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Strike Point for kicks?

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  luger0 
#1 ·
I am severely confused on a point of contention...

I have a personal friend who is training in Muy Thai & BJJ.

He tells me that you never want to strike with the top of your foot, that you should always strike with the low shin.

From what I've seen in videos of the technique it looks like the point of contact is where the ankle meets the foot (shin).

Now when I train on the bag, if I mess up and the top of my foot hits the bag it hurts like hell.

Last night I was talking with another friend, He's studied numerous techniques.

He tells me the best way to strike for leg strikes is to strike with the top of your foot.

With the 1st friend he tells me if you do the later method for a thai strike or any strike for that matter you run a substantial risk of breaking your foot.

What would be the best way to figure out where I should be striking for leg-strikes
 
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#3 ·
said it on msn but i figured i'd state it again for other curious readers. it all depends on the form of kick you are using, the thai style kick of course you want to use your shin. people say the top of the foot is dangerous but as a taekwondo fighter we also condition our feet. they are solid and can take abuse. an untrained fighter trying to use thai style kicks is going to F his shin up just as bad as if he were trying to use his foot, its all about what you are accustomed too. i personally use my shin for leg kicks, and my foot for body/head kicks, it isnt as strong by any means, but is a lot faster if you have the technique correct.
 
#4 ·
Tyson pretty much covered it but I'll throw my own 2 cents in...

Whether you strike with the shin or the instep (top of foot) depends on what you are trying to do.

The shin kick is great for slamming home a powerful body shot. You hit with one of the hardest parts of the surface anatomy and, with proper form, you can deal out serious power.

The instep kick is a better option for two specific areas. 1. Head kicks and 2. Stick-and-move. When striking at the head, the aim is to strike as fast a possible because its imparitive to strike before your opponent can properly defend himself. When using a stick-and-move strategy its useful because, even though you cannot deal out the same level of damage with the instep kick as with the shin kick, you are able to strike faster and in a case where your opponent has significally longer arm reach, it helps keep you out of his range.
 
#6 ·
There are a few different options with the stick-and-move strategy.

You can use a pre-emptive attack game-plan. In this way you are able to push the pace of the fight and, if you combine nice fluid and rapid instep kicks with equally nice and fluid footwork, you can keep your opponent guessing as to where the kicks are coming from. Of course these two areas aren't the easiest to mesh together in that to even throw a kick you must be static, and footwork(obviously)entails movement. It requires very skillful reflexes and impeccible balance.

In a counter-striking game-plan, things are slightly different. With this idea you goat your opponent into coming forward, not necessarily attacking, just moving aggressively. As he comes in you counter his forward progression with solid kicks to the body or attempts for the head, either are effective, however the roundhouse alone cannot be used in this context, it has to be supplemented by thrust and snap kicks to keep the opponent from taking advantage of your style choice.

The addition of leg kicks, using either the instep or shin can be used in both game-plans. To pre-empt the opponent, the instep leg kick can be used to wear down both the inside and outside of the opponent's lead leg with rear-leg roundhouses, as well as lead-leg roundhouses and reverse roundhouses. In the counter striking strategy, striking the opponent's lead leg with shin kicks can be vey devastating, especially if the leg is straight and not bent when the kick lands, i.e. if the opponet is backstepping in reaction to another part of the counter(a switch kick is a good example). If the leg is straight, the knee joint is essentially floating within the kneecap, ligaments, and tendons. By striking this area at full extention the knee joint can become misaligned, a temporary disadvantage, but one that can easily be taken advantage of, to great results.

These are just two strategies that have worked for me when relying on kicks. I'm certain there are more, I'm just not a developed enough Martial Artist to have thought of them!
 
#7 ·
This is interesting.

I am comfortable with snapping roundhouses with my left side right now.

I can pull off some nice thrust/push kicks with the right along with some nice roundhouses on this side as well.

At current I can throw a right-roundhouse higher than 6 foot.

From what you're saying with the Counter-striking stratagem I think this would be a good idea for me at least.

Say for example I would be moving in a circle from left to right my left foot is my lead with the rear foot being my right.

I could posture up for a second or two and throw a snapping roundhouse into the guys right leg unless his left was closer.

I haven't worked on side kicks yet I hear they are nice, but I haven't found the fluidity from them as of late.

If I would get the chance I would love to throw heavy right roundhouses into the low-leg or knee of the opponent.

With one of my combo-sets I will strike either low leg, knee, or ribcage then as the opponent is phased go in and start a volley on the body and work my way up the torso for a maximum of 5-seconds then dart out.
 
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