Hello. I'm 18 years old and I practice karate, Tai Jutsu and Judo. My legs aren't really willing to cooperate during training.
An important detail is that my feet are not oriented forward. When in a relaxed state, they both point out about 45 degrees, forming an angle of 90 degrees when placed together. Perhaps this is important for later parts of this question.
When I do a standard forward karate kick (mae-geri), I cannot extend both my legs to a fully stretched position. They always stay at a slight angle. How can I make this part (the back side of my legs) more flexible in order to do this properly?
When I do a side kick (mawashi-geri) I can't aim high. Waist level is a challenge already. It feels as if there's a cable running from the inside of my feet, to my inner thighs on both sides. How can I stretch this part of my legs? When I try to do a split (feet facing forward), my knees start to feel pressure and strain. This isn't overly painful, but I'm afraid of injury. Ideas please?
When I do a backside kick (Ushiro-geri) I can aim fairly high, but again, my leg contracts very quickly after reaching the top of the kick. This makes it feel as if I can not put force into that kick, unless I would severely bend forward whilst doing it, causing balance to be 0. Ideas please?
This has been troubling me for ages and makes me fear of not being able to get my Dans one day. Please tell me what I can do about these issues and what techniques work best.
Many, MANY thanks!
An important detail is that my feet are not oriented forward. When in a relaxed state, they both point out about 45 degrees, forming an angle of 90 degrees when placed together. Perhaps this is important for later parts of this question.
When I do a standard forward karate kick (mae-geri), I cannot extend both my legs to a fully stretched position. They always stay at a slight angle. How can I make this part (the back side of my legs) more flexible in order to do this properly?
When I do a side kick (mawashi-geri) I can't aim high. Waist level is a challenge already. It feels as if there's a cable running from the inside of my feet, to my inner thighs on both sides. How can I stretch this part of my legs? When I try to do a split (feet facing forward), my knees start to feel pressure and strain. This isn't overly painful, but I'm afraid of injury. Ideas please?
When I do a backside kick (Ushiro-geri) I can aim fairly high, but again, my leg contracts very quickly after reaching the top of the kick. This makes it feel as if I can not put force into that kick, unless I would severely bend forward whilst doing it, causing balance to be 0. Ideas please?
This has been troubling me for ages and makes me fear of not being able to get my Dans one day. Please tell me what I can do about these issues and what techniques work best.
Many, MANY thanks!
