Ok, not sure if this should go in the body mechanics forum, but here goes. Basically I have been trying to heighten my kicks and speed them up.

Can be this be done by a lot of stretching before exercise or just practise of technique.

And even thought I am warming up before practising anything, I get a painful feeling in my thigh when kicking higher than I am used to.

If anyone here can help, it would be appreciated.

FF,

I am not sure how high you actually want to kick, but each style has a certain archetypal style of kick they follow. Basically, that a high kick in one style can be different from another with slightly different mechanics.

A high round house kick, however requires both muscle strength and flexibility. The muscle strength will be in the quads, hamstrings, and the glute.

The flexibility will be in and around the hip joint as well as the leg itself...in particular, the supporting leg of the kick.

Then, high kicks require that requisite practice to be able to move past that staccato movement where you are breaking down the motions of the kick into its constituent parts and smoothing it out from chamber, use of the hip and finally throwing the kicking leg out there.

Practice....and the some more practice...and you'll get it.

-B

Just to add to what butterfly said. You need good core strength too for high kicks so work on your lower back, obliques and abs too.

As butterfly says, the best way to speed up technique is to practice, and then practice some more.

working on your dynamic flexiblity with leg raises twice per day (kicks are examples of dynamic flexilbity) will help more than traditional static stretches alone.