What is the Taekwondo Axe Kick? And how to learn it

The Taekwondo Axe kick is a move that has been taught in TKD since its inception. It has successfully translated to the world of MMA and is also used in Taekwondo competitions worldwide. So, what is this kick and how can you learn it? Well, the clue is in the title. Basically, the Axe kick works by using your leg like an axe. The idea is to kick upwards and then swing back down, using gravity to generate power. The point of the kick is to follow through with your heel and catch the opponent on the head.

As you can imagine, the Axe kick can be used to devastating effect because of its physics. However, although it may be able to finish a match or fight instantly, it can take years to master. In brief, the Axe kick requires a high level of flexibility and technique. This means it is not something you can quickly learn or try to pull off with ease. The Axe kick works by getting out what you put in, if you’re willing to put in the time to learn it, it can pay great dividends in combat.

How the Axe kick works

The Axe kick works by standing on one foot and launching your other into the air. Done perfectly, your kicking leg should be in a completely straight line. However, this is no easy feat. Even highly skilled practitioners of TKD may have a slight bend in their kicking leg. Don’t worry, the Axe kick can still be performed perfectly with this technique. Nonetheless, it is still optimal to have your kicking leg as straight as possible. Obviously, this requires great flexibility which can be learned over time with specific exercises.

Once the leg has been kicked into the air, your leg should ideally go past your head. From here, it is the heel that is meant to do the damage. Of course, kicking the opponent on the chin with your toes may hurt. In some cases, it may even cause a knockout. However, the idea is to avoid hitting the opponent with your feet.

The feet may go high into the air, but it’s the heel that swings down and does the damage. Due to the structure of the heel, it should cause greater damage when landing compared to your toes. In some cases, people will kick their toes away from the opponent, with the intention of dropping the heel downward.

One key detail of this is to launch on your toes of the standing feet when starting the kick. We’ve previously mentioned how the kicking leg shoots into the air. However, the standing leg also has a key part to play. To make it as efficient as possible, you should go on your tiptoes to gain extra height. It may not sound much but by gaining a few inches in height, it could be the difference between a knockout and failure.
In some cases, the Axe kick can be taught by kicking wood. If the kick is strong enough then the wood will break, as seen below.

How to learn the Axe kick

The Axe kick is a combination of flexibility and technique which creates great power. With this in mind, it’s ideal to practice both. To begin with, you can practice this movement as kata. It’s wise to be taught the move by a proper Taekwondo teacher who will know the specific details. Once this has been done though, you can even practice this move at home. As Bruce Lee said “Don’t fear the man who knows 1,000 kicks. But fear the man that has practised one kick 1,000 times.” What Bruce Lee meant was quite literal. If you can practice and master something like the Axe kick then you will become dangerous.

With this said, improving muscle memory and technique through kata is ideal. The point is to keep at it and see if your kick can go higher and more powerful. One idea is to put tape on a punch bag and see if your heel can hit it. Every time you hit the tape, you can adjust it a little higher each time. The point of this is to slowly but surely improve your height. Similarly, by hitting a bag you can hit with full force. Like punches, the more you hit, the harder you will hit.

Focus on flexibility for easier kicks

Another way is to focus on your flexibility. This can be done by implementing yoga into your routine. However, make sure the yoga you learn is specific to your needs. In other words, there’s no point stretching your neck if you’re trying to do Axe kicks. More precisely, you should be focusing on leg flexibility and making your muscles stronger.

One way to do this is to practice the splits in a straight line. For example, if you do the splits to the side then this may help but isn’t optimal. The optimal way would be to put one leg in front of you with one behind you. By doing this, you really stretch your calf muscles which are of huge importance in using the Axe kick. Similar to the Bruce Lee example of repetition, the same applies here. It may sound boring, but the more you stretch, the more flexible you will become. Over time this will aid the power and height of your Axe kicks.

Lastly, one strategy to improve your Axe kick is by building leg muscles. One famous user of the Axe kick was the legendary MMA fighter Mirko Cro Cop. The Croatian had notoriously huge leg muscles which added to his power. It’s no secret, but getting bigger and stronger muscles will obviously improve your hits. Imagine getting punched by a skinny person, then imagine getting punched by a bodybuilder. Even if they both had awful technique, the bodybuilder’s punch would be far more damaging due to the sheer amount of muscle on their frame.

When not to Axe kick

By now, you should realize that we are big fans of the Axe kick. Basically, when done right it is an instant fight-ender. However, it also comes with some weaknesses. If you’ve ever watched amateur MMA fights, some people will try Axe kicks without the technique or height on the kick. This can have devastating consequences for the person doing the kick.

Firstly, the opponent can catch the kick and put them on the floor by landing the kick which is done by the strike lacking height. In other words, too often people will try the kick without the height or power. Strategically, this is a bad idea as it makes your leg vulnerable by getting caught mid-air. Even if it does land perfectly, with bad technique it is considered too risky without having adequate firepower behind it.

Put another way, it’s not the Axe kick that is the problem, it’s the people doing it. If done correctly, then there are very few downsides. However, as mentioned if it is done badly then there are many negative outcomes. With this in mind, the Axe kick is considered a high-level move that should only be done in competition or fighting by advanced TKD students. Until then, it’s best to slowly master it yourself until you feel truly comfortable using it in a high-pressure setting.

Summary

To sum it up, the Axe kick is a pendulum-type kick that relies on the gravity of the heel coming down from height to hit the opponent in the head. To do this, you must be able to quickly raise the leg high enough to create enough speed and impact. It is not a move that can be taught overnight either and relies on a number of elements to work. In conclusion, it is a fantastic tool but one which needs a lot of dedication to work. With that said, once the Axe kick has been learned to a decent level, it is a tool that can instantly earn victory. Because of its great power, it should be a consideration for any TKD student to learn and is a great attacking threat in any scenario.