60 Minutes of Vertical Kicking Super Fun
Vertical kicking is an intense cardiovascular workout that works big muscle groups in your legs, glutes, hips, and shoulders while improving your body’s overall strength and co-ordination.
From a standing position, you kick your legs up to 30 inches in height, keeping your legs straight. Imagine kicking the sky. You lean back and use your core muscles to keep balance. The exercise is easier on your back than the typical floor kick.
Vertical kicking is different than forward kicking because your leg is vertical, instead of pointing forward.
You can do vertical kicking with ankle weights to increase the intensity.
Try this at home vertical kicking set-up that will make your legs start shaking. Choose a sturdy piece of furniture. Your vertical kicking set-up should be approximately 15-20 inches from the floor.
Materials
Sturdy chair, sofa, or table.
How to Set-up
Place bottle of water in high position.
Remove shoes from your kicking leg(s).
Place towel over bottle of water to avoid hard hit on your kicking leg(s) when you kick it.
The towel should be hanging over your kicking leg(s) slightly. Your kicking leg(s) should not touch the bottle.
Place the other leg(s) on the floor for balance.
Part 1
Practice Lean Kicking
Start by sitting about a foot away from a kickboard and placing your feet on it with your heels on the edge. Make sure you maintain a 90-degree bend in your knees. Lean forward slightly and place your hands on the floor in front of you. You’ll want your shoulders over your hands when you start lifting.
Start with 3-5 sets of 10 reps, then gradually add weight with a backpack or other weighted gear, as well as doing sets of 10-30 to failure. You can also do this exercise on a bench if you don’t have a kickboard available.
Part 2
Aerobic Set
This set is quite simple. In this set, you will perform 4 intervals of 60 seconds training with 30 seconds rest.
First, you will perform 2-3 minutes of light cardio (running, biking, rowing, etc.), and then you will perform the following exercises:
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Sit-ups
- Jumping Jacks
Repeat this 3 more times.
Once you finish with the aerobic set, take a short break (1-2 minutes) and then proceed to the weight training part of this workout.
Part 3
The Workout
We’re now ready to give your legs a workout.
Workout 1: Beginner
For the first two weeks of this program, follow this workout every other day.
9 Grab Bag 10 Seconds 1 Minute
1 Squat: Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Keeping your chest up and back straight, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
2 Jump Squat: Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Keeping your chest up and back straight, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Explode upward and jump as high as you can. Land with your feet together, knees soft, and knees pointing down. Take a quick, deep breath into your belly.
Part 4
In this 4 part series we’ll cover the Vertical Jump, the Lunge Jump, the Push Up Jump and the Squat Jump. Every exercise in this vertical jump series is simple and will help you build up the power in no time.
Building up your vertical jump is simple, and it can be done without the help of a jump-specific machine or basket ball. If you follow the plan below, get into some aggressive vertical jumping training and strength training 3-5 days a week, you will see very good results within a few months.
In this post, I’ll discuss the Vertical Jump, Vertical Jump exercises, the squat jump and some training tips. In the next post I’ll discuss the lunge jump and some more training tips. In the third post I’ll discuss the push up jump and the last post will summarize the entire 6 part vertical jump series.
Let’s start with the most fundamental, the Vertical Jump.
Would you like more help with your kick?
The great thing about the vertical kick set is that it can easily be used as a warm up by cycling through the positions in a slow and controlled manner and get your muscles used to the movement.
This will develop muscular strength and endurance.
Once you feel comfortable, you can increase the speed dramatically and really begin to challenge your shin muscles and calf muscles. When the kicks reach high speed, you’ll feel the muscles in the lower leg contracting hard to keep you from falling forward, which is what causes the burning sensation in the muscles.
If you don’t feel the burn, you’re not kicking hard enough.