TKD: Proper Front-kick/Snap-kick question

**Neildo** · Posted On: 8/01/2007 4:09pm

Originally Posted by Errant108

Front just determines the direction, not the technique.

Snap is the technique, and truthfully, it's not that great of one as it can seriously screw up your knee.

I learned this one the hard way.

:new_cussi

**Wolf** · Posted On: 8/01/2007 6:43pm

Originally Posted by Errant108

Wrong again, bro.

The kick may be an insult in Thai culture for the reasons ER outlined above, none of which have anything to do with takedowns.

Your whole premise on high kicks being dumb because of takedowns is still...dumb.

Final answer. Front kicking someone in the Face in MT (specifically to Thai people) is insult not because you're hitting someone with your foot (they kick to the head a lot in case some of you didn't know) it's because you're hitting them in the face/head with the BOTTOM of your foot. This is regarded as the dirtiest part of the body, thus making it insulting.

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 8/01/2007 7:08pm

Originally Posted by mobydaddy

I was pretty sure it was considered an insult, but I was just taking a wild guess as to why - that wasn't really my point.

I don't think high kicks are dumb by any means, on the back end of a combination or with your opponent off-balance they are a serious KTFO, but anyone that thinks that kicking above the waist doesn't expose you more to a take down than 'just standing there' (as per EternalRage) is a fricking butterfly catcher.

Just so you know Hapkido contains some excellent general rules and concepts in the art .

Don't believe the hype .

A good grappler will shoot off a missed lowkick just as quick as a failed high kick .

**mobydaddy** · Posted On: 8/02/2007 12:16pm

Originally Posted by BackFistMonkey

Just so you know Hapkido contains some excellent general rules and concepts in the art .

Don't believe the hype .

A good grappler will shoot off a missed lowkick just as quick as a failed high kick .

True it doesn't make much difference to a good grappler but personally I'd rather defend the takedown attempt on the low kick than the high one, but I may just be a *****.....

If the front-face kick is a insult in Thai culture because the bottom of the foot is considered the dirtiest part of the body, does that mean that the western equivalent would be to pin someone and give them the old "red eye", summer-camp style?

**Matt W.** · Posted On: 8/02/2007 12:34pm

My experience with it is like Oldman's because I also have an ITF background. Doing that kick has made it easy for me to transition to the teep.

**jedtex88** · Posted On: 12/10/2011 6:11am

Just to throw something else out there. Kicking with the ball of your foot offers greater penetration and a smaller striking surface. Also pivoting your supporting foot forces your opposite hip towards your target giving you extra reach.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 12/12/2011 2:39pm

If you're in a sideways stance, won't you have to pivot your front foot if you want to throw a front kick? Unless you're standing in some kind of T stance, that is, which doesn't seem typical of TKD. I turn my standing leg past straight forward when throwing a front kick (toes pointed outward, not frontward, as in the TKD pic). Also, if you decide to fake into another kind of kick, it gives you options.

Hip thrust vs knee snap- I think that most of the time, the hip should be thrusted into the front kick, but I also make the distinction between front kick to a vertical target and front kick to a horizontal target. If you're hitting with the top of the foot or bottom of the shin (or even the ball of the foot) in a rising arc, you'll probably get the power from a snapping style technique. The thing is, there are few horizontal targets to be kicking at, and in a competitive environment, there's not really any. You can kick someone up into the groin (but that's not allowed), or you can kick up into someone's head if they're doubled over (but in a comp, if they're standing like this it'll probably be stopped). However, vertical targets to thrust kick at abound, in sport and outside of it. Front of the groin, lower abdomen, chest, face/chin/under chin. So, the thrusting front kick is something you can actually train and develop in sport and bring it into fighting. The knee snapping kind, not so much. This is all beside the point that the knee snapping style front kick is bad for your knees and not as powerful.