How to do the 540 kick

Ok sry maybe it doesnt belong in this forum.
I am going to take a tumbling martial arts class on Mondays. So I can get in kungfu Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

I don't have any advice as to how to perform the kick, but there are some torrent sites that currently have a Taekwondo Revolution dvd available for download. It's about 3 Gigs to download it, should take a day or so. It's a two part tape, part one is in English and discusses the most basic of TKD kicks. Part two is in Korean and discusses several of the most difficult kicks including aerial and spinning kicks found in tricking and break breaking stunts.

Although I don't understand Korean the instructional video demonstrates good exercises for practicing these kicks. good luck,

Thanks I will check those out later.

I'll help you out, dude:) I just want to make it entirely clear that a 540 and other trick kicks aren't TKD.

That being said, how is your tornado kick? (Some schools call it a jump spin round.) A lot of people try to skip ahead to 540 before their tornado kick is good enough. I'm not saying you are one of them, but if your tornadoes aren't fast, high, and somewhat floaty, that could be your problem right there.

If they are pretty good, the second hang up would be if you are not using your upper body enough. A 540 doesn't need a lot of height. It looks better with lots of air, but all it really needs is a lot of speed. You get it from two places, your kicking leg (duh) and your upper body. You really need to start with your back twisted all the way out of the spin, then as you are jumping you torque your upper body all the way with the spin until you are twisted to the other side.

I know that sounds confusing, but it will make sense if you watch some 540 videos on youtube or something. Everyone who does this kick well twist their upper bodies hardcore. You can find video tutorials on there too, which are pretty good at breaking down the move step by step as they freeze frame the movement. Thats how I learned it.

You can achieve a 540 without jumping very high. Start with right foot back stance. Then take a step forward. When the right foot hits the ground hit your 360. Gradually work the jump spin in. By gradually I mean start with a skip. It takes patience and a lot of practice to get this kick without falling on you heiney. The key is the 360 comes at the peak of the jump. It also helps to start with a target of sorts. If you have any friends that trust you with the practice have them stand a few feet infront of you. This way you can visualize a head target. I hope this helps.

Thanks guys,
Yeah I have watched the tutorials and everyone has done that major twist with their body. I have to work on that more. As for landing on your kicking leg seems to be the hardest part for me,any advice for that?

The landing on your kicking leg should come naturally. When I first started learning this kick I thought of it as a tornado landed on the kicking leg, and as long as I thought of it that way I never landed it, because I was forcing it. As soon as I was told about how to use my upper body I was landing it the same day. That really is the key. If you do the set up right, and twist hard, the landing will happen on it's own. If you still have trouble, try not extending your kick all the way and concentrate on getting the rotation down, get to know how the spin is suppose to feel, and once you get comfortable with that start adding the kick.

If you can, post a vid and we'll be able to help you more specifically.

Alright.
Hopefully doing the EMA I think is what you call it will help. I still havent had time since my family has been doing wedding stuff but maybe soon I can do it.

cool, good luck:)

im still on the spinning hill kick, hard to learn

Thats the same as a spin hook, right? Do you want help with that?

I think I almost have it. I feel like it is easier when I did it yesterday. Hopefully I can practice everyday this week and see my results.

Question again on this kick.
How do you practice landing on the kicking foot? I have a good tackoff and kick. But I always land on my other foot.
Any help would be appreciated

Jump higher,, and ummm,,, land on the other foot??

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Practice my friend, practice.

Haha yeah practice will help. And I will get in tons of practice.
Checked out this guys tutorial on youtube and I think I found what I have to do anyways.

The trick to landing on your other foot is really just to use your upper body. Twist that around hard and fast enough and your legs will follow.

I landed my first by accident. I was only trying to get the feel of REALLY torquing my upper body and out of the blue I landed on my kicking foot.

Good luck with your practice. Make sure to post back when you've got it. Then I can give you my tips on the double leg;)

Yeah I torque my upper body but not enough.
Also I think I have to look where I want to go cuz it makes it easier.

Definitely. Your body will go where your head goes. That's actually the biggest tip for the double leg, so you're farther along than you think:)

Latest issue in TKD Times has an article on the 540 - though it is worded well the pictures won't help in the execution of the kick. Most people's "540" is really a true 360 anyway.

Master Weiss,

Yes sir. I was thinking the same thing. BTW the pictures don't really show the progression of the kick either. Might as well be individual still photo's. Pictures in this case might be worth 1,000 words.

Taekwon,

Nick

A regular spin kick it 360 degrees. Standing right leg forward you spin 180, kick with the left, then spin another 180 and land with your left leg in back. So a right leg in front to right leg in front is 360 degrees. In a 540, standing with right leg in front you will land with your right leg in back. Its 360 degrees up to the kick, then another 180 for the landing.

Granted, a lot of people who say they can 540 actually cheat the landing by landing to the side instead of pushing for the whole 180 landing. Those people are liars.