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[Martin Côté (martincote)]

I started my warm ups with a new simple drill lately, i do consecutives with one leg and preferebly my weaker one (outside left). I used to do rainbows for warm up (condecutives alternatining left and right outside kicks) It's very good as a warm up but didn't seems to help me that much with my weaker side (my left). I hate that my left still fails on me after all those years and the fact that i'm not skilled enough to be able to use only one side .

So I've been thinking a lot about what could i do to help my cursed side. I find that doing consec with one side helps a lot at figuring out quickly what are the mechanics for doing a good controlled kick.

One thing i could observe while doing it is that it takes good balance just to execute a few consecs, now to be able to 50 consec (my goal) without dropping on my weaker outside kick , it will take very good control (kicking the bag on the right spot on the shoe), a good shoulder opening and feet movement, and stamina cause i get tired so fast so far.

I have to say that i've never been that excited about a drill.

[Christopher Siebert (conan)]

Good one as usual Martin! In addition to standing rainbows (outside>outside) and same-side consecs, I do a "hopping outside" to simulate the hopping outside receptions in the net game.

Adding a little hop to the outside kick changes the trajectory and adds challenge.

Conan

[Martin Côté (martincote)]

I don't know about you Chris, but for me so far, that little drill has done miracles. I've been doing it for almost two months, 10 minutes before kicks, 3 times a week. I feel so at ease now with my left that there's almost no difference with my right. Don't need to cheat anymore at serve reception.

The whole thing started for me with my frustration at not being able receive/control Franki's serves (i was struggling even with my right). Like i had to do something. So far that warm up has exceed my expectations. I can even dig with my left now.. It's pretty cool to think that at 50, my game can still improve.

[Alex Ibardaloza (Zeke)]

This is a great idea! I'll have to start doing this.

[Martin Côté (martincote)]

Hope you'll get the kind of results i got and i'm curious to hear how it went for you.

One thing you can expect though, is that it will most likely feels quite ackward at first, unless you have a natural flexibility on your weaker side. For me the first few consecs with my left feels almost painfull, so at first i won't actually do consec on one leg but i'll alternate inside right, outside left until it feels loose enough to hit more consec with my left outside only. Then the challenge is more about controlling the bag which is really not obvious but so much rewarding when you start to feel that the bag is actually going where you want to.

I'd say, if you can manage to hit 10 in control consecs with you weaker leg, it will most likely show after in your game.