Solo Training. Loren W. Christensen

front kick as before and use your hand to lift it even higher. This time, hold it for 30 seconds and then lower your foot to the ground without kicking. Do 10 reps, but use your hip and leg muscles on the last three to keep your chamber as high as possible with just a minimum of help from your hands.

       1 set, 10 reps — each leg

       Building Speed in your Chamber

      Before we look at the exercises, allow me to make a little announcement here. If you are less than 30 years of age, you probably won’t believe what I’m going to say, but if you are over 30, you understand exactly what I’m saying. Here is my announcement: Your joints—shoulders, elbows, hips and knees—are not going to tolerate your snapping them in the air and slamming heavy bags forever. While there are some people who can get away with it for several years without a problem, there are others who cannot.

      Which one are you? You don’t know, and that is the problem. If you go 30 years before your joints start to rebel, you know then that you are one of the lucky ones, but if you train for only four years before you start having problems or have irreparable damage, you are not so lucky. Since you have no way of knowing which category you are in, does it not make sense to baby them from the get go?

      But how can you take it easy when proficiency in the martial arts requires lots and lots of repetitions in the air and on the bag? The solution is simple: Don’t do all your reps at maximum speed and power. I understand that is a concept that is hard to accept for fighters who think that every rep must be slammed out as if they are fighting for their lives. If you are one of these people, you have to change your way of thinking if you want to enjoy the fighting arts for many years.

      I’m continuously searching for exercises that develop technique, power and speed but do not require pounding out bone-wearing reps. The good news is that there are plenty of them out there; the bad news is that I didn’t discover them until about 10 years ago. But better late than never. I’m convinced that I’m still training because I made the switch in my thinking. I encourage you to also explore exercises and drills that are easy on your joints.

      Here are eight exercises that are easy on your hip bones, but still develop the muscles necessary for a fast chamber. They are not easy, so grit your teeth and, as they say in those hanging-fern restaurants—enjoy.

      Front knee chamber Up against the wall! Although I uttered those four words a few hundred times during my police career, this time I’m saying them to get you in position to work on developing fast chambers. If you haven’t got a wall, which is a little hard to imagine, use the back of a kitchen chair. This is an easy-on-your joints exercise that develops flexibility and speed in the chambering portion of your front kick, and any other kick that begins similarly. It also gets you huffing and puffing, which makes for an excellent aerobic workout. If you lift weights, consider doing these between sets to keep your heart rate elevated.

      Place your palms on a wall at about shoulder height and position your feet side-by-side about two feet back. Incline your body about 45 degrees toward the wall and then raise your left knee as high as you are able. Set it down and immediately raise your right one as high as you can. Think of striking yourself in the chest with your knees as you alternate as fast and as high as you can.

       3 sets, 25-50 reps — each knee

      Roundhouse chamber Support yourself on a wall or chair with one hand and lean slightly to the side as you do when executing your roundhouse kick. Turn your stationary foot away from the direction you are kicking and keep it in that position as you snap up your roundhouse chamber and then lower it. Keep your stationary foot turned as you repetitiously snap your chamber up and down. You can either touch your foot to the floor each time or stop it an inch short. Push yourself to go faster and faster.

       3 sets, 20 reps — each leg

      Side kick chamber Use the same format you used with the roundhouse chamber. The difference is that you lift your knee closer to your midsection (if your style chambers it differently, do this exercise anyway; it’s good for you), and position the bottom or the edge of your foot toward the imaginary target. Do it for speed.

       3 sets of 20 reps — each leg

      Double side kick chamber How you return your side kick is very important. When you return your kick on the same path as it went out on, you unconsciously kick correctly out to the target. A common error beginners make, however, is to launch their side kick out and then return it by snapping their heel back toward their rear, as if they had just thrown a roundhouse kick After a few of these, their side kick begins going out to the target more like a roundhouse. To correct this, they need to stress returning the side kick on the same path it went out on.

      I got this simple exercise from a taekwondo friend, and I’ve used it for years because it not only develops speed, but it ensures that the retraction is done properly. Chamber your leg as you normally do when side kicking, launch the kick and then retract your leg all the way back into the same tight chamber you used to launch it. You get two chambers per kick, which arguably develops your side kick twice as fast.

       3 sets, 10 reps — each leg

      Note: While the double side kick chamber is a good exercise and learning device, the extra time it takes to tightly chamber your leg after you have kicked might get you scored on in competition or hurt when defending yourself against a skilled fighter. Therefore, consider this only as an exercise. When applying the side kick in a tournament or the street, bring your leg back about 12 inches and then quickly set it down and continue hitting.