Exercises to improve balance when kicking

Question

When performing kicks, I quite often lose my balance, which results in me being positioned in a stance where I'm more exposed to attacks. This is normally due to me trying to raise my leg for the kick, while turning my body to allow my leg to be raised higher.

Are there any exercises and/or stretches that specifically focus on improving strength in the legs and help to improve overall balance when transitioning to one foot?

Answer 1

One of my favorite exercises in that area is holding a side kick against the wall. You execute a side kick with your foot against the wall, and then you shift your weight forward until your foot no longer slides down. This will only work if you hold your leg at least in a horizontal line.

Once you have some balance you can work on height. If you get your foot to face level without losing balance and while maintaining a proper side kick position you will have greatly improved both power and balance.

Note: in the beginning you may be tempted to hold on to something for support. Don't. It'll spoil the whole exercise.

Answer 2

When talking to people about this specific problem in class, I usually surprise them with my comment: "stop standing on your heel."

If you are light on your heel but strong on the ball of your foot you have several advantages:

1. You are using your calf muscles. They're very strong and confidence inspiring.
2. You have less rotational friction than a planted foot. It's easy to rotate on the ball of your foot and maintain balance. It's possible to rotate on your heel but very hard to stay straight up.
3. You are less likely to hurt your knee (or to hold back to avoid injury). A planted foot does not want to rotate and will force you to twist your knee or keep your hips back. Either will lead to an off-balance weak kick.
4. You are ready to launch another kick from your bottom foot. Kicking from a planted foot is awkward at best.

In terms of exercise to strengthen those lower legs and the transition, I would suggest jumping jacks. Admittedly, this is because almost all classes will have you do a lot of these so it's an easy sell. Jump rope also works but I never seem to find time....

Concentrate on keeping your weight on the balls of your feet rather than stomping down with your whole foot on each jump. Keep those feet close to the ground rather than bouncing up high. I found that this greatly improved my footwork, my dynamic balance as well as my stamina.

By controlling my effort and using my stronger muscles, I went from 60 jacks seeming like a lot to the point where I'll warm up the class with jumping jacks until I get bored (and they've all turned green :-).

Answer 3

To mirror @Vatine - go in slow motion. Get into a stance, slowly bring your leg up in a chamber (that is, knee bent, foot as close to your thigh/buttock as possible) and slowly extend it, then slowly bring it back, then slowly put it down.

Start with a kick about knee high and progressively increase the height. Do this ten times on each leg. If you're just starting, I'd recommend doing one kick a day, or one kick every other day - so ten reps on each side per day or every other day.

Answer 4

A fun way to work on balance (and endurance) is to stand in your kick stance, and draw out the alphabet with your kicking leg.

This doesn't really work your actual kicking technique much, but it will work your balance and your endurance and strengthen all the muscels needed for kicking, and therefor your balance and technique will improve.

Answer 5

I have vague memories of simply trying various kicks in slow-motion, trying to keep my balance, until I could do most of them without losing my balance.

Alternatively, try to just lift one foot off the ground from a "feet together" standing position. The foot only needs to be lifted until it's no longer touching the ground. Try to keep your balance. After a while, lower the foot and lift the other.

Hopefully, you'll get a feel for how to keep your balance with only one ground contact point.