Kicking with the foot

G

grrthetree

Green Belt
@Green
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
1,421
Reaction score
1
I'll sum this up, make it pretty simple.

I cannot kick with my foot, if i make contact with any other part of my leg than the flat of my shin it hurts soooo much. Yet I see guys like Cro Cop who are using alot of force behind head kicks, that land with the foot. Why is that, and how does that happen without breaking your foot? I was sparring today and landed with some of my foot and I can hardly walk.
 
I experience similar pain when i accidently kick with the instep of my foot. When i did Tae Kwon Do, i was taught that the correct form for turning kicks (similar to the roundhouse kick of Muay Thai, but slightly different technique and it connects with the foot) was to connect with the ball of the foot, rather than the instep.

Does it hurt to kick with the ball of your foot?
 
i think cro cops intent is to connect with the shin, he is slightly missing and connecting with his foot.
 
Which recent UFC fight was it, from what I remember he had the guy in trouble, and threw a head kick, but as he did the guy kinda staggered back, and ended up connecting with his foot on the guys jaw /face, knocking him out, but also breaking some bones in his foot in the process.
 
Targeting with the instep is something I've been taught since day one of my TKD training. It hurt like crazy at first but it went away. Lots of bag work will toughen those feet right up. Sparring w/o pads helps as well. You either time and aim your kick right or damage yourself more than your opponent.

Taking the point of an elbow into my instep ended up making me limp for like 2 weeks. I thought it was broken, but never got it checked out. Basically, you won't break your foot if you kick right. By this, I mean having full control of your kick - from leaving the floor to contact and back. If you use your foot like your shin (like a baseball bat) , you may want to invest in a pair of crutches.
 
I always kick with the instep but i have a size 13 foot so i have plenty of area to strike with. its a case of comfort really
 
ya, kicking with the foot is not the most comfortable thing in the world. I recently KO'd someone by a headkick and they tried to move backwards to dodge and it landed flush with their head. To sum up the story they went down and I broke my foot. On a positive note atleast now I can focus on my BJJ a little more closely.
 
Vector_X said:
ya, kicking with the foot is not the most comfortable thing in the world. I recently KO'd someone by a headkick and they tried to move backwards to dodge and it landed flush with their head. To sum up the story they went down and I broke my foot. On a positive note atleast now I can focus on my BJJ a little more closely.
Click to expand...

lolz that the spirit!!!
i recently injured my foot in sparring by conneceting with the under-side of my sparring partners elbow. i dont know the name of the bone but its the pointy one at the top of your foot inline with ur Big toe...Im in painnnn everytime i curl my toes and i only now realise the important of what someone has said already in this thread about making sure you get the technique down and control the leg from inital movement to impact...I will be sooo much more careful in future and its taught me alot about being more precise with the techniques * and to also where instep protectors when sparring/fighting :D*

:icon_chee
 
I ko'd a guy moving backwards with a high kick, and as a result landed with pretty much my toes right on his chin. My foot hurt bad for a month after that.
 
grrthetree said:
I'll sum this up, make it pretty simple.

I cannot kick with my foot, if i make contact with any other part of my leg than the flat of my shin it hurts soooo much. Yet I see guys like Cro Cop who are using alot of force behind head kicks, that land with the foot. Why is that, and how does that happen without breaking your foot? I was sparring today and landed with some of my foot and I can hardly walk.
Click to expand...

I dont think anyone can really throw a truly powerful kick and land with their foot without some reprocussions!

Like said below, sometimes throwing the high kick you can end up striking with your foot if your a little out of range. Good news is, if you threw the kick high kick hard enough to break your foot on your opponents head, which is pretty easy to do, the dude probably got KTFO!

Ribs and Legs! much different story! Simple Physics: density of the bone in your shin compared to the little bones in your feet........ shin wins!
 
likkuid said:
What about when wearing shoes?
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't know! I have never worn them sparring/fighting. I am still guessing your shin is a much better option.

I guess if you can throw a TKD type kick and land with the ball of your foot it would be fine. But just slightly off your breaking some toes!
 
i only make contact with the instep on headkicks, but i try to use the shin, it's just sometimes you have more range using the instep.

Body and leg kicks i'm hitting with the shin 95% of the time.
 
grrthetree said:
I'll sum this up, make it pretty simple.

I cannot kick with my foot, if i make contact with any other part of my leg than the flat of my shin it hurts soooo much. Yet I see guys like Cro Cop who are using alot of force behind head kicks, that land with the foot. Why is that, and how does that happen without breaking your foot? I was sparring today and landed with some of my foot and I can hardly walk.
Click to expand...

You are going to break toes, its just part of the game. Ice, ibuprofen and tape them together. Wear your shin guards always, ones that cover the top of your foot. Kicking with the ball/bottom of the foot is correct for the teep, sidekick and back kicks.

If you try to use the ball of your foot to deliver roundhouse kicks you will definitely be breaking your toes. Try to land it with the shin but you are going to land on the instep sometimes. The mid roundhouse/liver kick/de dadt needs to come in parallel to the ground. If it is rising you will be kicking up into the point of your oppenents elbow with some frequency. This sucks.

The bones in your feet are very strong. They are absorbing all of the impact of you pounding on them every day with hundreds of foot pounds of pressure. Practice will make them even tougher.
 
Kick with the ball of the foot for sidekick and back kick? Since when? You use the heel or the flat foot.
 
grrthetree said:
I see guys like Cro Cop who are using alot of force behind head kicks, that land with the foot. Why is that, and how does that happen without breaking your foot? I was sparring today and landed with some of my foot and I can hardly walk.
Click to expand...

Trainer at home says "dont kick with your foot, you'll only hurt yourself". Get to Thailand, see many Thai fighter kicking pads with shin and foot. These kids will kick the hardest bags with shin and foot like its nothing. I do the same and my foot is very sore for a few days, but after a couple of months they are ok on the pads, but some bags I am extra careful on.

In regards to head kicks, I was shown in Thailand that for a head kick use the lower shin to the neck and wrap the foot around the back of the neck. For a mid-section kick similar but more shin. For a leg kick full shin, no foot.

Different trainers and students might say/do differently.

The major problem I think with the foot I guess is landing it on an elbow or a knee or landing the toes on something hard. Either way, kicking hurts, we just try to make sure it hurts the other guy more!

Try to give your foot some time to heal and in the mean time practice other weapons or be extra careful to land with your shin only.
 
you need to strike with different parts of your feet for different kicks.

for example:
front kick - balls of feet
crescent kick - inside or outside edge depending on direction
side kick - heel or flat foot
etc...
 
TangBai said:
In regards to head kicks, I was shown in Thailand that for a head kick use the lower shin to the neck and wrap the foot around the back of the neck. For a mid-section kick similar but more shin. For a leg kick full shin, no foot.
Click to expand...



+1 this is what I was taught (albiet not in thailand hehe). I was taught to target hitting with the lower shin and "wrap the foot around to give it an extra 'push' at the end"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,247,081
Messages
56,174,323
Members
175,095
Latest member
bigfulla

Share this page

Back
Top