5 Combos to Learn Your First Week of Training Muay Thai or Kickboxing!

[@VolkerRacho-uv2rs]

I was always wondering why would people lift their heels and go on the ball of their feet to kick. It makes your stance a lot less stable, I presume. Wouldn't it be better to stretch more if you want to get higher kicks?

[@mattyeow5635]

Could be wrong, but I believe it allows for better follow through on the round kick because you're not limited by your ankle's lack of mobility. Also if you have your ankle planted thats added skin contact on the mat creating friction which works against the rotation you're trying ro create. (Im sure this extra friction is marginal but its a series of difference in details that makes one persons technique better or worse than anothers, no?) Fwiw round kicks get thrown all the time without adding this detail but details are omitted or forgotten in live practice for pretty much every technique. The idea is to strive for perfection during your mitt/bag work so when you switch to muscle memory your strikes naturally include more good habits & details.

[@VolkerRacho-uv2rs]

@@mattyeow5635 I don't know man. I made the experience that it throws you off balance if you go on the ball of your foot and if you have too much momentum you can even pull away your own standing leg, so you will fall down. I don't think it is a matter of proper/orthodox technique.

[@mattyeow5635]

@@VolkerRacho-uv2rs You're perfectly entitled to your opinion and it's not my intention to force you to change your mind. Especially considering I'm no authority on the subject. That said, while I have time during my morning dump I'll share my two cents on your point about lifting your heel during a kick making your stance less stable. Throwing any strike, is intrinsically less balanced and more dangerous than standing still with a guard up. But obviously you cant win a fight that way. An effective punch leaves one side of your face exposed. A kick puts you at risk of, among other things, being off balanced, whether your heel is touching the ground or not. So what makes these techniques "safe"(r) are things like feints, traps and angles. So I think the idea is, if you are going to take the risk of throwing the kick, you want the option to do as much damage as possible. Like I mentioned before, you'll find examples all over the place of people not lifting their heel during a round kick, frequently its probably intentional if its being used as a set up, distraction or to conserve energy. But if you look at a montage of people being ko'd by round kicks to the dome I imagine the overwhelming majority at least in Muay Thai are thrown with the heel lifted. Its not because high level guys don't have the flexibility.

[@sithlordshellz2149]

Need to redo the edit playboy

[@marcossandoval7471]

First??