The Muay Thai front kick

[Zujitsuka]

QUESTION:

When a Muay Thai fighter throws a front kick, what is the impact area on the foot? Is it the ball of the foot, the heel, or the whole sole of the foot?

Also, what is the reasoning behind this being the impact area?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Sincerely,

Do you mean a front push kick? It just depends on the distance. Very close range, whole foot. Longer range, ball of the foot, because you have a much farther reach. In the end, it doesn't matter that much because if you have enough thrust from your hips the push will be strong enough regardless.

The heel is only really used on side push/thrust kicks and spinning/non-spinning heel hooks and turn kicks. That's just how I've learned, so I'd be interested to see if anyone does it differently.

Zujitsuka,

all those parts of the feet u mentioned are all correct. becuase there are different types. u can use any of them. i avoid the toes though because im afraid of them hitting to opponents knees

Uh, some would be incorrect depending on the type of kick, so no, that's not correct. For example, on a push kick, to extend the heel out before pushing would prevent you from fully extending the lower leg easily without pulling muscles because the calf muscle is already flexed. Bad news. It depends on the specific type of kick.