Side Kick drill
Flexibility is a good thing. But I wouldn’t be too concerned about the height of your side kicks. You can deliver perfectly good and devastating side kicks to your attacker’s knee. I’d concentrate more on developing the muscles that make that technique work.
I used to practice side kicks by doing slow-static kicks. Think of the side kick as having four positions. The drill is to practice the kick very slowly, holding each of the four position for a count of ten. And yes, it burns.
*Pick up the knee to chamber the kick
*Extend the kick (lead with the heel, hip turned over, keep upper body as straight as possible.)
*Retract the kick to the chambered position
*Foot down
So imagine standing up straight. Grab something if you need to. Chamber the kick (count to ten), extend (count to ten), retract (count to ten), and put the foot down (count to ten). Don’t forget to breathe, try to keep your guard up, and repeat until your leg falls off.
I find this helps to build the muscles (particularly the glutes) that make the side kick work. It should eventually help with speed and power of the kick (regardless of the height).
