Why do people kick with their toes?

Question

Why would you kick with your toes (pointing upwards) when you can kick with your heel?

example: Tae Kwon do fighters often kick with their toes, why is this?

(Not with the points of the toes, underneath the toe.)

Answer 1

Katana makes some very good points. Many of the people answering seem to be not used to kicking with the ball of the foot. In the 41 years that I've trained every style I studied would do front kicks and round house kicks, with the ball of the foot. The only time we kicked with the instep was when we were play sparring. That was only to prevent injury. It is easy to kick with the instep but it spreads the force of the kick over a larger blunt part of the foot. That is safer for the person kicking and the person being kicked. Sure it can hurt, but the same kick done with the ball of the foot is more damaging to the person being kicked. Kicking with the ball of the foot means that you must train yourself to strike a target while making sure that what you are striking is at a good angle to you. If you kick wrong you will bend your toes back injuring them.



Note: In Okinawa it is also very common to train the students to kick using the tips of the toes. Most people assume that to have an effective kick you must kick as hard as you can. With toe kicks you only need to have a little power and use the big toe and the one next to it to kick nerve centers on the attackers legs, and thighs. I regularly practice toe kicks. Because of the regular practice I can easily kick holes in cardboard boxes leaving only a small hole the size of my big toe and the one next to it. When teaching my students if one gets to cocky, I will kick the inside of their thigh using a light toe kick. It usually will cause their leg to go out causing them to fall down. what is amazing to me is that not many styles use the ball for the foot when the practice. seems that commercialism and laziness has replaced the kick with the more common instep version. It is really a shame that we all train to be the best and strike to do injury if needed. Then we spend all out time kicking with a blunted, less effective instep kick. Then when a real self-defense situation comes up we kick the way we have been training. It is no wonder that some people that are well trained fail to stop the attacker due to improper training methods.



P.S. Before everyone gets all upset, let me say this..... I'm not saying that a kick using the instep can't be powerful. I'm only saying that the same power using the ball of the foot is more damaging. It does take more time to learn to do it well and not injure you toes. The time is well spent and becomes second nature after a while.



EDIT:



Sensei Miller....... I'm surprised at you. first you make a comment about it being stupid kicking with the toes. Obviously you have never been on the receiving end of a properly done toe kick. Some of the Old Okinawan masters were known to walk on the tip of their toes like ballerinas do.

Second I find it interesting that you practice a Korean art yet use a Japanese ID on Y/A..... Why is that? Not putting you down, just wondering!!!

Answer 2

Wow some misinformed answers. In actuality many old style Okinawan karete-ka's dp kisk with the toes. The main reason for this is it concentrates the force into a smaller impact area, thus causing more damage. Think of it this way, if they are traveling the same velocity, which would hurt worse and cause more damage, a softball or a golf ball? The golf ball because it has a smaller striking surface and imparts it's kinetic energy into a smaller area. To be able to do this kick thought requires years of conditioning.



Most generally in karate though the kick is delivered with the ball of the foot, with the toes pulled back to protect them. Most Okinawan styles use a snapping kick which penetrates into the target and retracts very quickly. This is because you don't waste energy trying to push a target. The ball of the foot also fits many places that the shin can't, such as penetrating into the sloar plex vs a shin or instep kick which will only hit surface.



I am sorry to burst Jester's bubble, but a ball of foot kick has far more penetrating power then a shin kick, and if he doesn't beleive me, he should find a good Okinawan karate school and find out.

Answer 3

What you're talking about is the ball of the foot, which is a rather solid spot to strike with (Go to a craft store, buy a block of floral foam and step on it. The deepest points, the ball and heel, are also the most resilient, as they are the stabilization points for your foot). When striking, the ball almost looks as though the toes are the impact surface.



There was a time when some arts conditioned the toes themselves to allow for striking. Thick, hard nails and stiff toes striking into sensitive spots can be quite nasty.



There is no singular right way to kick -- whether you strike with the toes, ball, heel, or shin, so long as the attack is effective and does not cause you harm, it was the right choice.

Answer 4

Anyone that actually kicks with their toes is an idiot and most likely will break them! Tae Kwon Do or any true fighter that uses front kicks always kicks with the ball of their foot. Pointing the toes upward exposes the ball of your foot. The ball of the foot is closer to the attacker during a frontal attack, therefore it would make more sense to kick with the ball rather than the heel. The front snap kick would be used to break bones or damage muscle or even organs. The front thrust kick would be used to force the attacker backwards. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 5

It's a solid spot to kick from. the difficulty lies in hitting with that part and not with the toes themselves. Sometimes when you want to do an outward push to make some distance between an opponent, this type of front kick with toes pointed is a good idea.



But really, there are all different types of kicks and strikes with the feet that take advantage of different parts of the foot. Sometimes you use the balls of your feet, heel, or knife edge of the foot. It just depends on what kind of strike you wish to preform.

Answer 6

Your toes can get between ribs, bro. Thrust that big toe between a couple ribs and the guy's gonna feel it in the morning.



Aah, but I see you're referring to underneath the toes. Depends on the kick, really. Sidekick? Sure, use your heel if you want - or the knife edge of your foot. Back kick? Absolutely, use the heel. But, could you kick someone in the groin with your heel or kick them in their midsection with a front kick using your heel? Not really. Remember, every part of your body is a weapon - just have to know when and how to use it.

Answer 7

It's just the different styles. In Tae Kwon Do I learned to kick with my toes up and we put a snap in them for power. In Ninjutsu we kick with our heels and we put our whole bodies into it for power (a LOT more powerful). It's just how the different styles teach. I've also noticed the difference between the knife hand strikes. In Ninjutsu there are also kicks that actually use the tips of the toes, but it requires a lot of conditioning to prevent from hurting your toes and they're only to hit pressure points.

Answer 8

A little more reach which can mean a bit more penetration. You are using the ball of your foot which can be a smaller hit area than the heel there by magnifying the force behind it while it still can be thrown lightly and can be used to either push someone away, for a fast kick or for accuracy, the heel kick is more just a power kick and its harder to put less force behind it. It is just to powerful of a kick. Don't be fooled though, front kicks with the ball of the foot can drop a person, I've seen it.

Answer 9

The toes are just another of the many weapons always carried with you because they part of your body. A kick with the toes is really a stabbing type of strike and is used on soft targets. As mentioned in another answer, you get quite a bit of psi by reducing the surface area of the weapon while maintaining the same force delivering, but it would be a bad idea to use the same force as you would with a heel stomp. There are too many bones to line up. The toe stab is effective against koei, armpit, triceps, throat, solar plexus, kimon, butsumetsu, just to name a few.

Answer 10

the kiddies on here have such interesting comments.



katana and pugpaws make very good points about kicking with the toes.

as well as the ball of the foot having more power the the shin.

striking with the ball of the foot is more powerful then the shin because your energy is focused on a small striking surface rather then over a large one like the shin

striking with different surfaces of the foot, are used for different reasons. most of sensei's have also taught to strike with the ball of the foot, even in roundhouse kick, and not with the instep, like pugpaws said the instep we only used to prevent injury..



although i am surprised at the kyokushin persons response because my friends who studied kyokushin are the ones that taught me about striking with the toes.

Answer 11

1st of all in my style of karate they do not kick whit there toes for 1 reason you will break them when you hit full power..... maybe it works for point system based tournament where you don't go for the ko but for points. Chin bone is the way to go for full contact arts such as muay thai , kyokushin karate ect..





comment on "Bujinkan Ninja" : you say you kick with heel well all style's use heel kicks that is just another kick (axe kick ect..) we are talking about mid kick , high kicks and not heel kicks.

Answer 12

people kick toes

Answer 13

we curl our toes back so we don't break them and we kick with the balls of our feet



and we kick with our toes straight when we do an axe kick hook kick side kick anything that doesn't involve the toes



it may look like we are kicking with our toes but they are actually back enough to kick with the balls of our feet

Answer 14

There is ball of foot . Small area , if you kick somebody ribs using ball of foot hurts more :)) . If you want use round house kick for breaking wooden board you have to use underneath area of foot . Other area like hill of foot is not proper to break wooden board .

Answer 15

my father used to train tae kwon do. its so you have more balance when you come in contact with the kickee. also more powerful of a kick

Answer 16

They should be using the ball of their foot, no clue what they're in if they're using their toes, but I guarantee broken toes

Answer 17

Short are more normal and unique, now days everybody would like longer and shorter nails are approach easier to have

Answer 18

short neat nails are nice as well as neat. I dont like long nails because dirt can get under all of them and it look nasty

its digusting and gross when somebodys nails are usually all chewed up to the end.

Answer 19

the toes are supposed to be straight and pointed to avoid injury and for more balance. TKD and Karate uses their feet in kicking, but MMA practioners and Muay thai actually uses the shin, which is more penetrating.

Answer 20

If I am around people who wouldn't appreciate my swearing, I say, "Big Bad Word!" or "Oh, for the love of Pete!" "Mother of Pearl" is another biggie. The curses work best, but not appropriate all the time!

Answer 21

i punch