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I'm in good physical health, exercise regularly and having been training capoeira for about a year. While technique is certainly a part of it, I've still been unable to kick more than waist high with an Armada or Queixada (dictionary of terms). I feel like the tension during a kick is in my waist and hamstrings. What stretches or other techniques can I do on my off days to help get my kicks higher?

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This would be a better fit on martialarts.stackexchange.com – JohnP Jan 4 at 5:13
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I both agree and disagree with John. I disagree because stretching is part of physical fitness and those questions are fine here. I agree with him because even after reading the link I still don't grasp exactly how your body is placed for this kick and the people in martialarts.stackexchange.com would be better suited to help. – Grohlier Jan 4 at 13:45
My best answer is to buy Tom Kurz' Stretching Scientifically. – Dave Liepmann Jan 4 at 14:13
Stretching is part of physical fitness, but this is a very directed, specific type of question. Also, it may not be a flexibility issue, it may be that the practitioner is not relaxed during the execution of the kicks. Relaxation during any martial arts kick is another key element to height/length of a kick. – JohnP Jan 4 at 14:29
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@JohnP Thanks for the link, I didn't realize that martialarts.stackexchange.com was a thing! I'll direct the more specific questions to that site in the future. – Hooked Jan 4 at 15:22
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A good place to start looking is ExRx's list of stretches per muscle. Generally, whenever you feel that a muscle is not flexible enough for your goals (what you described as "tension"), you should try to make that muscle more flexible.

For the kicks you mentioned, it seems to me that hip adductors and hamstrings would be the muscles involved, but I never executed those particular movements so I'm not sure. The link I gave has stretches for those two muscles (and many more).

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