Where do you land your lead front kick?

[HighKick]

Obviously the answer to this is "it depends".

But I've seen different people practice with a lead front kick or a teep, aiming for either the head, abs/ribs, hips, knees and groin.

Assuming its for the purpose of stopping an incoming attacker, which is your personal preference, and why? How does your form change when you change the target?

I would again say it depends. In a rules bound environment, obviously certain areas (usually the knees) are off limits. In a SD situation they are fair game and I feel the front knee is often ripe for exploitation.

I can’t say I have seen a Teep kick at head level. This is because the body bias is so far forward. A big reason they are so effective for body movement. But hey, if you can pull it off, by all means.

I have seen a Lot of people who could flick a front kick to the face and hardly move their body at all. Sneaky effective in a tournament where a measure of control is required, especially since they would not have much on them anyway.
Lead legs are also great to cancel spin kicks or linear kicks (front, side, axe, etc…).
I had a strong lead leg if I needed it but nothing like a rear leg kick. If you need power and can give up some speed OR need to cover distance, rear leg kick. Rear legs are great fakes as well.
Hope this helps.

 

[drop bear]

Mostly as a snap kick to just under their bottom rib

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I can’t say I have seen a Teep kick at head level. This is because the body bias is so far forward. A big reason they are so effective for body movement. But hey, if you can pull it off, by all means.

A friend of mine can do it. I'd have to spar with him/have him show me to see if it's technically a teep, since I'm going off memory. But he definitely is throwing teeps to the body and then will occasionally throw one to the head. Works pretty well and makes you extra cautious when you see it coming, since it's tough to tell in the moment where it's going to land.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Mostly as a snap kick to just under their bottom rib

Heel, toe, or ball of foot?

 

[drop bear]

Heel, toe, or ball of foot?

Ball mostly

 

[HighKick]

A friend of mine can do it. I'd have to spar with him/have him show me to see if it's technically a teep, since I'm going off memory. But he definitely is throwing teeps to the body and then will occasionally throw one to the head. Works pretty well and makes you extra cautious when you see it coming, since it's tough to tell in the moment where it's going to land.

There are just some people who are freakishly unnatural with their kicks (think Bill Wallace).
I had a female student who did ballet for fourteen years. Her kicks were not all that technically correct, but she could kick from angles you would think were impossible and still have something on them. I had to rethink my view of whether some things were effective or not. Never deviated from our version of 'correct' but she was a valid, effective exception that could not be ignored.
Especially her hook kick. She can have her body turned and throw her leg like a back kick and make a perfect hook kick out of it. It is quite a sight. Unnatural looking as heck, but man does it work, especially as a counter-kick.
When she went to tournaments, I made certain to raise the fact with refs and judges because she had missed points in the past simply by corner judges who stopped looking too soon or not believing what they saw.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Ball mostly

I ask because I use the heel most often.

 

[drop bear]

I ask because I use the heel most often.

You don't have to.

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[Kung Fu Wang]

I ask because I use the heel most often.

You don't have to.

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The push kick can give you at least 6 inch more extension than the heel kick,

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

You don't have to.

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It feels safer for my delicate little tootsies.

 

[HighKick]

It feels safer for my delicate little tootsies.

That's how you do it.

 

[Badhabits]

Personally, I like the heel if the kick is being thrown at a level where it has some downward arc to it, somewhat of horizontal stomping motion. Other than that it's ball of the foot if barefoot. Most of the footwear I wear on a daily basis makes a toe kick the go to. I see no reason the use the ball of the foot if wearing boots or steel toe low tops.
On that note, practicing kicks in your normal footwear can change how you want to kick! Pivoting on your base foot while wearing shoes/boots with heavy tread on them is different. When the tread bites into ground and doesn't want to let your foot pivot.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

I'm a fan of straight kicks to the midsection. You basically go from fighting stance into the same side front stance, unleashing a lot of power. If you get it right you can sort of stomp your opponent to the floor. As regards the contact point, I've never really mastered the art of hitting with my instep. When I practice on the bag, I wear shoes- I started getting cracks on my feet wearing no shoes all the time- and go with the advice of Loren Christensen who recommends you make contact to strike with the lace area.

 

[Fungus]

Personally, I like the heel if the kick is being thrown at a level where it has some downward arc to it, somewhat of horizontal stomping motion.

I like this version too. That kick at rib level, requires very good external hip rotation, with is one of the few which i do much better than average due to my anatomical bias. Can be used both to hip bone, or to lower ribs or even solar plexus, at much closer range as the knee is chambered outwards rather than up to your chest.

 

[Badhabits]

I like this version too. That kick at rib level, requires very good external hip rotation, with is one of the few which i do much better than average due to my anatomical bias. Can be used both to hip bone, or to lower ribs or even solar plexus, at much closer range as the knee is chambered outwards rather than up to your chest.

Have you ever put it to someone's hip bone and then pretty much thrust forward and down at an angle? It'll seriously break a person's structure, even take them down if it goes just right

 

[Fungus]

Have you ever put it to someone's hip bone and then pretty much thrust forward and down at an angle? It'll seriously break a person's structure, even take them down if it goes just right

In normalt sparring I try to be gentle, people genrally are afraid of oblique kicks to thigh or hip, as it can put lots of pressure also on the knee. I tasted it myself from others, and if you to it alot your knees may feel a bit swollen for some days, so its like a high risk of injury kick I think. So I do i more often to ribs, but with reduced power than in the actual hip socket. or leg.

but its one of the power kicks I always do on the heavy bag at least a few times.

 

[HighKick]

In normalt sparring I try to be gentle, people genrally are afraid of oblique kicks to thigh or hip, as it can put lots of pressure also on the knee. I tasted it myself from others, and if you to it alot your knees may feel a bit swollen for some days, so its like a high risk of injury kick I think. So I do i more often to ribs, but with reduced power than in the actual hip socket. or leg.

but its one of the power kicks I always do on the heavy bag at least a few times.

Fantastic SD kick. People have to know what part of the leg/knee to hit.