I love martial arts, and am a decent fighter, but have also wanted to learn a spinning back kick for some time. Now that I've learned it, I am having a problem with all my kicks. It's extreemly hard for me to kick above my stomache. I am 14 years old, 5ft 5in, and around 145lbs, and no weakling. If I can have some help on how to increace my kicking heigth, I would appreciate it.

BTW, no technical terms, I don't know much, so explination on each excersize would work.

First of all, knowledge is power, so have a look here for an explanation of all the techniqcal terms:

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/15830708/an/0/page/0#15830708

Secondly, a good site that will give you many good step by step stretching exercises:

http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flx3#ddf_2

Like I posted on another thread:

A great link to look at to understand what these look like is:

web page

I would advise doing most of these dynamic stretches.
Also have you read or can you get hold of Thomas Kurz's 'Stretching Scientifically' seeing as he shows a lot of stretches, which would be rather hard to explain without images.
In the fourth Edition of this book it even has a good workout for kick boxers in it.
It is only a sample workout but he says:

General warm-up:

Rotations of joints followed by skipping, and then the dynamic stretches as mentioned.

Specific Warm-Up:

Knee Kicks followed by roundhouse kicks

Main Part:

This could be paddle drills or kicking a bag

Cool down:

Front lunges, side lunges, isometric stretches, relaxed stretches and jumping rope.

This is pulled straight out of a sample workout in his forth edition book. I think its a great workout but I would advise you to read the whole book before jumping in with any stretches you are unsure about.

You may even want to ask one of you instructors as they will probably be rather flexible. Just ask what they did to become so flexible.

I hope this helps, and keeps you busy for a while.

You beat me to it again Supremor.
The links that he has given are very good for guidance.
Also seeing that you are only 14 this is the best time to stretch, although please ensure you do it safely and not to cause injury as this could decrease your flexibility.
So good luck and train hard.

Quote:

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You beat me to it again Supremor.

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They call me the fastest typist in the west.

It must be true because I read the thread and then typed my message and yours was already there.
Honestly though dynamic stretches are the best for you in my honest opinion. Take a look at the link we both provided as this shows what they are and how to do them.

lol, thansk alot guys!

I hope the information we gave you was easy to understand and also I hope that this helps you.