How to Avoid Foot Injuries While Sparring Kickboxing! 🥊🥋😎

What's up, everyone? Today, let's dive into an important topic for any kickboxing enthusiast or martial artist – avoiding foot injuries during sparring. Recently, some of my students have been experiencing leg injuries. They made common mistakes that newbies often make: kicking without setting up with their hands first. Let's break it down and discuss how you can prevent this from happening to you.

The Common Mistake: Kicking Without Setting It Up

One of the typical mistakes many newcomers make in kickboxing is thinking they can just throw leg or body kicks without setting them up with their hands. This often leads to those kicks being checked, resulting in injuries.

Just think you can just leg kick people, or body kick them without setting it up with your hands. And they've been checked.

A Real Example from My Students

In the last couple of weeks, a couple of my students sustained minor injuries from exactly this mistake. For instance, one student got a common shin injury because he didn't set up his kicks when we were sparring. I checked it, and it ended up hurting him.

Pro Tip: Always set up your kicks with your hands to avoid getting them checked.

Protective Gear: Wrestling Shoes and Taekwondo Shoes

To address this problem, one useful piece of advice is to wear protective gear like wrestling shoes or Taekwondo shoes.

Wrestling Shoes

Wrestling shoes can be a great addition to your sparring gear. They are sturdy and can help protect your feet and shins from injuries. However, they can be heavy and may weigh you down a bit.

Taekwondo Shoes

Alternatively, Taekwondo shoes are lighter and still provide good protection. Even if you are a Muay Thai fighter and have never trained in Taekwondo, these shoes can safeguard your feet, allowing you to throw hard kicks without worrying about injuries.

Taekwondo shoes tend to be lighter and not as heavy. They're always a good option as well.

Protecting Your Toes

When I fought in the UFC, I broke my toe during sparring two training camps in a row by throwing front kicks and hitting people's elbows. If you break a toe (except for the big toe), taping it together can let you continue training.

Pro Tip: Tape your broken toes together to keep training unless it's your big toe.

Sparring Intensity and Frequency

If you're sparring lightly, you might not need this gear. However, for those sparring hard – which I do recommend at least one day a week, especially leading up to fights – wearing protective shoes can be crucial.

Hard Sparring

Hard sparring is essential when you have fights coming up. It helps replicate the intensity and conditions of a real fight. Therefore, protecting your feet during these sessions becomes even more important.

I do believe in some hard sparring for sure. Not all the time, but know at least when you have fights coming up, I think you should be sparring hard at least one day a week.

Learning From Experience

I've learned these lessons the hard way, and I hope this advice helps you avoid unnecessary injuries and setbacks in your training. If you want to explore more about martial arts, consider checking out my book, "The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Martial Arts School and Instructor." It can help you find a suitable gym and become a part of the martial arts community.

Conclusion

In summary, always set up your kicks with your hands to prevent them from being checked, consider using wrestling or Taekwondo shoes for protection during hard sparring, and remember to tape your toes if they get injured. Taking these precautions will help you spar safely and effectively.

Pro Tip: If you're new to martial arts, get my guide to help you start your martial arts journey.

Thank you for reading! Leave any comments or questions about techniques or fighting subjects you'd like me to discuss. Keep training smart and stay injury-free!