The proper way to use the axe kick?

[earthman32]

I've looked at the sticky threads and found some great info on the spinning heel kick. Now I'm wondering, how do I use and axe kick? First, is there any video demonstrations such as the spinning heel kick? What is the best way to practice this on the bag/thai pads? How should I use it in a fight?

I'm a taller fighter (6'3") and fighting in amateur kickboxing (1-1 @ 185 lbs) and want some good kicks to take advantage of my height. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[MikeMartial]

Look up Andy Hug, and check his HL vids. He used the axe kick like a true master.

Now, that being said, it's not a kick to depend on by any means. At best, it'll surprise your opponent the first time around, and you might get lucky and land it on a nose or cheekbone. If it does, chances are it's not even going to be close to knockout power. (Andy Hug aside)

IMO, the cons outweight the pros by far. It's easy to see it coming, it's not a very fast kick, unless you land with the heel you'll do zero damage, and by far the biggest con, it makes you extremely vulnerable to counters.

The guys who throw this the best come from either a TKD or Kyokushin background; so if you don't, I wouldn't waste a lot of training time trying to work this into the toolbox.

 

[earthman32]

The guys who throw this the best come from either a TKD or Kyokushin background; so if you don't, I wouldn't waste a lot of training time trying to work this into the toolbox.

Yeah, I looked at the Hug vids in the Sticky section, but they were so fast I couldn't tell where he was aiming let alone where they landed.

If not the axe kick, what should I concentrate on? I've got a front kick and my round house kicks are pretty good, but slow. My last opponent (you answered some of my questions about his traditional Martial Arts style in a previous thread--thanks by the way) beat me to the kick and I lost the decision 2 rds to 1. I don't want to let that happen again. It shouldn't have happened, I'm taller than him and he really didn't hurt me even when he landed clean to the body.

 

[sugarboyae]

work a lightning fast power teep. .. axe kicks aren't the best idea all the time..

especially in MMA -- you need to do some serious set up and be extremely deceptive. and its hard to do that when your leg is already up in the air and needs to come back down again.

but if you already have a good front and round kicks... spinning back kick isn't a bad option.

how are your flying knees? w/ such height advantage.. that could be some serious surprise KO power.

 

[deadlyshaolin]

Aside from speeding up your roundhouses, consider adding the following:

- back kick
- side kick
- hook kick

But pragmatically speaking, mastering two or three kicks is better than just knowing how to throw five or six.

 

[Kyryllo]

I'm planning to make a tutorial on axe kicks, I was inspired to do so as I heard "WOW Have you seen those wicked awesomeness of an axe kick CroCop did on Hunt? Sick, sick,sickidy-sick!!" While I almost fell in laughter when I saw these, because it were probably the poorest attempts to throw an axekick I have ever seen in proffessional fighting.


The axekick is not your best option for mma, but in kickboxing it could easily become a weapon. It's great to complete a combination from longer punching range, when the opponent is acting defensively. You have the best power on the axekick when you are around the point where you are just inside or just outside of the punching range. If I would get a penny for every time I caught a kickboxer with an axekick I would have around 1748 pennies right now.

 

[CowboyPete]

It's great to complete a combination from longer punching range, when the opponent is acting defensively.

Absolutely. It's especially effective because a lot of fighters simply don't know how to properly defend against it. It often looks like a round kick to the head in your peripheral vision if it's thrown at the right moment and by trying to block the roundhouse, your opponent is wide open for a shot to the forehead or the top of the head.

As a side question, am I mistaken in thinking that the collar bone is also a primary target for an axe kick? It seems that you could break someone's clavicle pretty easily in much the same way a downward elbow would.

 

[ssssmashing]

Axe kicks are great for pounding down someones guard (arms - not guard on the ground...but then again it could work for that too) the problem with a lot of people's axe kick is that they do not set it up properly and leave themselves open for a timed takedown.

I have seen the axe kick used for knockouts but I like it best for punishing someones arms and setting up something else (as indicated above)

 

[Kyryllo]

Actualy breaking the clavicula with a strike is a myth, it's almost impossible. Almost all clavicula breaks appear after a fall on the shoulder and not direct hits. The clavicula is hanging on the sternum and the shoulder and is the only joint connection of the arm to the skeleton. Any hit on the clavicula would just initiate a movement of the shoulder and let the force deflagrate like in a foam ball. Rugby players use their shoulders to tackle hard with little or no padding, but it's never the tackler who injures his clavicula it's everytime the tackled, because he falls on his shoulder.

 

[MikeMartial]

I'm planning to make a tutorial on axe kicks

Get on it man! I've been waiting for the next installment. I was under the impression that you had a bunch of video done, just sitting on your hard drive.

 

[deadlyshaolin]

Any hit on the clavicula would just initiate a movement of the shoulder and let the force deflagrate like in a foam ball.

(in my best Rampage impression)
WHY YOU GOTTA BE USING BIG WORDS FO?

 

[earthman32]

how are your flying knees? w/ such height advantage.. that could be some serious surprise KO power.

I've been working my knees (including a flying knee) on the bags and they're coming along fine. However, I fight in full-contact rules for the time being, so no leg kicks or knees allowed.

 

[earthman32]

I'm planning to make a tutorial on axe kicks,

That would be fantastic. I really found your tutorial on the spinning heel kick helpful. My sparring partner fights in Chuck Norris' WCL and he's going to be fighting a guy with a really powerful spinning heel kick so I looked up your stuff and have been working on it. I really haven't developed the proper follow-through to create enough power to hurt anyone with it, but I caught him getting lazy and just catching the kick, so I changed it up and threw a spinning back kick to the solar plexus and dropped him! Thanks for the info.

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

I think the only way you could KO someone with an axe kick is if yo were taller than them and landed it on the top of the head/face although you could alwyas try a jumping axe kick.

 

[True2KungFu]

dunno about taht, so long as the height difference isnt that great. im 5'6 and ive axe kicked people in the face over 6 ft. But yeah theyre best for taller folks.

If you notice one thing in the andy hug hl, he does an axekick to knock down the hands of his opponent and throws a 1-2.

You gotta have good footwork otherwise theyll see it from a mile away, you wanna explode in , bam! axe kick them right in the fawkin face. I like to throw it starting out like a crescent kick towards their blind side

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

I like to throw it starting out like a crescent kick towards their blind side

I like the out-to-in axe kick that looks like a roundkick. I remeber thinking axe kicks were so cool when i was a kid but actually they have little damage potential. Ive landed them on several peoples clavicles and never broken them, usually if they are lighter than me it just pushes them to the gorund or knocks them down.

 

[Tim Chan]

axe kick's area lmost impossible to pull off without extreme flexibility, especially against taller opponents. maybe it you can time a jumping axe kick for more height, and i guess you can try an axe kick to the thigh, or on someone on the ground.

since you are tall and probably reasonably flexible being a kick boxer, you can probably pull it off against shorter opponents. i don't know how flexible you are.

one thing you should watch out for is getting your calf caught on someone's shoulder and losing balance from it. axe kicks can be devastating and break shoulders at the same time depending on many factors.

 

[CowboyPete]

maybe it you can time a jumping axe kick for more height, and i guess you can try an axe kick to the thigh, or on someone on the ground.

I just don't like the idea of the axe kick to a fighter on the ground. It's so much easier to stomp or soccer kick a guy and there isn't the problem of possibly smashing the back of your heel into the ground if the guy rolls.

 

[earthman32]

since you are tall and probably reasonably flexible being a kick boxer, you can probably pull it off against shorter opponents. i don't know how flexible you are.

I have descent flexibility. I can't do a full blow splits, but I stretch before every workout doing what basically amounts to the first range of motion of the axe kick (to punt kick straight up to my shoulder) to warm up my hamstrings (if you've seen Bas' Big DVD's of Combat, he recommends these motions as a warm up for your hip flexors and hamstrings). That's what got me thinking about employing the kick.

My coach criticizes me because I don't know enough kicks and become predictable in sparring. So I'm trying to learn new tricks before nationals this summer.

So everyone is talking about, 'You need to set it up properlly.' Okay, well what is the proper way to set it up? Get them to cover up in peak-a-boo guard and then come with the axe kick? I'm looking into the Hug videos. It's hard here at work, they screen out a lot of streaming media from our browsers.

 

[earthman32]

I just don't like the idea of the axe kick to a fighter on the ground. It's so much easier to stomp or soccer kick a guy and there isn't the problem of possibly smashing the back of your heel into the ground if the guy rolls.

Well, I'm speaking of the axe kick in the context of a kickboxing match, but I still wouldn't think it would be a problem for mma. Yeah, a stomp and a soccer kick are quicker and more accurate, but if you drive your heel into the mat, so what? It's the hardest part of your body. I'm more concerned about driving an achilles tendon into a shoulder or clavical and tearing/spraining it.