How to Do a Perfect Side Kick -You need two different types of Strength.

When speaking of Strength, it's very important not to get confused.

There are 2 different types of strength.

When converting the kick on the left to kick on the right, we only speak about strength for proper technique.

First and foremost the muscles of the supporting leg must contact, properly, with the right amount of force.

Here we enter a first paradox.

In the first article (about Stretching) I said that they should be stretched.

And now I say they should be strengthened? Same muscles? Really?

So should they be stronger or more flexible?

Stretched or Strengthened?

The answer is both.

Hamstrings (Both Medial and Lateral) are the first on the list.

For a Perfect Side Kick, they can't just be strong or just flexible. They must be both.

Of course in the proper range, since leg curls on the machine and yoga type stretches is not it.

In ESKMS (ElasticSteel Kick Mastery System) we develop these muscles specifically as they are used for kicking.

However, other muscles work on the supporting leg besides the hamstrings.

Since you're reading this it means that you're here to learn more about the ElasticSteel Kick Mastery System, so let's jump right into it.

If you are not in the mood for long a discussion of what it is or why you need it or how it will benefit you, explanation, etc, then all you need is to know two things that the ElasticSteel Kick Mastery System is about:

AND

Safety means that anyone get's to master the system with minimal risk of injury, and learn how to position the body in such a way that kicks at high level are possible for the entire life of a martial artists.

Granted 3-6 months is not overnight. (If you want to become a master kicker overnight, this is not the page for you.) However, a poll taken from dozens of instructors and hundreds of students shows that an average time it takes to master, not just to learn, but to completely master basic kicks is between 1.5-2.5 years, that is 18-30 months, 5-6 times as long as what ESKMS is ready to do for you. Let's compare this further.

I talk about how to completely master the kicks, but what does it mean? ElasticSteel sets the highest of standards and accepts nothing else.

NO PAIN! Sure go talk about speed, power, height, but if you are hurting every time you do them, at some point you will stop. You better stop actually, because pain is an indicator you are doing something wrong. With ESKMS, you learn how to move pain free and prepare the body to allow you to do just that.

FREE and EASY. Your kick that is. If your kick does not feel like your punch, then you can't use it just as well. However, the shoulders allow for much more untrained range of motion than the hips do. So don't expect to kick well without correctly training for the kicks first. And it's not just the kicking leg that you need to fully prepare before executing effortless kicks, but also the supporting leg, and the whole spine. (Decrease in back pain, better posture, proper alignment, are some of the side effects of ESKMS training.)

GOAT-CRANE LIKE BALANCE Did you know that a mountain goat has the best dynamic balance in the animal kingdom and that the Crane can spend many hours standing, even sleeping on one leg? Well, mastering the one footed base of support is the foundation to everything else and ESKMS makes sure you get the skills comparable to these beasts.

NO RESTRICTIONS Kicking High, Kicking Low, Twisting Left, Bending Right. A master kicker has enough range of motion to do it all with grace and control.

GREESED LIGHTNING If you can't kick very fast, you have not mastered the technique. Martial Arts is not Ballet, regardless of how high you stick or swing stick your leg. If you can't kick with lightning speed, you have not mastered the kick.

SUBSTANCE Finally the kick is a weapon meant to hurt. A mastery of the kick means you can use your mass to accelerate your foot, and drive it deep into or through the target.

The difference between ElasticsSteel Kick Mastery System and standard method of training, is that a standard dojo or dojang method to learn the kicks is to kick, and kick and kick some more, with some basic stretching and conditioning exercises randomly thrown in. ESKMS is a scientific shortcut, if you will.

These are concentrated mass practiced routines, building the modality upon the modality, super quickly and moving on to the next step.

There are 3 levels in the ESKMS SYSTEM, which focus on the following:

Many of the instructors in my test groups had the same thing to say. "Paul, we trust you, but shouldn't mastery of kicks take years of hard work, sweat and dedication?" No, it should not. Kicking is a gross motor skill, and just like other gross motor skill should not take years for adults to learn. Not if you are training with a program specialized and developed for these skills anyway, and that program being the ESKMS.

I might add that even the instructors that have been kicking for 10, 20, 30 years, have all reported the improvement in the areas that they have been struggling with for years after training with the ElasticSteel Kick Mastery System.

Each Level's routine takes 50 minutes to an hour. The routine has many steps or internal levels. A beginner and an advanced student can train side by side in the same class, each training at their own levels. This solves a problem for the instructor who doesn't have time to run many different classes for each individual ability of each student.

It can be used by any martial arts stylist who employs basic kicks.

Martial arts school teaching is a business, you can pretend otherwise, but it is. Some do poorly; others are comfortable, while others become wealthy doing it. So it's not surprising that the same question came up too often to count. "Paul, I love it, it helped me, thank you very much, but I have reservations about teaching it."

After 2-3 people gave me a similar intro, I knew the question that was about to come up.

This is the question many instructors have asked. "I love your method, but if my students master the kicks so fast, there is a chance that they would leave the school quickly and I am looking for long term retention."

My response is always swift and if you are asking yourself the same question right know, hear this.

And just like in tennis, volleyball, baseball, or any other activity the better your skills are, the more you want to play. Mastering the skills is just a step to beginning to play the game. If you can't serve, bump or throw---you can't enjoy the game. If you can't kick, you can't fully enjoy the training, competing, demonstrating, etc.

Just imagine when you take your students to a tournament, you arrive and there is a rival there with his students, the competition starts and the competing school's students beginning winning every match, showing off perfect high powerful kicks.

Whose school do you think all the people in the audience would want to register their kids to? Yours or your rivals? Exactly, they would want to register to the school that has the best performing students. Sure, you might have a few black belts that have been training with you for years and years who look good out there.

But just imagine that everyone of your students shows off perfect kicks at the tournament, or at the promotion in your school, or on any given day when potential clients are passing by. Wouldn't that be great? And with much less effort from you! Just think about how much more money you can make by getting many more students to line up to be part of your school.

Okay now that you've got a pretty good idea about what you will learn in the seminar and how it will benefit you and your students let's talk about the details involved in actually taking this seminar.

When you register for this course you will get an access to an online video training course containing pre recorded video lessons, each one covers each exercise step by step, in and out. You will get full routines, and individual explanation. Explanation of the most common mistakes, case studies, etc.,

You then get to practice the routine. It takes on average of a few weeks for the instructors to master it. Once you have it down, you record a video of yourself doing it. The video gets a thorough review. You get comments sent to you. More often than not, some mistakes however basics are made. Depending on the number of mistakes you've made you either go on or you may have to send a correction video demonstrating that you've understood your mistakes and can now do them correctly. Once that is done, the next step would be for you send in a video of you teaching a class. Same procedure is followed.

Having mastered a specific level, you get your ESKMS certification for 2 years and the rights to teach this system.

If you are not an instructor and are just looking to improve your own kicks you do not need to get certified. You can still take the course and get all the same benefits!