How To Do The Hook Kick For Taekwondo & Karate

The hook kick is a variation of a side kick in which your leg is bought outwards and then back inwards. In almost all circumstances the hook kick is aimed at the head and is rarely used as a body shot. In some more traditional Japanese martial arts, the hook kick is known as the reverse roundhouse kick or a heel kick.

Hook kicks are part of almost every striking martial art including taekwondo, karate, muay thai, and various kickboxing rulesets.

The hook kick can be used to either score points or go for a knockout strike depending on which competition rules you are under. Hook kicks that are intended to score points are usually hooked a lot earlier to pass around the guard of the opponent and are generally weaker. Whereas hook kicks which are meant to cause maximum damage usually hook very late so that they can generate maximum power.

Mechanics Of The Hook Kick

When starting the hook kick you can either be in a neutral stance or a sideways kicking stance. Note that with a side-on kicking stance, it is going to be very obvious which type of kick you are attempting as it can’t be disguised as easily.

As soon as you pick your foot up off the floor you must pull your heel towards your calf muscle. This makes it easier to hit the opponent with your heel and protects your achilles tendon from any kind of strange impact that you weren’t expecting.

The knee is then lifted towards the chest in the same way you would perform a standard side kick.

From this position, your knee must be brought well across the centreline of your body. If you do not bring your knee across your body then you will not be in a position to kick the opponent in the head since the kick goes sideways. If you remain central the kick will completely miss the target.

As you have created an angle past the centreline of the fight, you can now bring your heel back across the centreline which should be where your opponent is standing. If the kick makes contact you can drop your leg back to the floor and look for a follow-up attack. If your kick misses you can recoil your leg back to the chamber with a bent knee. At this point, you can choose to do another kick or do something completely different.

Why The Hook Kick Is Effective

The hook kick is effective for a number of reasons.

Firstly it can offer great disguise. When you raise your knee towards your body and pick your foot up off the floor, the opponent obviously knows a kick is coming soon. However, they do not know where this kick is coming from. The hook kick can be disguised in a way that it looks like it could be a variety of straight kicks coming towards your middle or right side until it appears out of left field.

This leaves opponents having to keep their guard up whenever you raise your leg. If the opponent wants to take a chance and try and counter, if they guessed the wrong kick, they could be knocked out before getting the chance.

Secondly, the hook kick can have hidden power. Most of the time a hook kick will be curved early so that it gets around the guard, this is specifically true when looking at taekwondo tournaments. Full power shots and knockouts are already pretty much banned universally in the sport, so there is no reason to try a powerful hook kick.

However in sports such as MMA, kickboxing, or full-contact karate, there is always the risk of a full power hook kick being thrown. Whilst you never want to let your guard down. The disguise of the kick coupled with the fact it’s not quite as powerful as other kicks can sometimes surprise opponents. A hook kick can and will continue to knock out opponents who ignore it.

Drills To Improve Your Hook Kick

Standing Leg Pulses

To perform a leg pulse you will need something to hold onto such as a wall or a chair. From this position, you should fully extend your leg into a roundhouse kick position until it is completely straight.

Once you have achieved this you can slowly move your leg back and forth from left to right. This will improve muscle tone, balance, and mobility, as well as giving increased strength in your quads and glutes.

Standing Knee Pull Stretches

This exercise will increase your flexibility, muscle conditioning, and balance. The great thing about knee pull stretches is that you can do all 3 of these things at once. Whilst it isn’t the most strenuous or difficult stretch to do, it is functional and 100% relevant to the movement of a hook kick.

If you aren’t ready to do full knee pull stretches you can always balance yourself against a wall until you are ready to let go. You can still condition your leg muscles and become more flexible even if you are relying on another object for balance.

Floor Chamber Stretches

Stretching your legs on the floor is ideal for beginners. You won’t train your balance by sitting down, but you will at least be able to focus more on your mobility since you’re not worried about falling down. This stretch is great for those who are new to taekwondo and don’t yet have the flexibility required for a variety of kicks.

A goal for yourself is to be able to get both of your legs in a straight line. When you reach this point you should easily be able to do hook and sidekicks without real difficulty.

Chamber stretches will give you mobility in your hamstrings and groins, but most importantly will stretch your hip flexors and allow you greater range when kicking.

Side Kicks On Each Side

Although a side kick is not a hook kick, the two do share the same entry into the chamber. If you are to practice throwing a side kick to the left and a side kick to the right without putting your foot on the floor, you will condition your legs and improve your technique. This is because these exact same muscles are required to throw a hook kick and also the side to side motion will train your brain on how your legs should be moving from side to side.

This gets in more reps than practicing a hook kick on each side since you can only hook kick on one side per leg.

Hook Kicks In MMA

Since the inception of MMA striking has become more and more necessary. This is partly due to the rules and partly due to people defending against grapplers in a much more efficient way.

Therefore we have seen multiple striking-based champions. Whilst kicking is not the absolute best tool that will get you out of any situation, it is a very useful skill to have. Relying on your kicks as your only way to win is a sure-fire way to get yourself into trouble. However, having a barrage of kicks available in your arsenal is a great asset to fall back on.

Notable strikers such as Stephen Wonderboy Thompson and John Makdessi have used hook kicks to great effect in their fights. The hook kick is ideal since you can get around the guard of your opponent and score something which is both painful and looks good for the judges.

Defensive Use in MMA

Another great use of the hook kick in MMA is that you can set it up in a way where it blends in with your others kicks. This way the opponent will not know what is coming next, it could be straight down the middle or it could come from a side.

An example of hook kicks executed with a perfect game plan was surprisingly when Ryan Hall faced off against Gray Maynard. Hall is a notable BJJ fighter known for submission attacks, but kept Maynard at bay with hook kicks. Maynard was scared at both distance and close up on the ground. He never once engaged during the fight and lost comfortably.