Going up on the ball of the foot for a front snap kick

Question

This may be getting into technical minutia, but it's something that's been bugging me since I first came across it.

I've seen multiple different views (as one might expect) for the position of the grounded foot for performing back-leg front kicks (striking with the ball of the foot). In the first variation (the one I am most familiar with) the grounded foot stays planted, pivoting to the side for increased reach if needed. I've seen several sources that use this pattern.

I've also come across several other sources that clearly show that the kicker rises up on the ball of their foot for this kick. Sometimes this is rather extreme, going way up onto the ball of the foot. Tedeschi (in Hapkido) talks about how this gives "increased reach," but nothing else really seems to be said on it.

Most sources I've seen just seem to pick one strategy or the other.

I recognize that there are inherent stylistic differences in how different schools approach the same move. In this case, I'm curious if anyone is aware of any inherent advantages or disadvantages to one over the other as a means of increasing reach, if it derives from different in approach to how/when that kick gets used, or if it is mostly just a matter of style?

Answer 1

My answer is not exactly on the question "Rising on the ball or staying flat", but rather tries to make clear the reason why exactly you might prefer to stay flat, and not even pivot away. The underlying reasoning can be transferred to your question, since standing up will diminish power and snap according to the views below. Of course, all of the following reasoning adheres to karate axioms.

There is an interesting video on this (in French) by karate sensei Johnny Gence (look for Mae-Geri). I won't link to it here, so readers have to look for themselves, to save his bandwidth.

The gist of his explanation is this: if you keep your foot fully planted, toes pointing forward, you can exert a lot more power through hip-snap, and you can retract your kicking leg much more easily.

Of course, you cannot reach quite as far as you could if you would twist your standing foot so the toes point outward: if you are in a competition for points, then you can absolutely use this lengthier technique. This, I think, can be transferred to your question: standing on the ball of your foot might increase reach, but will decrease snap.

So, if you are in a true budo situation, stick to the most powerful technique: foot down, toes forward.

Answer 2

tl;dr

Flat foot

• Pros: More balance, uses groin muscles to produce more power (is this proven? probably not)
• Cons: Puts a lot of stress on your knee, restricts rotation

Ball of toes:

• Pros: No stress on knee, easy rotation
• Cons: Requires more balance .

Foot planet: The idea with this one is that you hyper stretch your groin muscle by pointing your ground foot outward. This give you more power as the muscle tries to rebound to a normal state. Also, with the foot planted, you have more surface area where you are standing which results in more balance. The problem I have with this is that it puts a lot of stress on your knee.

Ball of toes: Honestly, I haven't heard any good reasoning from this from any other fighters. I have though of some logical reasons for it and ultimately have chosen this method as my style of kicking.

So when you punch and kick, you are guiding your body weight into your opponent. That is were you want the power to come from. When you cross, you rotate your hips to project your body weight into your opponent. Your fist is just the means in which your are connecting your body with your opponent. Same goes for the kick. If I am up on my toes I can swing by body like a ballerina. My entire body moves as one. Try spinning around 360 degrees on 1 flat foot. Its pretty difficult. On your toes it is easy. This makes it easy to rotate your body into your opponent.

On that note, I wouldn't go to the extreme with going on my toes. Keep it just enough so you can spin. If you go to high, your calfs are already engaged completely and this will make it difficult to jump if you need jump or move mid kick. Also, its really difficult to balance on your tippy toes.

Answer 3

The question you need to answer, empirically, is if it will work for you.

Every action generates an equal and opposite reaction. Going on the ball of the foot might be a bad idea if the way you kick does not take into account a potential loss of balance when you encounter the resistance of your target.

Of course, there are also many ways of delivering power.

Sometimes you want to go THROUGH the target (ex: Muay Thai roundhouse kick).

Sometimes you want the power to get in there with minimal backlash (ex: Isshinryu karate punch, with its small snapback at the end).

Sometimes you want to deliver maximum power with as little effort and compromise to mobility as possible (ex: any strike within Systema).

Answer 4

I find when doing a muay thai push kick, i can get my kicking leg up higher if i go on the ball of my base leg, i think it has to do with my base leg bending a bit.

my kru also said you can get more power b/c of the way it makes you engage your hips more to be on the ball of your foot.

Answer 5

Many power punches and kicks get their power coming up from the ground.
Both the styles of kicking you describe get their power mainly from coming up from the ground and into your kick. However, one is more of a sharp diagonal stab and the other is more of a sideways stiff force.

for the position of the grounded foot for performing back-leg front kicks (striking with the ball of the foot)

When kicking straight forward keeping hips square with target, you are able to perform a much more snappier kick with your leg because your balance point is near a more neutral point around your hips and your hips are easily able to snap forward and back. Your snappier kick allows you to throw your foot up and retract your foot back down to the ground very quickly and causes your kick to be a forward/upward energy. This forward/upward energy can be added onto with your feet/legs by giving it more forward/upwards energy by using your calf muscles and going up onto the ball of your planted foot and putting your hips into it.

the grounded foot stays planted, pivoting to the side for increased reach if needed

When you do a front kick and snap turn your foot/hips for a snap front to side kick, you are moving your balance point and you are also moving/compromising your upper body to compensate your lower body's extra reach. This equates to more power with a stronger extended structure but will be relatively slower, especially when retracting, and not as stable for reacting to your opponent. It is mainly a forward energy, where turning your foot and hips causes your whole body to translate towards your target and align into a more strong extended side structure.

The stronger side structure grounds you more directly to the ground while the front snap kick structure is much more springy and your body structure has a lot more give in the direction of applied force.
The front snap kick force is more impacting and impulse-like while the front turn side kick is more penetrating or pushing due to the straighter joints.
Front snap is quicker and easier to defend against unsuspected attacks/angles; Side kick is relatively fast to perform with the snap-turn, but is much more committed and takes longer to recover from.
speed vs power?

Answer 6

I understand what was said about the increased reach, but it is my experience that as you decrease the surface area of the foot in contact with the ground, you decrease your stability and support, meaning that if you kick someone who is in a stronger stance you have the tendency to fall backwards rather than drive through them.

Answer 7

I feel like there is a disconnect between practicing kicks from a static position (i.e. stance), and practicing them in the context of sparring/combat. There aren't many occasions when you should have your feet firmly planted in an exchange with an opponent. It's much more reasonable to practice throwing a kick while working on one's footwork. The kick needs to be fluidly discharged, as needed, mid-movement. If you always stop to adopt a practiced kicking stance, you are telegraphing your intent and moving slower than you should be. Whether the kick is delivered from a flat-footed base, or off of the ball, should be dependent on the dynamics of your footwork in the moment.