What exercises help increase leg speed in taekwondo?

Question

can you give me some detailed exercises that REALLY helps in increasing the speed of my kicks and foot work in taekwondo...

Answer 1

with your arms up guarding your chest/face:

stand on one foot, with one knee raised, rotate to the right 90 degrees, 4 times so you end up facing the same direction.. then go to the left 4 times, switch feet. pause 1 second between each rotation to make sure you have stabilized, do not rotate early if you are wobbly.

do the above exercise again but instead of pivoting 90 degrees, try hopping 90 degrees, switch feet. both directions etc etc.

after that rest your feet for a few minutes then do this

with your hands up:

stand on one foot, with one knee raised, hop forward as if your jumping over something and land with your opposite foot. keep hopping forward as you switch feet. pause 1 second in between each hop.

after that, try hopping backwards. *remember to jump as if your jumping over something and not just skimming your feet on the ground..

hopping side to side is also useful but you should practice these beginner balancing/control drills first.

if you feel comfortable with those you should a front kick into each hop or rotation.

keeping your hands up:

when practicing kicks try doing them fast but light a few times,

then do them slowly, extend slowly, and retract slowly,

once you have a good solid foundation of control and balance, you can start adding speed and power. extend as fast as you can and retract as fast as you can. do this with all your kicks, from all positions

do not over strain your self too much at first as standing on one foot can be stressful if you dont practice it regularly. as you see results you can increase reps and sets.

these are some basic ways you can train your leg speed.

practice, rest, rinse, repeat.

Answer 2

T-squats, and actually kicking. For students in their black belt cycle we require during 1 hour that the candidate do 2 sets of 20 of each style kick on each side. This is part of the work out drill  before class. our black belt cycle classes run around 2 hours. It is tough but it is the only way to produce speed and accuracy. T- squats will really help give you the strength and control to have a solid platform for your kicks. Do them in sets of 20 on a side and do at least 2 sets during every work out.  By a set that is one evolution or 20 each side times 2. Of course remember to stretch every day. Before you know it you will be kicking like Chuck or limping like me. LOL

For foot work I recommend doing a lot of practice just with your feet. Place your hands behind your back and focus on your feet and do your forms doing only your foot work. Another drill I like to do is to do C-steps remembering to change lead guarding block with each step until it becomes automatic and you do not have to think about it.

There is no better way to improve overall except with practice. You must practice a few hours a week outside of classes. or you just will remain mediocre. When kicking at full speed always use a target or you will mess up your hip joints like I did. When using full speed or force use a bag or padded opponent. Practice will improve you; perfect practice you make you great.

Answer 3

Part of increasing speed is just practicing speed.

For example, stand by a heavy bag, take your fighting stance, and do front leg round kicks.  When your foot touches the ground, immediately do another kick.  Time your self for 30 seconds, see how many you can do, and then try to break your record the next time you speed train.  You can do this with all your kicks.

Here is a running analogy.  Think of a runner.  Say he wants to run a 6 minute mile.  Running 3 miles at 8 minutes per mile isnt going to lead to a 6 minute mile.

1 mile is 4 laps.  The runner first must be able to run one lap in 90 seconds.  2 laps in 180 seconds, 3 laps in 270 seconds, and 4 laps in 360 seconds.  

So he needs a stop watch and start at 1 lap, then build up.  

Speed training is just that, practicing at faster than your normal speed.  

Good luck.

James

Answer 4

Frank has some great drills.  The only thing I would add is get a resistance band (like Century's RipCord).  The resistance training will train your muscles to respond faster.

Not able to get one, practice your kicks in the pool... just make sure you break the surface with each kick.