Foot Position on Kicks

I think with shoes you'll be limited anyway. Very hard to adopt the classic side kick footsword in some boots.

However hitting with the toes of a shoe (what would happen if you tried a ball of the foot roundhouse) can be pretty effective. One of the worst kicks I've ever been hit with was a Savate kick (Savateurs wear shoes) that curled round my cover forearm and hit me with the toes in the left kidney. A real sickener. :)

Two words for a ball of the foot roundhouse.... steel toecaps

Very effective if you're wearing working boots with those in.

Shin roundhouses are really useful but you'll find that, usually, the force of a roundhouse sinks in that bit better if you use the ball of the foot instead. My advice on clothes and shoes is always buy and wear ones that alow you to be unrestricted should you ever need to be. Nothing too tight! :)

This is an interesting topic

two observations:

the first - What is more effective?

I always struggle generating the power from hitting with the ball of my foot when striking heavy bags - don't seem to get the penetration. This may be because I don't commit the hip enough because the additional 8 inches of my foot prevents full hip rotation. (I suspect this is the result of ingrained behaviour from perfecting my kicking form in the air)

This is also bourne out by the fact that if I commit a roundhouse with my shin or instep I seem to generate significantly more power and full hip rotation. But is a heavy bag a realistic target (it's flat sided and doesn't normally have arms) and a shin or instep make a more "pleasing" stike on flat sided bag...

In contrast when fighting, jodan or chudan mawashigeri seems much more effective with the ball of the foot. i hit the target more often and seem to achieve better penetration...Mawashigeri is designed to get round the guard (or other obstructions -hence the name) and if you've got footware on, kicking with the "end" of your shoe could only help.. Unless you're wearing wellingtons

The second - does it really matter for self protection?

... I assume you are not training Jodan or Chudan round house or side thrust kicks for self-protection purposes and If your round and side kicks are targetted at the thigh or the knee height does is matter about the ball or the blade of your foot, especially in the confusion of a real altercation.

We basically use 1 foot positon for our kicking, stand up normal, lift your knee so your foot lifts and thats it - we keep the ankle semi tight so the foot doesn't drop and kick with the toes for front, round kicks - we stomp with the heel or with the bottom of the foot for positional kicks, ie not full blown side kicks to the inside of the legs or back of knees/calf etc etc.

On saying that I have no doubt if you land a Jodan mawashi Geri with the instep semi contact style, with full force then the opponent is going down - seen it happen so many times, just good luck landing one in reality..........I dont bother witht the exception of once a year I aim to kick each one of the students in the head just to show it can happen!

When performing side kicks, I try to strike with the last inch of my foot. It's actually the corner of the heel and here's my reasoning. When you use the side of your foot you strike with a small bone along the side. This bone also has a "knuckle" in the middle. Also,this area also does not line up with the long shin bone, all increasing the chance of breaking the ankle on contact.

 To strike with the "corner" of the ankle line your foot up against the wall and when curling your toes back, keep the side of your foot off the wall and only make contact with the corner of the ankle.  When this strikes the target, your heel lines up with the shin, the knee and straingt into your hip. A much stronger kick.

mike23 wrote:

When you use the side of your foot you strike with a small bone along the side. This bone also has a "knuckle" in the middle. Also,this area also does not line up with the long shin bone, all increasing the chance of breaking the ankle on contact.

the 5th metatarsal. I guess by "knuckle" you mean the proximal head. This is important structure as various muscles (mainly the peronius brevis) attach to it. When you invert your foot, as in the classic side kick, or "go over on it" as footballers are prone to doing then you stetch the ligaments that attach to this structure. With extreme inversion (IE much greater than wuss footballers typically do) then you can avulse the basal tip of the lateral maleolus which is a fairly serious injury. I actually treated one of these just last week as the poor chap had had the medial aspect of his leg trodden on and forced into inversion by a bull! 

Does this make impact with this part of the foot unsafe? I don't know. Certainly I concede that it isn't all lined up with the fibula and the ankle is a more delicate joint than is generally thought. It's a good question.

Interestingly, I was originally (in Lau Gar) taught to kick with the heel. It was only when I started Karate some seven years later that I was taight to kick with the blade of the foot

Pounds per square inch, the less the striking surface is the greater the (potential) damage is.  I was taught that (on a side kick) the side of the heel is best, then the bottom of the heel, then the blade, then the whole bottom of the foot.....  Of course, if you miss the target it doesn't really matter.  I have been hit with a "side kick" with the ball of the foot (range threw me off, more extension than I expected) and though the power wasn't as great it still caught me by surprise!

riversidema wrote:

Pounds per square inch, the less the striking surface is the greater the (potential) damage is.  I was taught that (on a side kick) the side of the heel is best, then the bottom of the heel, then the blade, then the whole bottom of the foot..... <snip>

Bare in mind that the most likely situation where you are going to want to apply maximum damage with a side kick is going to happen when you're wearing shoes... (unless your a surfer etc)

Th0mas wrote:

riversidema wrote:

Pounds per square inch, the less the striking surface is the greater the (potential) damage is.  I was taught that (on a side kick) the side of the heel is best, then the bottom of the heel, then the blade, then the whole bottom of the foot..... <snip>

Bare in mind that the most likely situation where you are going to want to apply maximum damage with a side kick is going to happen when you're wearing shoes... (unless your a surfer etc)

While this is certainly true, seems like it doesn't entirely nullify the importance of foot position, as foot position affects more than striking surface, it also greatly effects muscle recruitment, and therefor can affect the whole structure of what you are throwing.