Do you have tight hips? A tight lower back? Knee problems? If this sounds familiar, you may be able to address all three issues just by kicking. That’s according to mobility expert and personal trainer Mike Chang.
“Kicking is a great way to loosen up your hips, hamstrings, and lower back,” writes Chang in his Instagram post on the subject. “It’s often overlooked and seen more as a martial arts movement than an exercise for increasing lower-body mobility.
“It also increases your balance, strengthens your core, ankles, knees, as well as increasing your foot strength from shifting your weight onto one foot. The most important thing to remember when starting to do kicks is to do a little bit each day to recondition your body’s ability to perform this exercise.”
Read on for more advice from Chang about how to introduce kicking into your fitness routine.
How to add kicking to your routine
The first thing that struck me about Chang’s video was how high he was able to bring his foot with each kick. Don’t expect to get your foot that high without a lot of practice, see it as the potential mobility you could achieve with patient, progressive practice.
“If you haven’t kicked in a while you can do knee raises, raise your knees forward, raise them to the side, you can raise them in a half circle and you can also kick very low to start off with,” says Chang.
“Don’t kick really hard, but just extend your legs out and over time you’re going to find it easier and easier to raise them up higher and higher.
“Start off with maybe a minute at a time then work up until you can do maybe five minutes at a time. Try this out and feel how great your hips, your knees, your lower back and everything feels.”
I tried it
Jonathan Shannon
After a pre-work gym session and a morning at my desk at home, my hips felt tighter than usual so I decided to give kicking a try. I quickly changed from jeans into yoga pants to let my legs move more freely, and within moments I was kicking away.
At first, I noticed a soft clicking in my knees and ankles but the movement soon became more fluid, as if my body was loosening up. It was a good reminder to start any activity gently and let your body warm up slowly.
My limited mobility meant my feet never got higher than hip level, but it felt good to explore new movement, like I was doing myself some good.
Before returning to my desk to type this, I tried these three physical therapist-approved stretches to release stiff hips. The combination of the two was a great way to spend five minutes away from my desk. I can certainly see myself using kicking as an exercise snack during mini breaks from work.
