Should I be kicking this way?

TRUTH look at my avatar pic! Broken bone in foot! The foot is not a strike point. That is why american kickboxers used to were pads covering the instep of the foot. BE CAREFUL you will be crutch bound the day the top of your foot hits an elbow at full speed

 

With a part of the instep. To clarify.

I used to kick with my foot, that was when I didn't kick as fast or as hard. Probably when I was a purple belt. Then I hit a little bit harder way later on, and it hurt like no other. I took an elbow to the shin once. I was sparring this one guy, he was infuriated at me because I was his proctor for a BB testing. I kept telling him to go lower and lower in his horse stance, he wasn't low enough. He did some things during our punching defense and grabbing defense reviews, such as he actually gave a full force elbow to the back, and also an attempted break on the shoulder. We usually control it, and also do the shoulder slowly, but he just went full out on it, he did his little grunts and everything. (He got an earful and he also didn't do to well, he failed, didn't show up second day, nor ever again) During the sparring portion, he somehow elbowed my shin, and scratched me in the face, (I dodged a backfist to the head and he extended his fingers and scratched me in the face.) Well, before I go farther on my tangent. Taking that elbow to the shin was terribad. I was already doing this kick and I intended to hit harder than normal, as payback for my back and shoulder, so I intended to put more shin into it, and he got his elbow to my shin. Force Multiplier. Shin bruised up within minutes, and it left a bump the size of a mouse for your computer.

 

Shins can be conditioned given time. Catching an elbow or a knee always hurts, but it will hurt less and will probably hurt your opponent more.

 

Yes, since then, I've been whacking my shins with an Eskrima stick whenever I remember to haha. I forget a lot of times. I know some people roll them too. It also helps to use them to block because that can also cause some micro fractures.

 

Yes, but also parts of the shin so this picture would be more accurate.

 

So, which part are you kicking with?

 

honestly, I have found by working on my kicking techniques that if I am kicking something hard then I will focus less on power and more on technique. Keep in mind i'm not talking about going out and kicking trees or something, but anything that you cannot kick hard will help you to focus less on speed and power (things I think sometimes we tend to do) and on correctly torquing the body, turning on the ball of your foot or whatever you like to do.

 

But such a hard object will tend to devlop a subconcious level of "holding back"

Kicking (drills) should be done with power as well

 

Ever so often in sparring class I am reminded to kick with my shin like is mentioned here.

I picked up the habit of using the top of my foot from another school years ago, and sometimes it just happens.

Also, likewise for the type of round kick some karate styles use where they hit with the ball of the foot. Sometimes I end up doing that, although I definitely haven't studied a lot of karate, and it's been ages. Anyone have an opinion on this type of kick?

The style I am learning doesn't actually have a round kick, as far as I know - but we use one in sparring...

 

That kind of kick exists in shorin ryu shidokan, but it's not the norm. I think it's fantastic but very difficult to land. Easy to accidentally hit with your toes like that, so I generally just use my instep.

Although, I was round kicked using the ball of the foot in the throat once. That was an effective technique for sure!

 

Yes, I suppose that's true as well

 

Everything may carry a price tag at the appropriate time: Instep - cracking the little bones on top of your foot, and ball - bursting your toes if the target shifts dramatically. Im still to practice the shin version.