Could learning to relax be the key to your taekwondo kicking success?

Deb gets some great help from one of Spirit's taekwondo black belts.

And discovers that learning to relax could be the key to her kicking success.

I went for a run early this morning.
My route winds up an ocean headland past Long Reef golf course.
And the glorious view makes me consider for a brief moment that golf might be for me...

As I puffed along I noticed a guy take a couple of practise swings with a heavy driver.
His body was relaxed as the club swung through.

'That technique would work well' I thought to myself.

The same guy stepped up to the tee.
And took a swipe at the ball.
His technique was so different from the practise swings.
His shoulders tensed.
His body tensed behind them.

And he swore loudly as the ball found its way to the bushes on the right of the fairway.

It reminded me of a training session last week.
At Spirit Taekwondo we have some brilliant black belts who help out with teaching.
Darran and I were working together in a pad kicking class.

Darran looked really closely at my taekwondo kicking technique and made some great observations.
He noticed that when I go to kick, I lift my shoulders, then shuffle my front foot, and then finally I lift my knee.
All this habitual preparation wastes time.
And the tension it creates slows down my kicks and spoils my technique.
Just like shoulder tension spoils a good golf swing.

Darran pointed out that all I actually have to do is lift my knee and let my leg fly.
And when I managed this the difference was amazing.
My kicks were faster and stronger. And they took less effort to do.
And I was having more fun!

So thanks Darran- you've really helped me out.
And now...
...I just have to work on learning to relax.
On every kick.
In every situation.

Don't you love taekwondo?...
...always something to work on :-)

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