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It depends on your target area and your intended results. I use two different types of front kicks, which I refer to as a snap and a thrust. The thrusting front kick is much like a side kick, where you lift your leg and fire the kick straight towards your target area. The snap kick, on the other hand, is comparable to a round-house kick, focusing more on ...

Icing reduces swelling. That is the only reason to ice as far as I know. Swelling can inhibit the motion of joints and make the injury more painful. It may also take a long time to reduce back to normal levels. Icing is effective up to about 48 hours after the injury occurred. Basically, if it keeps swelling, then icing it will continue to help stop that ...

Pain It sounds like the problem isn't strength so much as your shins hurting when you hit the bag. The pain will get better if you keep hitting the bag several times a week to the point of discomfort or mild pain, but stopping before severe soreness or severe pain. You'll get used to the feeling. If you only go to class once or twice a week, an additional ...

You need to shift your thinking slightly. When wearing a boot, stop thinking about striking with the toes back, down, etc. You want to focus more on what part of the shoe will be striking for the most effect. Read flody's answer, it's pretty good. The other thing to think about is striking for maximum damage. When we practice street sparring, I rarely go ...

We utilise a drill where the kick is broken down into four stages. The stages are: Raise the knee (keeping the leg bent) Thrust the kick out, and hold it for a couple of seconds Return the kick to the position attained at the end of step #1 Place the foot back on the floor, so you are back in your stance (place the foot, don't just drop it) This is ...

There is an additional angle here: the shin guards do not just protect your shins, they also protect your sparring partner from your shins. This can even be the more important thing, because while your shins can hurt a lot when hit, they are actually quite robust, they are very effective as blocks and can do great damage in attacks. Head, groin and gum ...

PNF is great! I started using it about 10 years ago and it has done wonders for me and some students. It is tough to show this method to students in class to most as there are different skill levels, and sometimes a new student or two. I try to incorporate this into my karate program as well as yoga poses in the beginning and at the end. I also use straps ...

The things that help for me, or maybe I only thought they did, were: stretching and warming up thoroughly in the morning going for walks drinking plenty of water eating lots of quality food In other words, the things we should be doing normally.

Every time I've ever done a butterfly kick, I've arched my back. I've found that if I let my back be straight or slightly rounded, my hips drop and I lose the height needed to keep my body elevated enough for the kick to completely finish. Unless your sifu specifically says otherwise, I'd go with what feels comfortable and allows you to complete the kick. I ...

Quite simply, use the tip of the boot, make the boot work for you. Make sure you point your toes and they are quite rigid, because depending on the fit of the boot you will get some force coming back as the boot shifts upon impact. This technique should be useable for just about all closed footwear types except the very soft, like soft casual shoes or kung ...

In my own experience, dynamic stretching is really effective for kicking flexibility. For kicking, you need a dynamic motion in your limbs and joints, so that is what you practice. For example, rest a hand against the wall for balance, and do leg swings. Keep your leg straight, relax your muscles and lift it up until you feel a stretch, for a number of ...

I'd go strongly with no. The only people I've seen have full compound fractures of the tibia and fibula are Muay Thai fighters. They're also the ones to spend the most time conditioning their shins to toughen them up. Long term it weakens them. And really there's no point, you're not going to make them stronger not wearing shin guards, all you'll do is ...

If it's Taekwondo, I've found there's too much static stretching before drills. If I'm training on my own, I feel better warming up through fairly relaxed but rhythmic turning (roundhouse?) kicks, first a shin height, and working up as you feel comfortable, and keep going in a steady rhythm till you're about as high up as you normally kick. Then for side ...