Use of Toes

[Ian]

Went rock climbing again last night with a new pair of shoes. The shoes were too big and I couldn't get a grip on anything, so I went barefoot instead. Wow! First of all, it's like climbing with four hands instead of two, which allows you to climb a lot faster and more technically. Second of all, it gave me a small insight into the use of my toes - in footwork, standing, and kicking.

Does your style have any work with toes? How do you train it? What do you use it for?

[Andy_S]

As a matter of fact, we do.

At advanced levels of Chen Village Taijiquan - once one has entered the door and been accepted as an inner-gate disciple - one is advised to continually lift and then drop the big toe if one ever finds oneself in a dark alley being assaulted by Master George Dillman.

We call this technique, "Disciple's Duck-foot Defence Against Deadly McDojo Dim-mak Dodginess."

But I have said enough already - this is top secret stuff. Mods, how do I delete this post?

Oh never mind, Dilly himself reveals the secret toe (and tongue!) technqiues here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM_qg5d1YGI

[DeusTrismegistus]

Well with kicking the toes have specific positions to be in as does the foot but that is to align the bones properly and get the toes out of the way so they don't get hurt. Otherwise I have noticed that over time the toes just start doing stuff naturally to help with footwork and balance. They grip the ground in some cases and in others they relax more, there has been very little instruction on that though so far.

[somatai]

your toes have to be connected, you should be able to open and close the feet just like the rest of the body. In both walking and standing practices, the toes are very important......hands, toes and head are the extremeties and if yi does not reach fully to all places there is lack of clarity and areas of obstruction/confusion in the body.

[yusuf]

insert picture of wan Lai Sheng on toes here

[roger hao]

Ian -
I have experienced the exact same thing - on Texas limestone it is great
(at least for me) going barefoot. You can get your big toe to hang on those little 2 inch
holds. Smears work good too.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Went rock climbing again last night with a new pair of shoes. The shoes were too big and I couldn't get a grip on anything, so I went barefoot instead. Wow! First of all, it's like climbing with four hands instead of two, which allows you to climb a lot faster and more technically. Second of all, it gave me a small insight into the use of my toes - in footwork, standing, and kicking.

Does your style have any work with toes? How do you train it? What do you use it for?

yes. we literally grab the ground with our toes.

[josh]

Not sure if this is related, but I saw an interesting Yiquan video (can't remember whose right now, I believe it was a Chinese instructional) where the instructor was discussing variations on standing postures. He said that, for health postures, people generally stand on the triangle formed by the ball of the big toe, pinky toe, and the heel. But, for combat standing, he said that one can also put the weight on the smaller triangle formed by the ball of the big toe, pinky, and the tip of the big toe, such that one could even slightly raise the heel off the ground to check if one was doing it correctly. I played around with that a bit in my own standing practice and it definitely works the toes and calves more than regular standing... maybe this is along the lines of what you are asking? Anybody know if this is a common practice in Yiquan? I'll have to dig around and see if I can figure out where I saw it again.

[Fubo]

Strength and flexibility in the toes also become important factors in grappling when you are trying to drive your weight into somebody. and lower the chances of foot injuries.

I know that there are some that advocate slightly grasping the floor with their toes while standing. Sometimes I play with the grasping concept only through intention... I usually aim to relax the foot and toes during standing while keeping the structure of the foot, and having the weight evenly distributed over the foot with a slight emphasis towards the ball of the foot and toes - I've found that this strengthens the structure of the foot and toes.

But, the toes are still very vulnerable even if they've been strengthened.

[Walk the Torque]

As a corollary, let me offer this up.

I was taught by one teacher that the toes are stabilizers, but the real balance and transfer of the body's weight should be (as previously stated) the balls of the big and little toes, and the centre of the heals. To train this it is useful to take the toes out of the equation and lift them in order to sever their' contact with the ground. that way one has to rely more on other muscles to maintain balance. when the toes come back into play it feels much better.

[JusticeZero]

I had a jump in skill after spending some time training holding blades between my toes - had to be able to hold a couple of dull washers or other such oddly shaped items with my feet while doing acrobatics and kicking with them and dodging someone else doing the same. Not sure if it's the increased sensitivity in the toes, or training under an assumption of weapons that did it though.

[wiesiek]

i use "lift the toes" tech. for fast set up or controling ZZ
also good tool for teachings
and
i heard, that you can use toes in kick like fingers in "spear hand"
but
never sow the demo...
anybody...?

[BruceP]

Does your style have any work with toes?

Toes are the reference point to everything the opp is doing and everything you are about to do

How do you train it?

A three-legged stool never wobbles

What do you use it for?

The interchange of contact points with the opp. Recovery from compromised postures, angles and contact.

[wiesiek]

A three-legged stool never wobbles

i preffer to hide my third leg during the fight

Still nothing about kicking "spear foot"?
all what i know is that you can use it for poppin` out the knee cap or in "standard" spear manner-
solar plexus, uder the ribs cage, wind pipe e.t.c.

[yusuf]

Does your style have any work with toes?

Toes are the reference point to everything the opp is doing and everything you are about to do

How do you train it?

A three-legged stool never wobbles

What do you use it for?

The interchange of contact points with the opp. Recovery from compromised postures, angles and contact.

Hi Bruce

Would you be willing to elaborate on theses points please.

Yusuf