The need for speed
VonnieKicks97
Posts: 11 Member
Hi all: I am a 2nd degree black belt in TKD. Our school is big on fighting and I'm a lover not a fighter. I do great in all the areas of training except when we spar. I feel I am a little slow and predictable. Any suggestions on how to get this 40 yr. old body quick to hit?? Suggestions appreciated! 
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Do you do any additional cardio besides sparring? Do you get winded real fast?0
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How long have you been sparring?
How often do you train?0 -
Like the others I would say it depends on what you are doing to help you increase your speed. In addition to class I usually do another 2 days of kickboxing workouts online. A lot of them focus on punching, but speed kicking, for instance doing cardio for 30 minutes then do 15 second front kicks each side, 15 second roundhouse kicks, and 15 second back/side kick like you would strength training. Do 3 reps to start and as you get better add more reps and more difficult cardio. The stronger your legs and the more you are used to throwing fast kicks the better you'll get.
When I first started doing this (I want faster kicks too) I would do about 18 front kicks each 10 seconds and have increased mine to about 26. not the fastest it can be, but I'm getting better.
If you do this once or twice a week in addition to your regular classes your kicks should be faster and it will feel more natural to throw those kicks faster at targets.
Hope this helps.Good luck with your training!0 -
Thanks everyone! I am going to do a double sparring class tonight! We'll see how it goes. My problem is I don't spar enough. I'm a good fighter, I just don't like doing it. Most of the women in my class feel the same way. I think it's time I kick it up a notch!
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Hi there: I train usually 2-3 times per week, with one day being sparring. I usually don't go though. Class is on Monday night, and I'm just lazy. I think once my older kids are done with school for summer and I have a sitter for my younger guy, I will start doing this sparring club that takes place in the mornings on Tuesday. I would then be training with a few world ranked champs. I'm hoping that helps me. My husband is a 4th degree black belt, but he's not good to work with. He's a great instructor, but I tend to get stubborn and then argue with him! Yikes!0
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I know exactly what you mean - I'm a 4th kup Blue Belt (TAGB). I train 6 hours a week and while we do do sparring drills as part of a class, we don't do enough actual sparring. I know I'm slow and predictable: in the recent competition I entered, I didn't do too well with the sparring. I did think about taking up kickboxing to help with the sparring side of things, but just can't fit it in with my current commitments.
So, will be keeping an eye on this thread just to see what other suggestions come in0 -
Yes..definately increase your sparring time..the only thing I found to improve my sparring--is sparring :bigsmile:
We train 2x a week just sparring, 2x a week taekwondo and 2x a week just conditioning. We work alot on techinque, strategy, being explosive & fast. It is ten times harder than our regular tkd class.
Last Oct I started sparring consistently..I know what you mean about feeling slow and predictible. I felt the same way, it took about 4 to 5 months for me to feel like my endurance had improved substantially and then I could really focus on everything else...intitally I was just trying to get thru class-it was exhausting.
In my group there is only one other woman who likes to fight so I am usually with the guys. I love it and will spar over a traditional class any day!
I have also started doing HIIT on the bike..I can already tell what a difference that makes for my breathing and recovery time.0 -
When I'm being shut down my go to is a Fake Low and go high roundhouse.
I dunno where you're allowed to kick in your school but even if you're not allowed their hands will probably come down.0 -
Heavy bag training can help increase striking speed and accuracy. Sparring is great for developing footwork and defense, but practicing on a bag lets you to take your time and focus on form and striking so they become more automatic.
Also hitting the bag hard with kicks and combos will improve power, strength and balance because the bag provides resistance.0 -
Heavy bag training can help increase striking speed and accuracy. Sparring is great for developing footwork and defense, but practicing on a bag lets you to take your time and focus on form and striking so they become more automatic.
Also hitting the bag hard with kicks and combos will improve power, strength and balance because the bag provides resistance.0 -
I have a heavy bag in my garage. I'm going to try it out. I also am going to increase the number of kickboxing classes I go to.0
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oo just found this forum, I teach tkd so can try to help... (wtf 5th dan)
tricky to offer much without seeing you kicking. How fast are you when you're kicking a target / doing pad sparring? That'll tell you whether the problem is with your physical speed, or with your recognising targets on a person / making the split second decision on what to do when you see it. (I'm not a sparring natural myself and for me it's definitely the latter).
If the problem is with your speed, you'll often find practising the hop as you turn your foot improves things (a lot of my students kick pivoting on their foot rather than hopping), and practice just the hop and bringing your knee up and following with the same on the other leg - you don't need to extend to the full kick, if your knee goes up the rest of the leg will follow, the trick is to get the hop and hip motion right... Stuff like skipping with a rope etc will help as well, makes you lighter on your feet.
If it's a mental thing then practice will help, and watching other people sparring and spotting when they move. Practice sliding back and counter attack, switching then counter, backkick etc until you do it by instinct. Keep it simple and perfect a few counter attacks, then rather than flapping as soon as someone goes for you you'll move and score without having to think.
that's the theory anyway ;D0 -
Sparring is the best way.
Hitting bags, mitts or air will only help so much, after that in order to get better and faster at fighting you have to fight.0 -
Unfortunately sparring is the best way, and like you I'm terrible at sparring, but the good thing is that it never hurt my actual fighting. My problem was that is was very hard for me to spar with somebody from my own gym, because generally I liked that person, and felt bad hitting them, I know it's weird! Got me plenty of broken noses in sparring sessions though.0
