Side Kick Common Mistakes!

The first common issue with side kicks is not turning your base foot. When we extend that kick out our foot needs to rotate 180 degrees. Many of us still have our feet planted causing our kick to come out looking like a stretch.

The next mistake happens when we crunch our body in and push our butt out during the kick. This means that we often sit up into the kick when we should be kicking out with the leg and extending out body away from it. When we extend that kick, keep everything is a straight line, don't push your butt out.

Another common error we make is in our chamber/rechamber. Many of us tend to chamber our kick as if it were a front kick. Our knee needs to face to the side with the flat of our foot outward before we extend the leg. If our knee is up facing and our toes down, our kick is going to move in weird directions and not hit the target. Chambering is where aim begins. Your chamber should be at the height and direction you're kicking.

The last mistake we'll go over is pushing. When doing a proper sidekick, many people lose balance, or don't get a proper snap to the kick because they are pushing. The purpose is to strike our target but we often times push instead. Pushing with your side kick is useful for certain types of kicks like in sparring when we push/stop our opponent with a side kick, but for poomsae, demonstration, and a regular side kick, we focus on striking rather than pushing. To correct this, focus on extending your leg all the way and re-chambering all the way with every kick. Put the power into the extension.