Putting My Heel Up/Down...

[sensei8]

Any kick, no matter the kick, imho, that any practitioner of the martial arts, especially black belts, executes a kick with the heel up is in trouble. Balance is lost and power is robbed when one kicks with the heel up.

Therefore...

-->Does your style teach heel up or heel down?

-->Is the heel up or the heel down part of your styles methodology?

Your thoughts?!

[algernon]

Our thrusting rear kicks (some know these as "mule kicks") connect with the heel, which is above the rest of the foot; it would be impossible to perform a heel kick directly to the rear otherwise. These are a favorite kick of mine, and I find them to be superbly powerful and stable. We also practice a downward vertical kick to downed opponents, stomping with the ball of the foot. The heel is necessarily up in this kick as well. I have never applied this in a live fight, but I have never experienced any balance issues. These kicks do deliver notably less power than an axe kick (which we also practice only against downed assailants), but they are faster, more compact, and cause less exposure of the groin and base knee.

We make no point of teaching a "heel up" methodology. In fact, we do make a point of teaching students to keep their heels up in the aforementioned kicks, to maximize balance and power in the former, and to increase penetration in the latter. There are several kicks that require a horizontal foot, but the rest are performed with the heel down, and since that is the natural bodily tendency anyway, I have never found a need to teach that specifically. Are there any particular kicks that you have in mind, where some tend to kick with an improperly aligned foot?

Edited September 28, 2009 by algernon

[joesteph]

This made me think about JKD, Bob, because when we're in fighting stance, the rear heel is up for footwork. But from the bit of kicking I've done, I've never been pressed to have the supporting heel up.

Here's a JKD video, which I put on full screen just to be sure, and the demonstrator starts off with her rear heel up, but when she kicks, she's definitely got that heel down.

http://www.ehow.com/video_2355651_hook-kick-jeet-kune-do.html

[joesteph]

Balance is lost and power is robbed when one kicks with the heel up.

Have you observed this in tournaments, Bob? Maybe someone's going for height to score a point (and maybe a bonus point added in if it's a head shot), but it's really more of a "sport kick" than a viable martial art one.

[bushido_man96]

Our thrusting rear kicks (some know these as "mule kicks") connect with the heel, which is above the rest of the foot; it would be impossible to perform a heel kick directly to the rear otherwise.

I believe in this instance, sensei8 is talking about the base foot when kicking and pivoting.

I have always been taught that "proper form" for my styles has been with the heel on the floor when kicking. However, in Muay Thai, I believe they emphasize coming up on to the ball of the pivot foot, to facilitate a quick pivot, and I think that they feel it adds power to the kicks. I have experimented with this some, and although it feels ackward to me and my flat-footed tendencies, I don't know if it causes as much problems with balance as others might contest.

I think as long as you pick your poison, and stick with it, it should be a boon to you.

[JusticeZero]

I haven't seen all that many issues with the heel, really. Forward heel thrust uses body drop and expansion, and not sure how important heel is on that; since benção is directly related to a body position where you CANNOT have the heel on the ground, I don't bother trying to focus on keeping heel down. There are a couple that are essentially infeasible to do heel down, generally though, on those you have your hand or hands on the ground.

[ninjanurse]

Many students erroneously think that standing on their "tip toes" helps them kick higher but in actuality their technique suffers in the process. Instability and contraction of the hamstring of the base leg cause loss of balance and decreased kicking height-among other things. You should also not be "flat footed" but have more weight on the ball of the foot WITHOUT raising the heel as when flat footed you risk knee injuries and the tendency is to hyper extend the knee at the apex of the kick which can cause other injury and loss of balance.

[sensei8]

Whoa! My bad!

I believe in this instance, sensei8 is talking about the base foot when kicking and pivoting.

Brian's absolutely correct! I'm only referring to the supporting foot during the kick!

Please forgive me for not having of made this more clearly! My bad!

[tonydee]

I keep my heel on the foot for all standing kicking techniques. I think many/most? people from older style tangsoodo/taekwondo do so, but it's a huge and uncoordinated group, so it's hard to get a statistical feel. I agree that raising the heel compromises power and control....

Cheers, Tony

[sensei8]

Many students erroneously think that standing on their "tip toes" helps them kick higher but in actuality their technique suffers in the process. Instability and contraction of the hamstring of the base leg cause loss of balance and decreased kicking height-among other things. You should also not be "flat footed" but have more weight on the ball of the foot WITHOUT raising the heel as when flat footed you risk knee injuries and the tendency is to hyper extend the knee at the apex of the kick which can cause other injury and loss of balance.

I'm not even referring to "students", but, I'm referring to black belts. Black belts that should know better, but, for some unknown reason(s) they freely choose to raise the supporting foot's heel up.

The flat-footing that you're referring to is more than likely your styles methodology; yes or no? To prevent injuries/hyper-extend of the knee is based on two things:

1) Proper technique

2) Proper stretching

Therefore, lifting the supporting foot's heel during any said kick causes the kicking technique to suffer drastically.