For people with at least 5 years of experience: Have any of you developed bad habits in your kicks?

Question

With great variance from right leg to left leg?

For example, I am right legged, but my left leg is way more flexible. I can do the splits on the left, and have about 10" to go on the right.

However, take a front leg hook kick to the face, my left side is faster, and this is one of my best kicks on the left, but technically speaking, I do not have the right body position on this hook and am technically performing it wrong.

On the right leg, I can do the front leg hook kick with perfect form, but in reality, I'd have no chance of landing it.

There are other examples and I've been this way for years.

Anyone else have the same problem? My current Master is trying to fix it, but it feels really awkward.

James

Answer 1

I have huge variance on my kicks.

Mind you my use of kicks isn't nearly as frequent, I use inside leg kicks, some body/liver kicks with my left leg, as a result (and the way I train and spar) my right leg sounds and hits like a mack truck on my kicks, while my left leg does just enough to hurt pretty bad.

There is a huge power variance between the two, as well as technique variance, (my left kicks do not look nearly as pretty).

However, as I do some work on technique with it, I am pretty happy because in reality I rarely use kicks other than leg kicks, some teeps, and body shots. I would rather concentrate on more functional for me techniques.

Ther eis always going to be somethings you use and that work for you, and somethings you don't.

Despite the fact that I train both right and left side in Judo, obviously my right handed techniques are going to be much better than my left hand techniques. I can throw any one of 8 or so throws incredibly well in a competetion level on my right. On my left I have about 3 that are money, others are just experimentation or improve.

In truth, I am more concerned with what works, then it's realm in the technical sense. While it may not be right technically it is working for you.

Watch the PGA, and see how many tour pros have "technically wrong" swings, yet are highly successful, watch the NBA, and see how many guys have technically wrong shooting, but yet manage to make basket after basket.

Watch football, see the incredible variance in release times, delivery, and technique by quarterbacks. Look at a guy like Phil Rivers who probably has one of the ugliest throwing motions out there, yet he is highly successful, and can get the ball to his receivers at the right time and makes millions for it.

The point is, because something might not be "technically" right, but it works for you, it doesn't mean that it is wrong. It works.

Trust me there have been people who have ruined swings, and careers for trying to change their unorthodox methods to something more "technically right" leading them to do something that is awkward and doesn't work for them.

To me this is why there is a HUGE difference between kata and actual technique.

It is very evident in Judo. As you learn the kata version first (standing, opponent going with the throw) and then have to use it in reality (moving, weight shifting, resisting opponent. You have to heavily modify a throw in order to get it work in reality, so while in form and technicality it isn't right, it actually is the most right version of the throw because it is what works in reality.

In the end, that is what matters. Not how well you do the kata, not how pretty the technique looks, but how well you can do it in reality.

Trust me, there are tons of forms champs who wouldn't win the first round of a shiai, or for that matter would last long in a real fight.

I train to be effective, while I think it is important to know the kata version, or technical version as it contains the fundamentals for teaching it. I would rather make my students be more effecient, so when they do something while may look technically correct, I can help them modify it to be more effective, or more devasting, which is more important to me.

I would rather win shiai, and have my students be more effective in a real situation, then I would have them do kata pretty. I think for grading they should be able to perform the kata correctly, since by the time they are grading for a belt they have shown they know how to use a the required techniques in a practical situation.

Sorry great question, and can start a good debate on kata vs. practical application.

Answer 2

These are probably things you've been doing from the beginning and should have been noticed and corrected from the start. Just work with your master to fix them and when you learn a new technique, make sure you correct any flaws in the beginning before it becomes habit.  

Answer 3

It is not uncommon for our body to be asymmetric. This is partly the way we train and partly what we are borne with. Too often we train with a preference to the right forward. Try doing everything in pratice and training on the left preference for a few weeks. I think you will find that things will feel less awarkward.

Answer 4

Spin kicks have always been difficult to me while spinning counterclockwise.

But the biggest bad habit I've developed is when I sprained my left ankle. Ever since when I throw a side kick, my foot wants to naturally kick with the ball of the foot versus the heel (this is because while waiting for it to heal I would real for the target in attempt not to kick threw the target as my ankel couldn't take it). Oddly enough though, because of this bad habit I tend to sprain that ankel more because my foot can't absorb the impact that way. On top of that I lost power with that kick on that foot.

Answer 5

I try to work both sides of my body equally, but even then, my left kicks are a bit stronger than my right ones. There's not much of a difference between my hand techniques though. I'm currently trying to remedy that by practicing kicks with my right leg more often.

All you can really do is practice executing a front hook kick from your left leg and work on the technique, and on the right, work on speed.

Answer 6

Oh good grief, yes, my right leg is JUNK when it comes to more difficult kicks.

Basic kicks (front snap, turning, side piercing, etc.) are okay, but when the difficulty level picks up, my right leg can be dead weight. (I am COMPLETELY left sided, only thing I do right handed is golf). For example, when doing spinning kicks, my left leg is MUCH more effective, with good power and speed. But when I try to execute the same kick at similar speed and power with my RIGHt leg, I invariably overreach and occasionally end up on my keister.

You would think that with my left leg being my base I would have more balance, but strangely it is just the opposite. I tend to have more control when using my left leg for kicks, but haven't yet figured out the control on the right. Still working on it, but I don't think they will ever be close.

As for kata versus actual application, I don't know that there is much debate there. It could be just me, but even performing tuls I tend to struggle more with right leg techniques than with left. Only difference is that I can slow down and focus more on the right leg kick to make it more correct, if not applicable to a true application. I suppose this would be the catch, that being that I CAN. with time to focus and control, execute right leg techniques doing tul. Btu use it in a "down and dirty" scenario? Only if it was the only option I had at the time.

Answer 7

I don't know if you call it "bad habits" but I do kick and punch differently with each side.  I switch from a right lead to a left lead depending on the circumstance, and feel comfortable either way - but I fight differently in each stance, and subsequently throw kicks and punches differently.  

In my right lead stance (I'm right handed) I throw lots of power jabs, body hooks with my right, and tend to throw hooks or clinch when my left hand comes in to play.  I throw left (rear) leg knees, and very few other kicks with the rear leg, but I throw lots of front kicks and Thai leg/body kicks with the right.  I CAN throw the other kicks and punches, but my form gets sloppy and balance and footwork get weak, so I don't tend toward those other techniques.

In a left lead I pretty much jab cross hook (l/r/l) or some variation on that and follow combos with low left thai kicks.  I also throw a lot more right leg kicks - high, low, inside, outside, knees, axes, you name it.  Because of my TKD training I'm much more adept at those kicks, especially in the traditional lead stance.

Rather than use strikes where I have bad habits, I take the approach of using my better techniques to compensate for my weak ones.  I think that with most people they get somewhat sloppy sparring/fighting, and weak techniques make it worse. I've sort of come to grips with my weaknesses and found tools to compensate.   But I don't do kata/forms or any of that, so maybe I'm focusing too much on the "combat" side of things.  In your hook kick example, I'd continue to work the left kick, and figure out what you can do in a situation where a right hook kick is called for...a side kick?  Shoot for a leg?  lunging right straight?  Right feint left hook kick?  There are lots of options.