an opponent can be dangerous and carries the risk of serious injury.
