Krav Maga - Side Kick (Tips to Improve Balance)

This video shows a few tips to help the student's balance while performing the side kick.
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Transcript:
"Hello, this is Randall with KravMagaTraining.com and with this video we are going to give you some tips to help you with the balance of the side kick.
In our particular program we teach the side kick as part of our Level 2 curriculum. For those students who first learn the side kick, out of all the kicks we teach at Level 2, the side kick gives them the most trouble. Mostly because they have a lot of balance issues. They fill unstable, they don't fill comfortable throwing the kick, and if their balance is off everything else about the kick is going to get thrown off. The power, the accuracy, etc. So I'm going to give you some tips today to help you improve that.
Okay, tip number one for the side kick, a real common mistake is, when I watch newer students do it their base foot, they don't pivot all the way around. What I mean by that is, when they kick they kind of do a half-ass turn like this. Notice that my foot is turned off at an angle and as our students are taught the back of the heel is supposed to be pointed directly towards the target. So when they do the pivot, make sure that the pivot goes all the way around like this, instead of doing just a half turn. When you first learn the technique, it is acceptable to pre-turn your foot like this. You can actually practice from this position. But eventually you are going to have to learn from wherever you're standing in your passive stance to be able to pivot and throw the kick. That way you're not adding an extra step for slowing the technique down. I feel like I'm being attacked from the side, I need to be able to pivot and throw the kick immediately. So it's okay to pre-turn when you first learn but start pivoting all the way around. Remember, ALL the way around. Back of the heel pointing towards the target.
Tip number two that's going to help you with your balance is make sure that your base knee is bent. A lot of beginners when they throw the kick, this leg right here is relatively straight. As a matter of fact, you can't even see my knee through my pants. What it should be is like this. When your knee has bent you're going to feel a lot more stable. Think of your knee is kind of like a shock absorber. It's adjustable. What you can do with it is you can bend your knee and when in doubt you can bend it more. Especially when I have a larger opponent, especially an opponent who is very aggressive advancing towards me, it's going to be that much more important to bend my knees and get really low when I throw that kick or they're going knock me backwards, so I can ground myself. So make sure as you pivot, this knee is bent. You can even bend your knees first. So I realize I'm being attacked from the side, bend your knees, and then deliver the kick. The important thing is to keep the knee bent as you execute the kick. I see a lot of students do a good job starting low but as the kick goes out they kind of straighten up. Granted I exaggerated that but you can understand the point..."
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