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Richard Trovatten has helped more than 200 Muay Thai and MMA athletes unlock head kicks through short, six-week training programs. He is the founder of Mobility For Fighting, and his method is used all over the world by beginners, pro fighters, and international champions. The approach is science-based, includes digital progress tracking, and runs on 10-minute follow-along sessions. You swap these in for your warm-ups and cool-downs, and you get consistent results.
The system focuses on dynamic stretching instead of the static isometrics and loaded gymnastics-style routines many coaches still rely on. Here, he explains why athletes stay stuck, why stretches that look great on Instagram rarely help, and what actually works for developing powerful high kicks in a structured and intentional manner.
Why Most Fighters Can’t Kick High
Plenty of fighters train hard, stretch often, and still get nowhere when it comes to raising their kicks. They assume they’re simply “too stiff,” but that isn’t the problem. They’re training flexibility in the wrong way.
Most athletes rely on a mix of random Instagram drills, the odd yoga class, and long static routines on YouTube. This might help you touch your toes if you keep at it, but it will not increase your kicking height.
Static flexibility has no carryover to dynamic flexibility. Splits take far longer to develop, require long recovery, and demand a completely different training style. And even if you get the splits, they won’t raise your kicks by a single inch. That isn’t opinion. That’s sports science. No study has shown static flexibility transferring to dynamic kicking range.
If your coach tells you to work on mid-splits to raise your kicks, ask for your money back.
The Real Limiter: Your Nervous System
High kicks don’t depend on lengthening muscles or tendons the way splits do. High kicks rely on retraining the central nervous system. Your CNS decides how far and how fast your joints are allowed to move. If it senses instability, it hits the brakes. That brake is the stretch reflex.
You don’t override this reflex when it comes to kicks by doing slow and static stretching. You override it by proving to the nervous system that moving higher and faster is safe. You do that with controlled dynamic stretching repeated hundreds of times each week.
Once your CNS trusts the movement, it gives you more height. The effect compounds. Dynamic work is easy on the joints, needs no recovery, and unlocks high ranges fast.
The Shortest Path To Head Kicks
The formula is simple:
• 10-minute dynamic sessions (2–3 sets per range, 20–30 reps each)
• Twice a day
• For six weeks
This is the scientifically supported sweet spot for retraining the nervous system (Matveev, Fundamentals of Sports Training). Matveev’s work shows that maximum dynamic range can be reached in about eight weeks. High kicks need less than maximum dynamic flexibility, which is why fighters using the MFF method reach head height in six weeks when they complete their sessions.
The work is light, needs no recovery between sessions, and is safe to train daily. Once you gain the range, you only need about twenty high kicks a week to keep it for life.
This is why kicking high improves super fast, while the splits take many months, if not years. You’re overwriting neural pathways, not building physical tissue. Dynamic work is light on the body, so you can train it multiple times a day and every session makes a positive impact. Heavy split training is the opposite. If done right, the muscles involved should be sore and tired after sessions. They take damage in these sessions and will need forty-eight hours to adapt and recover before you can do another session.
https://www.mobilityforfighting.com/roundhouse-headkick-program
Static Work Still Matters. Just Not For Kick Height.
Some coaches say fighters should only train dynamic range. That’s also wrong.
You still need:
• Static-active strength for vulnerable extended positions where you need the ability to stabilise (checks, caught kicks, misses etc)
• Static-passive flexibility to expand your joints' maximum range and help joint recovery
If you only swing your leg, you improve dynamic expression but you will not raise your structural ceiling.
Good training splits:
• Beginners / athletes who can’t yet kick high: 80/20 dynamic to static
• Experienced fighters / athletes with head-height kicks: 20/80 with more strength-at-length work
After The First Dynamic Phase: The Mechanics Are Simple
To keep improving power and control in high kicks, your hips need two things:
• Hip flexors, abductors, and extensors need power to lift the leg explosively through the full range
• Adductors, groin muscles, and hip extensors need the ability to relax and not resist the lift in that same full range
Strengthen the contracting muscles in dynamic and explosive fashion. Lengthen the opposing muscles the same way. That’s it.
Three Fighters. Three Problems. One Solution.
Three athletes in completely different situations. All reached head height in six weeks.
Filip Stoyanov — The Stiff Champion
Filip is a British ISKA champion. Strong, technical, but very stiff. He spent years trying to kick higher with loaded stretching and strength-based routines. Nothing moved. After switching to a dynamic-first MFF phase, his nervous system finally opened. His roundhouse rose by 34 centimetres in six weeks. No soreness. No fatigue. No disruption to his fight camp. And the improvements translated into sparring immediately.
“I got the headkicks like planned. I’m kicking with a lot more ease now and will keep doing the workouts.”
Charlie Howard — The Already Flexible Fighter
Charlie could already kick high, but it took effort. He wanted to see how far he could push his dynamic range. After six weeks, his kicks reached maximum dynamic height and became heavier, cleaner, and effortless. His joints stopped resisting the movement. His active strength and passive ranges improved side by side.
“I got a ridiculous range from the program. I’m honestly surprised six weeks can do so much.”
Mike Hall — The 50-Hour-Week Banker
Mike works more than fifty hours a week in investment banking. No chance of fitting in long sessions, as many other programs require. He too unlocked his head kick in six weeks using the standard two 10-minute blocks per day.
“I keep telling everyone: this training is WD-40 for your hips.”
The routine slotted into his schedule without disrupting Muay Thai or work.
"It was easy with the videos to just go on auto-pilot and get the work done."
How To Structure Head-Kick Training
Remember, your focus is to overwrite the nervous system response with high-frequency dynamic work and short daily sessions.
Here's the routine I put my athletes on:
Morning: 10 minutes of dynamic stretching, ideally before breakfast so blood flow stays in the joints instead of shifting to digestion.
Before training: 10-minute dynamic warm-up tailored to your kicking goal (meaning dynamic stretches in full range into all relevant joint angles).
After training: Optional static-active and passive work to build strength-at-length, expand maximum range, and support recovery.
Six-week phases: The timeline that matches ideal neurological adaptation.
https://www.mobilityforfighting.com/roundhouse-headkick-program
This is the formula that gives MFF athletes fast results without disrupting their normal training.
Final Notes
This is the method used by the 200+ fighters who have completed the Mobility For Fighting programs.
Clear structure. No guesswork. Strong results in six weeks.
If you want to learn more, visit https://www.mobilityforfighting.com/
High-kick programs start at $119, and a new weekly membership with live weekly classes and a full video library is coming soon,
so follow @richardtrovatten and @mobilityforfighting if you want to access to the first 100 free memberships.
