[ssteve]

what part of my foot should i be using on above the waist round kicks. I bruised the top of my foot a coule of times catching a couple elbows. will the top of my feet just get harder and not bruise as easy or should i be using a different part of my foot?

[panda_strike2]

I'll assume you're doing MMA or Muay Thai. In that case try to connect with your shin on roundhouse kicks, not your foot.

In TKD or Karate I've seen people use the ball of the foot when they're kicking without sparring foot pads and the top of the foot when using pads.

Kicking with the top of the foot seems to get the kick out the fastest and with the most range, but exactly what happened to you happens to everyone at some point if you kick that way.

[rghtcrs4u]

you should be using the lower part of your shin homie..

[ssteve]

Yeah i use to do tea kwon do so i have some bad habbits from when i was a kid still i guess. I spar taller people all the time so i have a hard time getting in that little bit farther to make contact with my shins if the kick is above the waist...plus it hurts. whats the best way to start conditioning them other then the heavy bag? I have heard everything from rolling a bottle down them to hitting them with a small stick. what should i do?

[panda_strike2]

You have the training techniques I know covered.

A heavy bag is probably the best. Depending on what you have at your gym you could start out with a "soft" bag and work up to a harder one. If any bag you have still hurts your shins, you can start by kicking with shin guards for a couple of weeks and then take them off.

[Kyryllo]

If you kick with the foot you should kick with this area:

[Kyryllo]

You can't condittion anything through bottles and pipes or whatever, you need to kick the heavy bag or mits or somethink of that kind with force repetedly. I can go through a baseball bat with the top of my foot and not even blink, the pain will go away with training.

[ssteve]

I usually kick with the spot thats at the very bottom if the blue highlighted portion. I have only bruised it with round kicks that made contact with the tip of someones elbow. the heavy bag thats at our gym isnt hard enough to really condition my shins so i need to find an alternative.

[Ian Coe]

lower shin for above waist



You'll make contact with the instep though if you hit head

[legshot420]

use your shin.