How to increase kicking power for martial arts

Let’s face it, away from grappling based martial arts – the majority of the striking arts feature kicks. With this said, a large portion of martial arts in general use kicking as a form of attack. Because of this, it’s a good idea to learn kicks and learn them well. Whether it’s Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, Kickboxing or other less known striking arts, the likelihood is that you will want to improve the power in your kicks.

This guide will offer various ways to improve the power of your kicks. Whether it’s through reps, flexibility or weights, luckily there are many different avenues to explore. With this said, there should be enough here to help even the most experienced martial artists. If you follow these methods, then you will definitely see positive results.

Improving speed will increase kicking power

If you think about it, the faster a kick, the harder a kick. This may sound obvious to some yet it is a fundamental part of improving your striking. Imagine throwing a kick as slowly as possible. By the time it lands, the kick wouldn’t be able to harm anyone due to its slowness. However, imagine the fastest kick ever…by the time it landed, the power generated would mean it was incredibly powerful. Another example is thinking of cars, imagine getting hit by a car going at 5 miles per hour. It wouldn’t affect you, whereas the same car going at 100 miles per hour would kill you. Due to this, one easy way of gaining power is by enhancing your speed.

So, the next question is how to enhance your speed? Well, thankfully this isn’t difficult, but it does take willpower. Perhaps the easiest way to improve your speed is bag or pad work. This involves striking a bag as quickly as possible and basically, the aim is to get the reps in. Naturally, you will gain more speed over the months and years until you peak. Once you have plateaued you will reach your fastest speed which will equate to harder kicks. In Karate, you can also improve speed and power by drilling kata.

Thinking about it another way, boxers will often hit pads with their hands to improve the power of their punches. This is no different from improving power in your kicks. The main benefit of this is that it can be practiced alone. Most areas of martial arts usually need a partner or others to improve with, whilst this is not the case for improving your speed.

Improving technique will also increase kicking power

Have you ever been to a dojo or gym and see an old man kick like a truck? This is probably due to superior technique over speed. Whilst speed is arguably a technique to improve, it also lends towards the side of athleticism. However, technique will also improve your power and is a good idea to focus on as you grow older. For example, imagine doing the Hook kick and doing it with poor technique, this would be inferior in power compared to a Hook kick with a superior technique.

So, what is technique exactly, and how do you improve it? When thinking about technique in a kick you can consider speed and flexibility as contributors to your skill level. However, a lot of people often forget about angles, base, and leverage. These all combine to make your technique work or fail. Put another way, if you have a poor base on your resting leg, or don’t create the correct angle then your kick will have significantly less power than if you do these things correctly.

In short, by having the right angles and base, you can land heavy kicks with less effort. Learning this ‘feel’ takes most people years to master and is not easy. The good news is, generally you will improve your technique subconsciously without focusing on it. What should also be noted is that you can still improve your technique by being mindful.

You may see some during sparing or kumite kick with aggression and violence. Whilst this may get short-term gains, it doesn’t help in the long run. In many ways, if you actually lack athleticism and natural power, your technique may naturally improve quicker than others as your body is forced to adapt. Because of this, your technique is also directly related to the power of your kicks.

Improving flexibility

As touched upon, flexibility is also an important area that can develop and improve the power of your kicks. Basically, some people may be naturally inflexible which holds them back. For instance, if you have to land a kick to the head of someone who is 6ft tall and you’re inflexible – then a lot of your energy is used on actually reaching the target. In other words, by the time the kick lands, you will have used most of your power and energy into stretching your leg. This shouldn’t be the case and ideally, it shouldn’t be an issue.

For instance, imagine kicking a very low target. With this, you could forget about the range or length and focus purely on power. However, as the target rises, your power will naturally decline. As a result, working on flexibility will make hitting more awkward targets easier. Another way of thinking about it is that your leg is on a coil. Your leg muscles allow you to release the coil which can make you hit with an extra sting. However, if your leg muscles are stiff instead of loose, then your power will decline as a result.

Thankfully, there are various ways to improve your leg muscles’ flexibility. Perhaps the easiest is through yoga. Just be sure to target the key areas, for example if your inner thighs are tight, then you will need to do butterfly stretches. In brief, every area of your leg muscles can be targeted with specific, yoga workouts designed to work the key areas. Even if you only stretch for 10 minutes before bed, you will eventually see results that will also aid recovery and improve your athleticism. As a result, yoga is a great solution for improving flexibility that will lead to more power in your kicks.

Improving muscular strength

Imagine getting punched by a 100KG boxer, as opposed to a 50KG boxer. All other things equal, the 100KG boxer will hit harder every single time. This means that a sure-fire route to improving your power is by working out and building your leg muscles. For example, one of the best kicking martial artists ever was Mirko Cro Cop. By looking at the size of his legs, you knew he could kick with great power. This was true as he was known and feared for his dangerous kicks. Because of this, it’s an easy way to improve your power.

In most martial arts, having extra weight and strength almost always helps and the same goes here. With this said, if you want to strengthen and increase the size of your leg muscles then there are many ways to do this. A slightly different way of improving leg strength which is popular is by using resistance bands. These bands will mean your kicks are held back with resistance, meaning that when you come to do the real thing, kicking will be much easier. Whether it’s leg machines at the gym or squatting at home, these methods will all help. Typically, most people will start to see results several months into training. At this point, your strength should equate to more power.

How to track your kicking power

It’s all well and good talking about progress when adding to your kicking power. However, there are some clear cut ways of actually documenting your increase in power. For example, the TGU force tracker does this and helps monitor progress. Reasonably priced at around $50, it is a small device that you can stick on various items such as a punching bag. This device will track your power and show your speed and endurance too. For anyone serious about improving your power, this may be a good purchase and is definite proof as to whether your kicks are going in the right direction or not.

If used correctly, you should be able to also improve and test your technique with this device too. For instance, you may have powerful side-kicks yet your hook kicks may not be as powerful. By analyzing the data, you could adjust certain techniques for each kick in a bid to improve your speed and power.

Putting it all together

You may have gathered by now that all of these methods are actually quite easy to do. Generally, the main issue with these methods is that they take time, patience, and discipline to learn. Whilst you don’t have to be a genius to grow your legs by workouts, the hard part is starting a training routine and sticking with it. Similarly, using yoga to improve your flexibility is equally as rewarding yet may not be pursued due to the time and commitment it takes.

In summary, improving your kicking power is not difficult, albeit it is more of a mental battle than a physical one. However, this should also be quite easy for martial artists as they are trained to endure mental struggles. As an answer, if you want to improve kicking power then the above will help significantly. The issue isn’t with the available information, instead, it is sticking to it and making sure you add it to your current regime to get results.