Toe flexibility?

[hansenator]

Has anyone struggled with being able to pull their toes back enough to avoid injury during ball-of-foot kicks?

I kept jamming my little toe during front kicks so I've been working on stretching the toes and practicing pulling them back. It's getting better but I just tried round kicking the heavy bag with the ball of my foot and injured my foot. Now it hurts to walk. It feels like a muscle/tendon from the big toe that goes under the foot got sprained or something.

Are there any tips for increasing toe flexibility or hitting with the ball of the foot? How realistic is using the ball of the foot in round kicks? I understand the reasoning for it but does anyone work them on the heavy bag without injury?

[DWx]

As much as stretching the toes is important, you also have to choose the correct angle for the kick and for the foot. Bags really suck for roundhouse with the ball of the foot because of the curved surface. As a tool in of itself the ball of the foot is fine, I use it often in breaking.

[Lupin1]

YES! I've got no advice, but I have the exact same problem. My instructor keeps yelling at me to pull my toes back when I kick, but my toes don't go back... Front kicks on the bag are my worse nightmare.

[Harkon72]

Oh yes, the style based argument of ball vs instep. Or, what I call the Shotokan vs Muay Thai round kick debate. With a front kick, the foot position is more forgiving than presenting the ball of your foot to the target in a round house kick. I always was taught that the choice between ball or instep depended on the target and also the footwear you were wearing. There is nothing better than a roundhouse kick with a steel toe magnum boot on your foot. In the dojo, hitting something with the ball of the foot can be a challenge. The only way to improve your foot weapon is to condition the shape of the foot and stretch the Achilles tendon. It takes time and it can be frustrating. But you will make steady progress if you persist, just don't force it as pain is not what you want; your body will fight back even harder. I started to study traditional Aikido this year, what we condition is our wrists and the key is to relax; with karate, it is much the same.

[DaveB]

Ball of the foot is very effective and can be done without injury.

In TKD they break boards with the ball of the foot round kick.

It's about precision. The muay thai kick is a baseball bat, the karate kick is a nail hammer. Thai, power comes from the swing, karate power comes from the snap.

As for training it, I never mastered the ball of foot round kick. I think it was genetic, but I could just never get my toes back. I will kick with the ball only in hard shoes. Had similar trouble with sidekicks, using the blade edge of the foot. Never could do it well so I just use the heel.

To get the front kick I did a lot of walking on tiptoes, which despite the name is actually walking on the ball of the foot. I think that stretched out the muscles so they could actually contract and pull the toes back. Other than that it was just practicing pointing the foot while pulling the toes back.

[Kanku65]

It may take some work/retraining for you if you're not used to this, but this is the way my Sensei teaches it.

When you bring your knee up to the side, you want to have your foot flattened to the floor as much as possible, as if throwing side thrust, striking eith the edge of your foot. A lot of students let their foot turn sideways which we consider incorrect at out dojo. At this point you also want your toes pulled back. Now when your kick comes around to strike target, you'll want your kick to come in on a slight downward angle. This is very hard when kicking face level, but for stomach level, this kick with this angle is quite lethal.

[hansenator]

A somewhat downward angle? I'll have to try that.

My toe flexibility allows for front kicking, I just have to be careful to have the toes pulled back. I'm not sure if the muscles aren't strong enough but they're probably fighting against a mobility deficit.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to round kick with the ball of foot. I can kick a wall and that's ok, at least with shoes on, but I don't have a wall to kick. Part of me also thinks that a person isn't very flat so if I can't kick a bag I probably couldn't kick a person either.

[Kanku65]

Part of me also thinks that a person isn't very flat so if I can't kick a bag I probably couldn't kick a person either.

Just remember that the average bag does not feel any pain.

One particular student at the dojo I train at has problems throwing roundhouse kicks. For whatever reason he always seems to lose velocity just before impact on the bag. Yet when he strikes a kicking pad held by me It becomes obvious that even with his weakest kick, taking the impact would be a poor decision for most.