Back to basics: front kick
Introduction: the basic front kick Following my recent "back to basics" theme and my article " Enter the front snap kick ", I thought I'd discuss how to go about doing a basic front kick. Apart from discussing the basic form and some of the finer points (eg. hip use), I thought I'd also go into the differences between (and the relevant uses of) the front ball of foot kick vs. the heel kick. Step 1 Start by raising one knee (in this case the right) with your knee fully bent and the underside of your foot parallel to the ground. The most common mistake at this point is where the underside of the foot is not parallel to the ground; instead the ankle is pointing downwards. The consequence of this is that your kick effects a scooping action which can damage your toes and is generally ineffective. Make sure that you maintain your guard - ie. you should keep your arms up in a defensive posture. You should maintain the same guard throughout the kick. Step 2 Sna