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12 Kicking Secrets
John Matich
Article posted on 6/20/2005
I've compiled a list of 12 suggestions that will guarantee success in your kicking game. My recommendations include: hiring a coach, find a workout partner, perform functional training, do aerobic exercises, take flexibility classes, list and share your goals, eat healthy low-fat foods, grinding down your cleats for better contact, video yourself, and treating yourself to massages.
- The number one thing you can do to ensure progress in any sport is to work with a personal coach. Find an experienced kicking coach who can help you with your field goals, punting, and kickoffs. Find out about their experience, usually a good coach will at least have some college and professional experience. Usually they will be happy to assist you with the recruiting process for college or NFL goals.
- Working with a coach is a step in the right direction, but you should also have a workout teammate and kicking partner to help motivate you further. Go ahead and compete against each other which tends to bring more intensity to a session. Whether you are on the football field or in the weight room, you can push each other to reach new goals to take it to the next level.
 When you are training, work out at least two days each week, focusing on functional strength, balance, and core strength to add distance and height to your kicking. Since your kicking power is derived from your core and hips, this will help greatly. Functional strength is the connection between training and performance. Functional fitness involves balance, coordination, timing, and training in multiple planes of motion. It allows an athlete to train in the same fashion as their specific sport. For example, if a punter does not begin on balance, he will not finish on balance. This is often the case because athletes don't always train based on the demands of their sport.
- Players in this sport frequently focus on strength training and balance, but skip on aerobics. I recommend three days of cardiovascular exercise each week to improve your stamina and endurance. Choose one of those days to keep your heart rate up for at least an hour. You can run hills, perform speed and agility drills or simply get on a treadmill. Use one of those three days to kick it into high gear for at least 30-40 minutes. You can bike, hike, play a sport such as basketball, singles tennis, or soccer. The idea is to keep you motivated with a challenging activity that you enjoy.
- Not all exercises have to include weights or a ball: take a Pilates or yoga class. These classes are excellent for improving balance and flexibility.
- Before you even begin a kicking program, you should sit down and write down your goals. Don't forget to tell your coach, your friends, and your family about your ambitions; these people will help keep you focused. The more specific you are in what you want to accomplish, the more likely you will attain what you set out to achieve.
 Another goal you will want to work on is eating the right foods and consuming the appropriate number of calories for your size and lifestyle. It is better and healthier to eat several small meals a day instead of three large meals. Commit to a minimum of four small meals per day during the workweek, but six small portions would be ideal. You will feel better, burn more calories, and never be starved. Remember, eating frequently helps maintain lean muscle mass and prevents fat storage. Set your stopwatch every three hours to remind yourself to eat a small healthy snack.
- Eating healthy doesn't need to be boring and you are allowed to cheat once in a while, just don't eat a whole pizza or an entire container of ice cream. Stick to your nutrition goals strictly Monday through Friday by eating lean meats, poultry, vegetables, and fresh fruits. Definitely avoid all fast food like burgers, French fries and deep-fried foods. Also avoid sodas and candy which are just empty calories and have no nutritional value. Commit to a healthy diet during the week so you can reward yourself on the weekend. When the weekend arrives, keep it reasonable, but have a treat. You deserve it.
- I'm not going to drill healthy eating habits anymore then I have to so let's instead discuss something else: a project. You can spend anywhere from $20 to $50 on a football holder at your local sports store, or you can make one yourself for just $3. Jog, don't drive, to your local hardware store and buy a couple of feet of PVC pipe and one joint bracket and cut them to your desired height.
- Now that you have your own custom placement holder, let's get those cleats to the correct size. Grind the first two cleats on your kicking shoe (molded cleats only) either with a commercial grinder at a local hardware store or kick your shoes into the concrete until you get the desired length. Grind down the first two cleats, just enough so you have traction underneath your big toe. It will allow you to make better contact with the football and you will hit the ground a lot less. For place-kickers, I recommend wearing a studded cleat on your plant leg and a molded soccer shoe on your kicking foot when kicking on grass.
 Filming yourself will also improve your game. By recording a few of your sessions on video, you can review your kicking technique at home to see what you need to improve on. An old VHS camcorder will do the trick and it will be easy to use.
- After all this work you deserve a massage! Go to a massage therapist who specializes in sports massage and myofasical release techniques to work on your hips since most kickers are tight in their hip section. Areas such as hip flexors, psoas and piriformis, IT Band and hamstring are key areas to work on. Treat yourself to a massage at least once a month. It will relax those strained muscles add to flexibility and it also feels great!
Now that you have your own personal coach, a workout partner, strength train, do cardiovascular workouts, take flexibility classes, set and keep goals, eat well and often, use your own custom football holder, have your cleats grinded down to the right size, analyzed your movements on tape and enjoy monthly massages, you are on the road to success!
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