There are 26 bones in each foot. It is a sack of loosely connected bones.
There are 10 dorsal digital nerve branches in the foot to convey pain.
It is the target of self defense minded women and children because of the ease with which you can cause pain and injury to the top of the foot.
In kung fu, counters to kicks aim at striking the top of the foot.
How can you possibly reason it’s use for any non-soft target. Especially the boniest least muscle padded target, the skull. The only target I can see striking with the top of the foot is the groin, and that would just be a slap. Careful not to strike the hips with force.
You don’t put pads on your feet to protect your opponent as much as you do to protect your own foot.
Why even use the side or ball? All other kicks can and should use the heel, designed to take hard impacts, and the area of the foot capable of dealing the most damage.
Even wing tsun doesn’t target hard targets like the head with their “soft” knuckle punch, Because they know how easy the pinky breaks. It’s palm heel to face.
top of the foot-instep/ankle is for softer targets such as under the groin. This is because it fits, whereas a heel kick can definately strike groin, bladder, pelvis, it does not strike the testes, which hang down between the legs. Nine out of ten times that you’ve been kicked in the 'nads, it was with an instep.
Blade is actually the edge of the heel and not the side of the foot, which is weak. The heel provides a straight line of force through the leg. Anything foward of the heel can now be weakened by the pivotal action of the ankle, and the separation of bones in the foot.
Crescent kicks can be delivered with the heel, but side of foot/heel is more often the striking surface.
In the Jik Chung Choy, although the metacarpals of the pinky and ring finger 'float," the alignment is direct in line with the ulnar and radius bones of the forearm, so it is actually very well supported-so long as the practitioner is throwing the strike properly.
Agreed, but do you really need it? The legs are already longer than the arms. If they are moving away from you, your force would be lost anyway. If you were both throwing a front kick at the same time, maybe.
Far too much emphasis on long range kicking in my opinion, few are comfortable kicking close in. One of the reasons you never see anyone actually doing a crescent kick is because its a close range kick, and needs the hands to set up more than most. Few are willing to play close range, it’s either long or tasting your sweat.
What is really dying out with CMA are their kicking sciences. A lot of those “instep” kicks are supposed to be using the toes as a weapon to hit tender spots. I posted a link to a 3 part article a few years ago that addressed toe kicks. I just want to let you know that I went through 12 gates of Hades to find it.
The student’s response was not unusual. “Ouch, forget that. I try to avoid hitting my toes, not kicking with them.” This is an understandable response. Teaching toe kicks to most students would only result in broken toes and loss of these students.
That really says it all. While there are risks to most forms of conditioning, broken bones shouldn’t be one of them.
There is a good reason these methods have died.
They just aren’t worth the effort put into them.
I could see a toe kick to the throat though, as we have in mantis. :o
I believe the inch kick is also suppose to be a toe kick to the ankle but that makes no sense to me.
[QUOTE=SanHeChuan;916099]but do you really need it? The legs are already longer than the arms.[/QUOTE]
Another advantage of the toe push kick vs. the heel kick is the toe push kick has less commitment than the heel kick. Why is that important? The way that I like to use my kick is to be able to build a “leg bridge” that my foot touch my opponent’s front leg. If I can do that, I’ll know where my opponent’s front leg is (if I know where his front leg is then I pretty much know where his back leg is), and when I enter and try to build an “arm bridge”, I know his leg won’t give me any trouble at that moment. I like to use kick as part of my entering strategy and not trying to hurt my opponent (if my opponent runs toward me and trying to knock my head off then that will be a different situation). Here is one example that I’m talking about (use kick as part of the entering strategy).
The safety feeling can give me courage, courage can give me more commitment, more commitment can give me more speed, and more speed can give me more momentum to “run my opponent down”.
Dude, I wouldn’t even go for the groin with the top of the foot. Before I learned anything about MA, I went against a guy and he dropped his elbows down to block my stupidy kicks, hitting me right on the top of the foot on both legs. Walking was an issue for a few days.
While the toe is one of the weapons that can be used, so can the shin (do not neglect the knee and hip). I thought you Mantis practitioners had this. The shins can be used in cutting actions to down your opponent. Explore all of the ranges for a particular technique. Some of those kicks may not be kicks at all.
Before I learned anything about MA, I went against a guy and he dropped his elbows down to block my stupidy kicks, hitting me right on the top of the foot on both legs.
What kind of freaks elbow hang down to their groin? :eek:
Another advantage of the toe push kick vs. the heel kick is the toe push kick has less commitment than the heel kick. Why is that important? The way that I like to use my kick is to be able to build a “leg bridge” that my foot touch my opponent’s front leg. If I can do that, I’ll know where my opponent’s leg is, and when I enter I know his leg won’t give me any trouble. I like to use kick as my entering strategy and not try to hurt my opponent (if my opponent runs toward me and trying to knock my head off then that will be a different situation).
videos not coming up, but?
Am not even sure you talking about a kick if it’s not a strike.
Wing Tsun uses a simular method but with the heel.
More surface to contact with.
More foot more control over their leg right?
While the toe is one of the weapons that can be used, so can the shin (do not neglect the knee and hip). I thought you Mantis practitioners had this. The shins can be used in cutting actions to down your opponent. Explore all of the ranges for a particular technique. Some of those kicks may not be kicks at all.
Of course but I’m talking about the foot specifically. not kicks or strikes in general.
[QUOTE=SanHeChuan;916109]What kind of freaks elbow hang down to their groin? :eek:
videos not coming up, but?
Am not even sure you talking about a kick if it not a strike.
Wing Tsun uses a simular method but with the heel.
More surface to contact with.
More foot more control over their leg right?
Of course but I’m talking about the foot specifically. not kicks or strikes in general.[/QUOTE]
He did this weird drop down low thingy. To visualize, it looked for a moment like he was trying to lower himself to let me kick his upper body/head. But his elbows came crashing down instead.
you can say the same thing about the fists man
the fists is pretty fragile at beginning tooo
True but a “fist” is a hand collapsed which takes most of the bones out of play, which you can not do with the foot. If I had hands for feet and can make a fist with them I still think I wouldn’t kick with the back of my hand. Maybe
Hand are structured different and easier to condition and arrange in stronger formations.
i agree with what you are saying but i think the foot is not that weak, steady conditioning and it fine. problem i have is the toenail. i break my toenail a dozen times kicking,
i never learned any top foot hit other than low groin kick(which more speed than power), other kicks are with balls and heel and shin. i dont think top foot its common
wow i never knew that tae kwan do in is common.
but if they condition it very hard maybe it not a problem ? i have not learn tkd so i don know
doesnt cro cop use top of foot?
