round house stretches?

[oasfc]

when attempting slightly higher round house kicks on both feet sometimes i have trouble getting the full rotation and end up kicking with the inside of my shin instead of a clean connection (if that makes sense). i was wondering if anyone can recommend some stretches or drills to help improve this and get my round houses connecting more cleanly on the center of my shin instead of the side.

[pimpstrocity]

I used to do that, it just makes for an easier path to get your foot up, but it makes for a worse kick.

As far as fixing it, lots of practice. I know thats the last thing most people want to hear but when I was having a lot of trouble with my kicking height I start adding high kicks at the end of every combination when I was doing my bad work. About three weeks of that with a good pre/post stretch and I gained probably a foot of height being able to execute my kick with clean technique.

[Snubnoze707]

Its REALLY hard to describe stretching with text. You really need someone to show you proper stretching in person. Ask around where you train.

[Ninjutsu Master]

look up that elastic steel guy on youtube.

[Sadsully]

Here is a great book on streching in general:
Amazon.com: Stretching Scientifically: A Guide to Flexibility Training (4th Revision ed) (9780940149458): Thomas Kurz: Books

This book is the goods on stretching and gaining flexibility -- when I used it I went from fairly poor flexibility (after several years of half-assed stretching without any real plan) to being able to do full front and side splits after about 3 months.

It really teaches a lot about the different types of stretches, and how to incorporate them into your routine.

[pimpstrocity]

Try putting a chair in front of you and going into a split as deep as you can and holding it, then slowly move a little deeper and hold it, rinse and repeat.

Also sometimes it helps to put something under one foot like a sheet of paper to really help left a foot slide out when your at the very end of what your flexible enough to do.

[Saruhiko]

Tricks Tutorials.com I'd recommend that for all your stretching needs.

[Fytjunkee81]

When I used to do Tang Soo Do we used to have elevated bars bolted to the wall. We would put the back of our heel on the bars and roll the hips to turn the foot in and out as we progressed we would set the bars higher and higher. It opened the hips stretched the hell out of our legs and really helped with the form. You can use anything a bookshelf, counter, tv,dresser...whatever. I could tell you in a month I noticed significant changes. Found it better to do after running, jumping rope, warming up the legs first.