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It's a riddle really, when is a side kick not a side kick, answer... when it's something else.
Ok. Fine. For the sake of argument, I can give you that kicking with the arch is inferior to kicking with the blade for creating impact, and would be the wrong choice to achieve that goal.
It doesn't matter for me though, if it's wrong or right. If I kick something with the blade of my foot, I will hurt the bones in my foot. Maybe it's the way the bones in my foot are aligned or the bones in my foot are unusually fragile. I don't rightly know.
If I kick something, barefoot, with the blade of my foot, I have a high chance of hurting it. There is no debating that point. It is the way it is. If that gimps my sidekicks, well... I'll just have to live with that. If I have to kick "wrong", to avoid that, I will.
...
How do you feel about kicking wearing shoes? Are there certain design features that you look for in your shoe? I try to find a narrow one that doesn't do too much foot arch correcting. The arch takes the power out of a sidekick, and I feel that it lessens the springiness of my feet.
It's not "inferior", it's wrong. Using the correct word is, in many ways, as important as doing the kick correctly.
And it's quite possible that there isn't anything wrong with your foot. You're just kicking incorrectly.
Sidekicks with the blade of the foot, done wrong, hurt. Done properly, they don't. And, frankly, the vast majority of sidekicks are done with the HEEL, not the blade, for very good reasons.
This highlights one of the many problems with trying to learn martial arts techniques without any actual training.
Because it really does "matter for [you]" if it's wrong.
In a school, we'd make sure you were doing the kick right. On your own, you've gone from a poorly executed (and hence painful) sidekick to a completely wrong (and hence ineffective) sidekick.
Is a sidekick not a sidekick when you use your heel? Lots of people use their heel.
Whatever it is, it serves me well.
Ok. Fine. For the sake of argument, I can give you that kicking with the arch is inferior to kicking with the blade for creating impact, and would be the wrong choice to achieve that goal.
It doesn't matter for me though, if it's wrong or right. If I kick something with the blade of my foot, I will hurt the bones in my foot. Maybe it's the way the bones in my foot are aligned or the bones in my foot are unusually fragile. I don't rightly know.
If I kick something, barefoot, with the blade of my foot, I have a high chance of hurting it. There is no debating that point. It is the way it is. If that gimps my sidekicks, well... I'll just have to live with that. If I have to kick "wrong", to avoid that, I will.
How does the arch take power out of a sidekick? or perhaps more importantly, how does one deliver a sidekick with the arch. Normally I think of a sidekick as coming up and moving straight forward . The arch can't come into play mechanically. Now a snap kick up into the crotch can be. A kick from the rear leg to the legs, waist or head where the leg is snapped, can be. But what I usually mean when I say sidekick, just can't be done that way. Or maybe there is a sidekick I don't know about.
.......really?
Clearly, I died and you became the expert on my body.
My feet hurt just walking sometimes. I've hurt my feet many times in totally unrelated things.
I do all my sidekicks with my heel, so it isn't an issue.
Which you say is wrong when I say it, and right when you say it.
Hypocritical.
You're talking about my ability,
another thing you are mysteriously expert on, even though I didn't want my ability to have anything to do with the conversation, which you knew about. Just to debate something I don't care to debate.
And now you're revealing what I confided in you, a moderator, as a secret. Again, just to argue something I don't care to argue, and in many cases, don't dispute.
Why?
OK, I think maybe we are thinking of different terms to describe parts of the foot. When you say blade, are you referring to the outer side part of the foot? Does the arch describe the curved top part of the foot between the leg and the toes, or do you differentiate between top and bottom of the arch?
How does the arch take power out of a sidekick? or perhaps more importantly, how does one deliver a sidekick with the arch. Normally I think of a sidekick as coming up and moving straight forward . The arch can't come into play mechanically. Now a snap kick up into the crotch can be. A kick from the rear leg to the legs, waist or head where the leg is snapped, can be. But what I usually mean when I say sidekick, just can't be done that way. Or maybe there is a sidekick I don't know about.
Well, to be honest apart from you I've never seen or even heard of anyone doing a 'side kick' with the heel. I am actually having trouble imagining it which might be me but I'm thinking probably not.
The arch of the foot is the curve in the bottom. An incorrectly done sidekick can impact on the toes, the ball of the foot, or even the arch. Technically, the top of the arch is called the instep.
It's actually quite common. The striking surface is the bottom of the heel. This is easier to learn and requires less conditioning than striking with the blade of the foot, which is why it's commonly taught to beginners.
Thanks for that correction. I have usually referred to the top and bottom portions of the arch. My bad.
You're not wrong. The arch is the curve in the center of the foot made up of the tarsal and metatarsal bones. Instep is just a way of saying "top of the arch" in less words.
But it's the QUEEN's English...
It's actually quite common. The striking surface is the bottom of the heel. This is easier to learn and requires less conditioning than striking with the blade of the foot, which is why it's commonly taught to beginners.
Well, I do have a better than average understanding of human physiology. And I've spent an awful lot of time being taught how to kick properly in the years since my first lesson (1969).
Poor baby. I'm sorry to hear that. Lots of people have sore feet. Including a number of our students.
They've all managed to learn how to kick properly, without pain.
Then why did you say you were doing them with the arch, and that doing so was taking the power out of the kick?
Did you forget that you'd said that?
Not at all. When you say you do sidekicks with the arch, I'll say that's wrong. Because it is.
Do you usually have difficulty remembering what you've posted?
Just an FYI... personal attacks are against the rules here.
No, I'm talking about what you've posted. You know... where you said you were doing weak sidekicks with the arch of the foot. A kick that is incorrect.
I don't know anything about your ability. I do know that you're doing the kick wrong. That's what I've commented on.
Here's a free clue. It's obvious to anybody with any real degree of training that you haven't had any, or if you have, it's of very poor quality. Otherwise, you wouldn't be trying to find a way to do an effective sidekick with the arch of the foot.
All they have to do is read your posts.
I really should have known better, I did watch her coronation of TV, along with much of the rest of the world.
Nope, never heard of it. We don't teach beginners easy ways they then have to change, we start right as we mean to go on. Side kick or Sokuto Yokogeri (soku = foot, to = knife, yoko= side, geri =kick) so the 'knife' part is the side of the foot not the heel.
No idea what you mean when you say you don't know what I mean, it's obvious.
There are two parts of the foot that can make contact with yoko geri, the blade AND the heel.]
From a strictly engineering standpoint, the heel is the best point of contact for bare feet, for proper hip rotation, for alignment of contact with movement of thrust, and for the foot's mechanical stability.
If you're wearing sturdy shoes, though, from a self-defense standpoint (and why else would I be kicking someone with Redwings on?) the edge of the foot is an excellent point to make contact with the knee or shin, scrape down the shin and stomp on the instep as an entry.
Mmm, the way we do it, and I have just endured strange looks from the cat from trying it, means that if you strike with heel you will hurt your knee. We straighten the leg, and bring the big toe up when angling the foot to hit with the 'blade' of the foot. It may be the way we do it but it's very hard to use the heel, however on a front kick I do use the heel to strike.
Redwings here is a horse sanctuary lol!