Front Kick

[vantheman]

First of all, I will be talking about a front heel kick for this post, not an instep/toe kick. Secondly, while this is in the Karate form, anyone who wishes to help may do so.

When I kick heavy bags with a front kick, I find kicking with the ball of the foot to be more natural than kicking with the heel. In my school we are supposed to use the heel, and while I have adapted to this, I still feel more powerful kicking with the ball. My feet are almost completely flat, so when I kick the bag my full foot makes contact. I have tried to get more of the heel by keeping my other foot planted on the ground. Does anyone else have anything they would like to suggest?

[MasterPain]

Hitting with the heel is likely more of a stomping front kick than a snapping kick. Make sure you are getting enough pivot on the supporting leg to open your hips enough to get the required height of your knee in the chamber of the kick.

[vantheman]

Thanks

[ninjanurse]

We call it a "push kick" -you basically use a stomping motion so the foot naturally hits the target with the bottom or heel of the foot (front snap kick or front thrust kick uses the ball of the foot as the striking surface in our style).

The height of the knee lift is important in aiming the heel-as is turning the base foot ever so slightly outward to put the front hip behind the kick better.

[DWx]

What ninjanurse and MasterPain said. Its all about the height of the knee in the chamber. Compared to a front kick using the ball or toes which travels upwards and inwards, when using the heel you have to come down ever so slightly.

[Dobbersky]

What ninjanurse and MasterPain said. Its all about the height of the knee in the chamber. Compared to a front kick using the ball or toes which travels upwards and inwards, when using the heel you have to come down ever so slightly.

agreed, I tell wherever you point the knee that's where the kick will land

[Kuma]

I always like to think of the knee chamber as being the sights on a rifle. You shoot what you put your sights on and you kick what you aim your knee at.

[JusticeZero]

Right; the difference is generally related to what the kick is meant to do. Bencao (front kick with heel) is a solid push, not a traumatizing technique; as such, it is a better technique for our general doctrinal goals of escape and control. Yes, the whole foot makes contact. No, this isn't a problem; as noted, we aren't worrying about how many PSI of traumatizing force we can inflict, we're focusing on how far we can launch whatever we hit backwards. Snapping with the ball of the foot achieves far less effect in that regard.

Go find something heavy and hard to move. Come up into your kick, chamber, lightly plant the foot, and push. The goal is to learn how to shove things around with this kick as a rule. If you're using it in sparring, use this light contact then thrust structure in ways that you would use a throw.

[Chunmonchek]

Right; the difference is generally related to what the kick is meant to do. Bencao (front kick with heel) is a solid push, not a traumatizing technique; as such, it is a better technique for our general doctrinal goals of escape and control. Yes, the whole foot makes contact. No, this isn't a problem; as noted, we aren't worrying about how many PSI of traumatizing force we can inflict, we're focusing on how far we can launch whatever we hit backwards. Snapping with the ball of the foot achieves far less effect in that regard.Go find something heavy and hard to move. Come up into your kick, chamber, lightly plant the foot, and push. The goal is to learn how to shove things around with this kick as a rule. If you're using it in sparring, use this light contact then thrust structure in ways that you would use a throw.

While I don't know very much about JusticeZero's art, there's some wisdom in his post. From a Goju perspective, I agree with much of what he posted.

Regarding the Okinawan Goju front kick, there are IMHO some misunderstandings being propagated by many Goju Sensei.

First, a front kick may be Kekomi or Keage, regardless of whether the striking area is the heel, the ball of the foot or the toes. The use of a thrust or snap is determined by the intent of the kick and how the kick is generated. We train both a front thrust kick as well as a front snap kick, both with the heel.

Most, if not all, first generation Okinawan Goju practitioners only used the heel or toe as the striking area. The ball of the foot was adopted for competition in Japan, where tournament/shiai was vastly more common and popular. It gave 2-3 inches of reach which was important for those purposes. As an aside, originally Okinawan Goju generally did not include mawashi geri. Another thing that is misunderstood.

Generally, kicking with the ball of the foot is anatomically and structureally less sound than the heel. Put another way, every time you add a joint in the line of the weapon, you weaken it. If you kick with the heel, there is no way for the ankle joint to collapse under impact. If you kick with the ball of the foot, there is.

Chamber for the front kick may vary depending on close v. long range. Generally the higher the chamber, the higher the kick. That said, there are many arts that do not use a strict/tucked chamber for front kick...mostly longer range arts. Close range arts...Goju, Wing Chun, etc. tend to chamber by bringing the kicking knee high and tucked to the solar plexus area. When we deliver the kick, there is a slight sink/dropping of the tanden and very subtle hip roll, at or upon impact. This kick is designed to be in range at arm's length, as are many Southern CMAs. And like the Bencao, we sometimes use low line attacks to create range or collapse a joint, rather than in a percussive manner.

Just my opinions,

Chris

[scohen.mma]

I know i'm just a beginner, but when doing a front snap/thrust kick, i think it feels so awkward to kick with the heel of your foot. can someone explain why some styles do that? i'm just curious as to why not to just use the ball of the foot like in a front snap kick?