When I still made replays somewhat consistently, I'd spend a good hour doing nothing but quickly making the first 50-200 frames of a replay and saving it, then starting a new one, inputting random engage distances between 100 to 1000 each time.
Afterwards, I'd go through them later to see which ones are utter horseshit in retrospect, and which have potential. The ones with potential invariably end up being tossed sometimes during another inspection period, or held on. Process repeats until I either finish or toss all the openers. I think I would go through anywhere from 10 to 50 openings to get 1 finished replay. It's also why a few of my replays have v2 or v3 on the end of them, as they're improved upon from older "finished" products.
I don't really have any little tricks per say other than brute forcing everything. Maybe relaxing my ankles whenever I kick might be my only trick, and that's just because it can generate more momentum when relaxed than if it were any other position. Also, contracting the wrist slightly before any punch. It's much easier to break a joint when you add the little flick of extending the wrist just before the punch connects.