Developing leg strength for Tai Chi kick

[bowser666]

I am having difficulty getting my kick height up and wanted to see what advice any of you could offer. I can kick high but I need speed to do so. I do not have the leg strength to raise and extend slowly. Any tips are appreciated.

[taiji1983]

Do the forms as low as you possibly can. Going low in bow stance and low bow stretches the legs for side kicks and knees, Cross stance helps with xinyi kicks, horse for overall leg strength, sinking and posture. the slower you do it, the more benefit.

[cgarland]

I am having difficulty getting my kick height up and wanted to see what advice any of you could offer. I can kick high but I need speed to do so. I do not have the leg strength to raise and extend slowly. Any tips are appreciated.

you would want your kicks to be done lower in tai chi as they are directed at opponents hips, ribs, sternum, abdominal, knees, and ankles, to deveop leg strecgth practice your stances, increase the time and how low you can keep them, in execution sink your chi on the standing leg, gentle pull your knee up to chamber with no effort (empty and full) and then push out stright generating the power from your hamstring extending out to heel to issue power

[Josh Young]

to get better height and power do deeper stances, and lots of stretching and of course practice kicking
when taiji became watered down for teaching it to groups and the elderly the kicks were lowered a great deal and jumping kicks were removed
look at the old forms of Wu and Wu-hao style to see what i mean, they have the higher kicks
the best stance to work on for this is golden rooster stands on one leg, which used to be a double jump kick before Yang Chen-fu altered it

[cgarland]

to get better height and power do deeper stances, and lots of stretching and of course practice kicking
when taiji became watered down for teaching it to groups and the elderly the kicks were lowered a great deal and jumping kicks were removed
look at the old forms of Wu and Wu-hao style to see what i mean, they have the higher kicks
the best stance to work on for this is golden rooster stands on one leg, which used to be a double jump kick before Yang Chen-fu altered it

you ve got to question the practicality too. who are you going to kick. if it is shaquille oneil or someone on a horse sure, but the applications of dislodging someones hip, breaking ribs, or knees are extremely effective martial techniques. plus once you have one leg raised up high you are off balance, keep everything down low and in close for more power, stability, and control is very effective.

[Josh Young]

few people can kick high and fast, that is true
but a classic taiji kick application is to kick the armpits
and to break the arm by kicking it with the skin and the hands slap down
never kick higher than you are comfortable kicking