Strength in Karate: Kicks

One of the attractions of karate is that it teaches us how to defeat a bigger, stronger opponent.

And this ability of the small opponent to defeat the larger is talked about in a lot of ways. We say "technique wins," "we use the opponent's force against them," "use proper leverage."


And my personal favorite -- "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."

And while all of those things are true enough, I think that in a day and age where many karate students have never been in a physical fight outside of the dojo those sorts of sayings result in some misconceptions.


Perhaps the biggest is that because we rely on technique, we karateka don't need to be strong.

Now, there are a whole host of non-martial reasons to be strong. Resistance training and increased muscle mass have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, decrease the risk of certain types of cancer, improve our ability to live independently into old age, and be attractive to whichever gender we want to be attractive to (ok, that last one might be anecdotal).

But it turns out that strength is also a pre-requisite for effective karate technique. And ignoring this fact can stall a student's progress.

In my mind the techniques where this is most evident are kicks.

As a concrete example, anyone that can sit down and spread their legs 100 degrees apart is flexible enough to throw a side kick at waist height. But many beginning students struggle to kick this high. The most common reason that this is difficult is that the student doesn't have the hip and oblique strength to hold their leg out to the side. This is not unexepcted because the strength required to do it is very specific -- it's not something that's developed via other activities.

One sign that strength is holding back your kicking is the inability to kick correctly as high as you can passively stretch. Another is the tendency to hold your breath while kicking. Many students treat kicking like throwing a shot put. They get ready to kick, gather themselves up, take a huge step, hold their breath, and fling their leg out. All of this happens because the student feels like their leg is heavy, so heavy that only a massive effort can launch it into the air.

We don't think of our arms as heavy. When we want to throw a punch, we just move our arms (with a little practice). But the feeling that it takes effort to kick persists with many students for a long time, largely because the muscles which lift and position the legs are under-developed. And this leads to telegraphed, breath-held, and labored kicks.

The best way to improve our ability to kick is to practice correct kicking (of course). But when we specifically need to improve the strength of our 'kicking muscles' it is helpful to remove the element of balance and focus on controlled leg placement. I've arbitrarily broken this into 3 levels.

Level 0: Stand near a wall or chair, and place a hand (preferibly the hand that is on the same side of the body as the kicking leg) on it to help with balance. Practice the three basic kicks (snap kick, side kick, round house kick) s-l-o-w-l-y. Strive for a smooth execution at a rate of 3 seconds for each kick. Work both legs. At this level the goal is to kick near waist height for 10 repetitions per kick, per side.

Level 1: Use a balance aid as above. Try to minimize the contact with the balance aid. For each kick move from a get ready stance into the chamber position for 10 reps, from chamber to extension for 10 reps (don't put your foot down in-between!), and then perform slow full kicks (3 seconds/ kick). Again the goal is smooth execution at waist height for 10 reps at each 'position' (chamber, extension, full kick).

Level 2: Perform the Level 1 exercises without a balance aid. Once you can do that for 10 reps of each position with reasonable control, you will have very 'light' smooth kicks. Progression from this point on can work towards slower kicks (10 seconds is a good goal), weighted slow kicks (via an ankle weight), holding the kicks at full extension for time, and higher slow kicks.

Consistent practice of these kicking exercises will give a student the hip and abdominal strength necessary to kick well in as short a time as possible. Most students will notice an improvement in their kicking speed, accuracy, and height in as little as 4 weeks.

In case you were wondering, consistent means 3 - 6 times a week every week. Start easy and progress in number of reps and up the levels slowly -- this is a race where the tortoise will be beat the hare.