All month long our office is taking on the challenge of doing 100 kicks every day for the month of May!

Today I thought I would break down one of my favorite kicks, the Roundhouse!  Why is it my favorite??  Well, most importantly, they are Chuck Norris approved!

And Peter Griffin has mastered them….

How can you go wrong with a kick that makes appearances in both Family Guy and Roadhouse?  In all seriousness though, this kick challenges all the right areas for me and always feels powerful.  Here is a slow motion look at it:

The Roundhouse is a headshot kick.  That means an enormous amount of flexibility is required to reach the leg up that high.  It also must be combined with an equal amount of stability and mobility on the non kick throwing leg.  As you can see in the video, as the knee drives up towards the ceiling in preparation for the kick, the foot and hip on your supporting leg must rotate the opposite direction.  By doing this, you open up the pelvis and create even more power.

Another important aspect of the kick is the chamber.  This is the portion of the kick where the knee drives upward with the foot tucked in tight.  From this position you create the height of your kick.  The higher the knee drives, the higher the kick.  All that is left after that is whipping the foot out and back in.  Seems simple enough right?  It takes quite a bit of time to get comfortable with this one, especially the movement on the supporting leg.  Here are some of my favorite exercises to assist in mastering The Roundhouse!

Knee Drives with Rotation

• Start with a staggered stance, the fight position!
• Begin by driving you back knee up towards the ceiling
• As you do this, rotate the back hip/leg the opposite direction
• Continue to do this as you travel across the room, alternating legs as you go

Wall Kicks

• The goal here is to throw your roundhouse kick without touching the wall!
• Set up with your body facing the wall, once again in the staggered fighting stance
• You will be kicking with the back leg and begin just as you did in the first exercise, except this time you will actually complete the kick

Continuous Kicks

• This one is a butt burner!  But a great way to build up strength in the kicking position
• Lift the leg into the roundhouse strike position and then continuously throw the end part of the kick
• See how many you can do in a row without losing your balance!

On the plus side, even if you don’t plan on learning how to Roundhouse Kick, these three exercises will do a lot for your hip mobility/stability and glute strength.  And what golfer doesn’t need all of that in spades?  Give it a try and let me know how it goes, we would love to see you join in on our #100kicksaday!

-S