Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 20 - Usadojo

training to accomplish. This is a part of the
foot that should be utilized only after one
has become experienced.
The instep of the foot is the most utilized,
and this is too bad. Let me explain. When
you use the instep you are swinging the leg
like a baseball bat. This does not require
artistry, it requires brute force and a
‘bashing’ personality. To offer a rather
concise but unwieldy metaphor, to use the
instep of the foot is like being a
housepainter. Nothing wrong with it, it gets
the job done, but it lacks artistry.
Michaelangelo (grin) would never use the
instep of his foot in a Wheel Kick. Or, to
offer what I hope is a better analogy: a
round house goes around the house, the
weight must swing wide and be
disconnected from the house. A Wheel
Kick wheels (pivots) with the whole body,
thus using and aligning all the body weight
right from the foundation of the structure to
the target.
That brings us to the third part of the foot:
the ball of the foot. To kick with the ball of
the foot is like striking with a hammer.
Visualize the ball of foot Wheel Kick from
overhead and this becomes obvious. The
configuration of the foot is like a hammer.
Now, ask yourself a rather interesting
question: which is more efficient, the
hammer or the baseball bat? And, if you
will let me rephrase this question in a
totally brutal and gratuitous (and practical)
manner: would you rather hit somebody in
the head with a baseball bat or a hammer?
54 - Totally Tae Kwon Do
If you follow my reasoning here you will
select the hammer. It is simply smaller, the
fellow won’t see it coming, the head of the
hammer is much more suited for impact
with a small area of the skull, and so on.
The baseball bat he will see coming, the
force will be distributed over a wider area,
and while obviously powerful and can do
the job, can more easily be avoided.
To summarize the argument here, the
instep is easily mastered, does not require
as much artistry, and does not fully utilize
the weight of the body. Yes, there is some
hip in it, but the leg is coming in sideways
without a lot of body directly behind it. The
instep is the broad brush of the
housepainter.
On the other hand, the ball of the foot is
more difficult to master (but not as difficult
as the toe) and the line of the body at the
point of execution goes through the foot,
through the leg, through the hips, and into
the ground, thus offering a more direct line
of power and putting a lesser amount, but
very concise amount of weight into the
technique. The ball of the foot is the finer
brush of the artist.
That all being said, I usually think of the
process of teaching somebody how to use
a Wheel Kick in the following manner. A
beginner will use the instep. He needs to
learn quick and be effective. An advanced
student will use the ball of the foot, it is
more efficient, requires artistry, and
demands more from the student.