Take a second and visualize the two of them kicking side by side. What do you see? One will have his torso up and one will have it down. Torso position is what makes or breaks the 3 sideline kicks.

If your torso is strong and flexible the kick is hard to see when it’s coming. If the trunk is stiff and weak, it will drop before the kick is initiated. It can be seen a mile away.

Thus is takes less effort to throw a kick when the torso does not have to make a trip to the corner store and back every time the leg comes up. Yes, it’s that important and that’s why we made a program for it.

How can I improve my kick?

Over the years many people would ask me to look at their kicks. Even the high kickers. “What can I do to improve my kick?” they asked. “Torso, your torso position”, was a very common response. Most fighters kick and punch. The better positioned the upper body during the kick, the shorter the pause between a kick and a punch. Or punch and a kick for that matter.

Whether you are a pro fighter or you just train for your enjoyment, you know that the faster you can follow up with your hands after the kick, the more chances you will score.

A very flexible torso is what keeps your punches closer to the target, right after the kick.

Finally, there is the look of the kick, of how the form appears. A kick looks much better when the head is not brushing the floor on the high kick. Think of great competitors with awesome techniques.

Ok, enough said. In this program we focus on the flexibility and strength training of the torso. It’s not a six pack program... (however it will greatly develop the core), but body builder looking abs is not its primary purpose. The purpose is to improve every aspect of the Side Kick, Roundhouse Kick and Hook Kick.

Do you need this program?

Let’s see. Stand up and extend a Side Kick waist level. With your finger tips touch the outside part of your leg. Perfect kick dictates finger tips touching half way between your knee and your ankle. If you can do that, you don’t need this program. If you can’t touch that, either your strength is off or your flexibility, which means that you need this program.

Ideally developing the kicking leg should take place even before a single kick is thrown. However that’s not possible for most people. Everyone who lands on this page, has already thrown kicks.

To understand the kicking leg, think of a barbell push jerk. That’s when you hold the barbell on your upper chest, in standing position. You use a short leg push to accelerate the bar up and extend the arms over your head.

The little leg jerk is done because the arms are not strong enough to press the weight with assistance. The arms, in this case, is the kicking leg. Would you try to do a push jerk or even a basic shoulder press, if you can’t lift your arms all the way up to vertical position, because you lack shoulder mobility? Of course you would not.

What if your shoulder was not strong enough to even hold your arms there, would you add additional weight? Of course not. And yet people kick without having proper range of motion or strength.

There is no way a proper technique can ever be developed. Never an optimum power, or speed or accuracy. Why? Because your body is more concerned about you not getting injured, than about “mastering” the skill.

A proper side kick performing leg, requires flexibility in the muscles that prevent abduction (lifting the leg to the side) and prevent medial rotation. (Abduction and medial rotation is what your kicking leg is doing, during side line kicks.) While the medial rotators and adductors need to be strong.

But, not just generally strong. They must be strong in short range. (Short range is where muscle is completely flexed) Also strong hip and knee flexors (to have a good chamber). A beginner who starts kicking, can’t possibly have this.

Unless it’s a new generation of beginners, who now train with various certified instructors in ElasticSteel method.

Do you need this Program?
I am going to take an educated guess and say that 95 percent of people need it. If you never used this program, you probably need it. I have met and trained with many good kickers and they all needed this program.

Not a single one had all 3 factors that this program works on, fully developed:

Kicking height of the side line kicks, depends on the flexibility of the supporting leg or standing leg. In order to throw a high kick, the kicking side of the pelvis must tilt up. If the pelvic does not tilt, the kicking hip abduct no more than 45 degrees.

This means that a kick will be thrown no higher than the knee. Even a kick to the groin requires 90 degrees abduction (abduction is lifting of the leg to the side).

So the pelvic position must change. Once the pelvis moves, the flexibility of the supporting leg comes into play. Of course not just flexibility, but also strength.

To test if you need this program:

Does your kicking foot travel much higher, if the torso is dropped away? Or does your kicking foot not go any higher, with torso dropped?

If the foot comes up high, you don’t need this program. You need this one (click here for more information).