Is it possible to do breaking with the instep without injury?

InfiniteLoop

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I have been corrected by a Kyokushin guy regarding the instep to the skull. He explains that the force dissipates, unlike when you hit bone on bone to an elbow. So the foot usually doesn't break. Instep to the skull is perfectly fine in his words..

Having established that, is the reason you don't do instep breaking on wood that the force doesn't dissipate?

Also, how common is it for people to break their toes when failling their ball of their foot roundhouse?
 

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I have been corrected by a Kyokushin guy regarding the instep to the skull. He explains that the force dissipates, unlike when you hit bone on bone to an elbow. So the foot usually doesn't break. Instep to the skull is perfectly fine in his words..

Having established that, is the reason you don't do instep breaking on wood that the force doesn't dissipate?

Also, how common is it for people to break their toes when failling their ball of their foot roundhouse?
You haven't really "established" anything. Because some of us DO break with the instep. Without injury.
 
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InfiniteLoop

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You haven't really "established" anything. Because some of us DO break with the instep. Without injury.

So ball of the foot breaking has more to do with tradition than safety reasons?
 
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InfiniteLoop

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No. It has more to do with options. Depending on variables, you should strike with the toes, the instep, the ball, the shin...

I am talking about the curriculum. It has been my understanding that round kick breaking is done with the ball of the foot, at least in ITF
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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The situation is defined. "Breaking" is term for a breaking wooden boards.
Yes, that's a situation in which either the instep or the ball can break wooden boards. I don't train any art that does breaking, but have broken bricks with my instep out of boredom/curiosity. Not sure if that's more or less effective than breaking with the ball of the foot
 
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For full disclosure, I have done breaking but never with kicks.
 
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Yes, that's a situation in which either the instep or the ball can break wooden boards.

OK, that was not my understanding. I have never seen such display or been told that the instep is permissible.

Btw, even though TaeKwonDo was sprung from Shotokan, Shotokan has little to no breaking. My father who is a Shihan in Shotokan considers breaking "Donald Duck" Karate.

Kyokushin-kais however love breaking.
 

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Yes there is. Has the prescribed ball of the foot dollyo chagi breaking got to do with tradition and nothing else?
I re-read your OP and can't find this question. If this was your question, why didn't you ask it?
It's like forms. You do the technique a certain way because you're told to. In our system, we have mandated beaks for each keup rank. They are expected to demonstrate a specific strike. Dan holders decide what they want to do.
 
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InfiniteLoop

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Breaking here in Shotokan.. No such thing in my fathers curriculum.
 
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InfiniteLoop

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I re-read your OP and can't find this question. If this was your question, why didn't you ask it?
It's like forms. You do the technique a certain way because you're told to.
I had a faulty assumption that the instep was not feasible. I have never seen an ITF or karate guy roundhouse break with the instep. And so I assumed there was an actual reason for that. Just like there's a practical reason instep is advocated in sparring.
 

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I always assumed that forms used it because the instep didn't catch on until the sport started. Were you introduced to the instep version when you first started?
I do not remember minute details of something I was taught over 50 years ago. Given that my earliest TKD training was ITF, I suspect it was ball of the foot. But for as long as I can recall being aware that there are variations, I have used them all.
 

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I have been corrected by a Kyokushin guy regarding the instep to the skull. He explains that the force dissipates, unlike when you hit bone on bone to an elbow. So the foot usually doesn't break. Instep to the skull is perfectly fine in his words..

Having established that, is the reason you don't do instep breaking on wood that the force doesn't dissipate?

Why would the force dissipate less when you hit a board than when you hit a skull? They're both large and relatively flat (at least compared with an elbow haha), so the force isn't concentrated into a very small spot.

Also, you can absolutely break boards with the instep. It's riskier than breaking with the ball of the foot, because your metatarsels are smaller and more fragile, but for a single board it should be fine.
 

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