Name: Playbook - TrickStrong RX - TSRX Kicking Warmup
Uploaded: 2023-08-14T03:49:26.739Z
Duration: 15 min
Description: TSRX Kicking Warmup

I for the life of me cannot get the last two exercises lol

Rich

This warmup is designed to help you maximize your kicking sessions. This helps to get your mind and body primed to kick - with heavy focus on lower body mobility, single leg stability and martial arts drills! 

For those of you who don’t know, Parker is a Tae Kwon Do champ which is why he also helped design our KickStrong program! Super excited for you to try the drills he brings to this warmup!

This should take 10-15 minutes.

Let’s hop right in to the warmup!

The first component of a complete warmup is  what we call Priming the System.

The goals of priming the system are to physiologically and mentally prepare the body for movement. During this section of our warm up, we aim to:
-	Increase Heart Rate
-	Increase Focus
-	Perform general movement patterns related to the areas of the body we will be working

Priming the System typically involves a calisthenics-based exercise that can be ramped up as we begin getting more warm. These should be exercises that you can begin cold without issue – therefore they typically don’t involve huge ranges of motion, high-level explosiveness or heavy resistance. 
Priming usually lasts 3-5 minutes, is moderate in intensity and should be continuous to keep the heart rate up.

Get in a fighting stance, hop from the balls of your feet and quickly switch your front leg every fourth jump. Think "1, 2, 3, switch!" "1, 2, 3, switch!"

Stance Switches

Start with one knee up and "athletic arms". Quickly switch your arms and legs and return to the starting position. Perform 5 reps on both sides. 

Our focus is improving power and coordination in our triple flexion, or knee drive. 

Triple flexion is the combined motion of hip, knee and ankle flexion. This is an important pattern to improve many athletic movements, including sprinting, kicking and of course many movements in tricking. 

We also improve takeoff and landing mechanics during this drill as the switch requires single leg dynamic stability.

High Knee Switches

Pick a line (real or imaginary) and hop over it laterally on one leg. Hop for 20 sec without pause. Perform on both legs.

The focus here is on good trunk, hip, knee and ankle alignment. Try to hop lightly while staying on the balls of your feet.

Side Hops

Priming the System

The goal of Activity-specific mobility is to prepare the body for the mobility demands of the activity your are about to do. 

There is an important difference between mobility and flexibility however. We want to avoid any static stretching before activity as this has been shown by the research to inhibit muscle function, reduce power and therefore can potentially increase risk of injury. 

Instead, we want to focus on mobility exercises, which engages and trains our muscles to get into appropriate ranges of motion related to our activity. Mobility exercises have a stability component to them so that we are CONTROLLING our movement.

The Cossack Squat is an amazing strength, mobility and coordination drill for the lower extremities. It is helpful in mobilizing our feet and ankles, knees, hips and lower back. 

To do it right:

1) Begin in a wide stance that is comfortable for you

2) Shift to one side, performing a single leg squatting motion while the free leg remains grounded 

3) Spin the free leg outwards while keeping heel contact to mobilize the adductor and hamstrings

4) Hold for 5-10 seconds before returning to a stand

5) Only perform this to a depth where good form and alignment are maintained

6) Perform on both sides for 1 repetition

Cossack Squat

One of my favorite mobility drills! It is so effective in helping with the common movement restrictions we have in the hips and spine. 

In kicking (think hook kick) we often need to rotate from our spine while extending and rotating through our hips. This is a really useful one for getting the kinks out before kicking. 

Don't forget to rotate your head with the rest of your torso by looking at the ceiling.

Rotate towards the front leg. Perform on both sides.

Lunge with Thoracic Rotation

Piriformis walks are excellent for a dynamic warmup or mobility session. Support your ankle and knee joints as shown. Perform both sides for one rep.

Piriformis Walks

In hurdler rocks, we transition from a half splits position to a hurdlers stretch position. We move through this drill ACTIVELY, with arm support as needed. Notice that the straight leg rotates towards the ceiling during the descent. 

There should be no knee pain with the bent leg. If you are experiencing this, try maintaining a 90 degree angle at the knee or reducing the depth of this exercise. Over time, your range will improve. 

This exercise is great for opening up the adductors, hamstrings and hip rotators. Perform both sides.

Hurdler Rocks

Begin this drill in a straddle position with hand support. ACTIVELY rotate through your hips from a straddle to a front split position. Use your legs and core to help you rotate through each position. 

Notice the back leg aims to be square to the floor as your flexibility allows. This will improve over time. 

This exercise is great for opening up the hip flexors, adductors, hamstrings and hip rotators in a 3 dimensional way. Perform both sides.

Rotating Splits

Mobility

The goal of Activity-Specific Stability is to prepare the body to stabilize our joints during activity in order to prevent injury and improve performance. We do this by “turning on” muscles in the upper and lower extremity as well as around the spine. There is usually less range of motion in these exercises compared to the mobility section of our warmup, and the idea is to now increase control of that mobility we just worked on. 

Remember that certain movement patterns hit multiple areas and therefore may be more time-efficient. For example, planking variations often involve the total body and are usually a staple in warmups we prescribe.

This is a side plank, clamshell and round kick all in one! 

Notice the bottom leg and trunk. They are bringing us from a side-lying position into the side plank, with motions VERY similar to performing a standing round kick.

The goal with the top leg is to kick as high as possible with control. The chamber should be brought as high as possible before the kick is thrown.

Sideplank Round Kicks

This drill helps us dissociate, or separate our trunk from our hips. Many times we move the body together, resulting in poor kicking technique. 

By training the trunk and hips to move in opposition, we can improve our technique and stability in our kicking.

Quadruped Hook Kicks

Stability

Movement preparation is where we do athletic movement that mimics our activity. We progress just as we did in Priming the System – meaning we ramp up in intensity over time while listening to our bodies. We also ramp up in complexity, starting with simple athletic drills and ending with basic movement patterns for our session. 

The idea of preparing for your session is to be thorough and mindful of all movements you might perform, while not fatiguing yourself mentally or physically for your session. You should feel like you took a bit of pre-workout or caffeine because your body has produced the feel good endorphins from your warm up. You should have a light to moderate sweat going and you should feel amped to perform, not tired.

Use a wall for support, bringing your leg up as high and as straight as possible. 

I like to point toes to reduce nerve tension and to drill toe point for kicking. A flexed foot is also ok if not painful or causing a 'pins and needles' sensation. 

Ramp up in intensity and range, listening to your body.

Front Leg Lift

Use a wall for support, bringing your leg up as high and as straight as possible. 

Notice I initiate the swing by facing the wall. After my kicking leg passes my stance leg, I turn my hips over to the side to mimic a side or hook kick range of motion. Keep your kicking leg in line with your shoulders. 

Ramp up in intensity and range, listening to your body.

Side Leg Lift

Use a wall for support, bringing your leg up as high and as straight as possible. 

Notice I am using both arms now, with my trunk fully square to the wall. A common mistake I see with this is people getting most of the motion from the lower back rather than the hip.

It is very important to tense your core here and move through the hips. Your leg will not go as high, but your will feel it more in your hip flexors (stretching) and glutes (working) rather than compressing your lower back.

Kick with your hips, not your back.

Ramp up in intensity and range, listening to your body.

Back Leg Lift

This is a useful drill to train your kicks without momentum. 

Standing kicks help us focus more on technique, such as hip turnover, pivoting and posture, rather than relying on momentum to get kick height and power. 

1 rep = all four kicks in a row as shown. Perform 3 reps per side. 

If you need drills to progress these kicks, use light wall support and check out our KickStrong program!

Standing Front, Round, Side, Hook

This is a useful drill to train your kicks with momentum. This helps us work on kicking combinations and mimics the momentum and hip turnover we often see in Tricking.  

The more your turn your hips over in the round kick, the easier it will be to do so in the hook kick. Think of kicking something off of a table without ever hitting the table.

1 rep = round kick followed by the hook kick. Perform 3 reps per side. 

If you need drills to progress these kicks, use light wall support and check out our KickStrong program!

Spinning Round - Hook

This is a useful drill to train your knee drive, hip turnover and footwork in kicking. This helps us work on kicking combinations and mimics the momentum and hip turnover we often see in Tricking.  

Think -  tornado kick with a knee, and before putting your second leg down, hop over to perform a hook kick with your other knee. 

1 rep = round "knee" followed by the hook "knee". Perform 3 reps per side. 

If you need drills to progress these kicks, use light wall support and check out our KickStrong program!

Knee Autobahn

This drill is amazing for training cheat and wrap kick transitions a more controlled environment. 

Think Tornado kick or C7 without the kick. Your goal is to set as high as possible, to work on spotting targets for when you do kick and to land as controlled as possible. 

Challenge yourself and perform on both sides!

If you need drills to progress to this, check out our KickStrong program!

Cheat Takeoff Hops

Movement Prep

TSRX Kicking Warmup

Renato

Flip

Recovery Mode (Cooldown Routine)

Love it! Feel better now when i actually start training

Sam Burnett

Been doing this before every session and I feel great

Aidan

Rafal

No Equipment Tricking Warmup

I think I've just found my new fave warm up!

Phillip

Challenging but rewarding at the same time

Baniaga

KB Warmup x Conditioning for Tricking

The only other thing I could ask for is a short summary list off all the exercises discussed at the end of a section. There was one in the stability section, but I don’t believe there was one for the mobility section. Otherwise very informative!

TSRX Kicking Warmup

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