5 CLASSIC Martial Arts Kicks That Just DON'T Work 

Which of today's kicks do you like SO MUCH you're going to keep training it (even though it's not the most effective)?

thing to think about with hug's use of the axe kick is he didn't even strike gold with it that often, but because he was good with it, his opponents were always wary of it and looking to guard/counter it, and he used their fear of it to really effectively set up other strikes

I’ve always thought the Axe Kick was a low payoff technique. I still trained it due to Cro Cop & Hug using it, especially cause Cro Cop was my favorite fighter for a decade. I do recall hearing in a seminar say and/or saw in a tutorial that some fighters use an Axe Kick not only to hit the head but also to target your opponents guard/shoulder. The instructor was saying if you can land your heel directly on your opponents shoulder or along the forearm that you could break some bones, if done correctly.

You are totally right about these kicks. Back in eighties my coach used to tell me that these kicks are just for the movies. In my opinion the only two jump kicks that might work are the jumping front kick and spinning back kick onto the middle section of the body .Much appreciation for your efforts and way to go.

Verdum vs Browne. Nice example of a heavyweight utilizing flying sidekick effectively in a fight.

The main application I have seen in kickboxing for the tornado kick is when you have already landed a solid spinning back kick. The opponent felt the power. The next time you show the spinning back, the opponent covers their body and backs up, the perfect situation to continue to spin through into a tornado kick to the head. It is kind of an "edge case," and I agree that time is better spent on fundamental kicks, but I think it is still useful to have in your bag of tricks.

Hey Gabriel, i think the optimal target area for an axe kick would be the collarbone. That way more downward momentum is generated and the possibility of injuring your heel on the opponents skull is mitigated. If you simultaneously drive your whole body towards the opponent akin to a pushkick your leg will be harder to catch as well.

I just want to say I love your channel and look forward to your videos

Kick number 2. Fabricio Werdum landed something like this on Travis Browne in the UFC

It's all about who you fight/spar with. My TKD teacher would axe kick my leading arm down as I guarded (not used to blocking axe kicks, coming from Muay Thai) and blitz in with punches to the middle line, now opened. Wicked utilization I hadn't seen so for a complete picture, it's good to spar with more people than those in our own favored art.

Andy Hug was a Master of axe kick and kyokushin karate that is full contact karate and he was flexible and explosive power and speed.

Amazing video as always Gabriel, keep up the great work!

Classic Bruce Lee...discard what doesn't work. Simplification is the ultimate refinement.

I've seen one good application of the crescent kick, or at least a variation of it. Some Kyokushin guys use it to kick the thigh from a very close distance and they land with the heel. It connects at a slight downward angle. It's easy to do and actually really hurts. Of course in 99% of cases the same guys who do this will use the regular low kick to attack the thigh, but the crescent variant can come in handy.

Super video all the kick you described and mentioned work great!! IN THE MOVIES!! Period!!

I always hated the tornado kick when i did Taekwondo, because as you said, the wind up can be easily seen. Love this video agree 100%

Check out Fabricio Werdum’s flying side kick though :D Great vid, some of those don’t require that much isolated training to be in your arsenal, therefore it’s not bad to have them for various set-ups.

For the axe kick, the best place to target would be the collarbones/shoulders. As someone who did TKD, back in the old days axe kicks to the collarbones/shoulders would break them and the match would be over asap. For the crescent kicks, it good to use when you are in close quarters

Awesome! We all learned these kicks in 90's, then discovered the old teachers were either wrong or wronger...lol. Great vid.

In my experience, the tornado kick can work if you set it up with one or two back kicks to make the opponent back away when you start turning again, and then you cover extra distance with the tornado.

Great Vid!

Ramsey Dewey has a great video showing how to use the crescent kick from the clinch. Most people throw these kicks without hiding them at all, and use them as they would in a form.

Besides front kicks and roundhouse kicks which are bread & butter, the spinning kicks (back kick & spinning wheel kick) can be really devastating - but I agree not a technique you would throw all the time. I think anyway it can be useful put some time in maybe spinning kicks, then you have something to surprise your opponent with. But, sure put almost all effort to basic tried techniques, that should be your base.

I've trained axe kick back in my kickboxing days, but it really needs a LOT of training to land it properly like Andi Hug and other good Kyokushin karatekas

There are some people who give you a lot of power and it serves them well. You are very right. In the end it all comes down to practicing and trying. Thanks to professionals like you, we learn and the learning curve is shortened a little.👍👍👍

I’m impressed with your control I would’ve question mark Kicked the wall with my foot through it.

Nice good info

Not every kick needs to be a knockout kick. An axe kick can be pretty useful if you aim for their high guard and knock it down to enter boxing range. A flying side kick where you dont lift your standing leg up but jump forward with it to close distance is the effective version of it. These worked pretty well for me in sparring.

I like that you can be objective about the usefulness of the kicks without being condescending about the styles.

3:19 yup purely fun !! Very good for training explosion .

it annoys me the lack of views you get. By far my favorite online coach.

I love the tornado kick. Not acrobatically gifted, lots of bad attempts. I finally nailed it. I wouldn't use it competing, but it's the only flashy kick I've got. I also follow it with "road house!"

When Fabrcio Werdum flying side kicked Travis Brown right when the fight started 😅 that was awesome

I use straight leg crescent kicks as a leg warm up

Every kick has its own beauty and has been successful. Only a few could master it and apply from situation to situation.

Fabricio werdum hit travis brown with a flying side kick and it was amazing

Can you do a video on kicks used to move, lazy versions, checks, arched back kicks, Flore kicks, and falling over kicks. I see more rejected techniques from legs, that's why active fighters connect with their arms.

Francisco Filho once kicked to my guard with crescent kick and I am very sure he can generate power enough fior KO. But he is a extremely high level heavyweight fighter.

I think the most UNDERATED kick is the backwards horse kick! With a bit of practice you can learn to hit people behind you with 1 leg without even looking at them but takes quite a bit of training. Once you get the leg structure down it might be one of the most powerful kicks in the arsenal after you learn to land your heel on whatever is behind you, (i can backwards horse kick poeple right in their neck/chin with my heel). Yes, you should look where your strikes are going but even horses sometimes kill stuff behind them without even looking, and with some training can be useful.

Pretty right. One thing I've found with the tornado kick is it'll never land but if you do a hook kick right after people don't see it coming. Fun in sparring but yeah a bit too energy consuming

tornado works for me in sparring when the guy retreats. I cover the distance and he will block his head in panic. side is all open hehehe. now you need control to be able to adjust midair.

I agree overall. I have effectively used a tornado kick, but not how it is typically used to close distance. If thrown at close range, it can serve as a feint for a spinning back kick/turn kick. My opponent either dropped their guard to defend their stomach or stepped back . Either way, they leave themselves open to the spinning roundhouse portion of the kick.

I've had success with the tornado kick, just gotta set it up with a hard spinning back kick or two early in the round. Throw the tornado later, when your opp flinches to the expected back kick, it opens up the head for the tornado.

I agree but Andy hugs axe kick were a thing of beauty

Growing up on JCVD films, I prided myself on learning how to do his techniques, esp., the helicopter kick. I have to keep that in my repertoire because it's my favorite technique and a symbol of my eventual self-mastery.

Oh man... back in the day in a street fight. A big clusterfuck of a melee a dude way bigger than me runs and throws a flying kick. I duck, grab his leg midair twist and throw. It was a thing of beauty. The guy stayed there in the asphalt

The spinning round kick is more so about using the spin to fake a different kick. Usually when it works, the person's gotten their opponent to expect something like a spinning back kick, then they use the spin to fake that and go high with the round kick.

I agree with you 100%! Title is a little clickbaity though lol I’ve seen all these techniques work in both mma and karate brackets, but for effective use of it like you said is not worth putting too much time and effort into.

As I understand it, or so I was told, the flying side kick dates back to ancient military martial arts, and was originally meant as a kick to knock cavalry soldiers off of their horses. It's not really meant to be done in a fist fight. Whereas the axe kick was meant to be done in a street fight, but is supposed to be delivered to the collarbone, not the head, in an attempt to break it.

Check out Ignacio Capllonch he did all this stuff and was extremely effective. Also, Did you forget about the flying sidekick Fabricio Werdum landed on Travis Brown to open the fight?

Agree with all .

Werdum’s jumping front kick was 🔥

From savage the reverse frontal or crescent kick in karate is a good elevated from front kick. And tornado kick it’s a good elevated from side kick. Most people won’t see the crescent kick coming especially if you constantly using the front kick

1. Ortho stance, Left leg switch kick lands to body 2. Place left leg behind in southpaw. 3. Use momentum to spin into right leg tornado kick to head. But GV is right. Oppt needs to be frozen so use when they linger on ropes.

In Werdum Vs Brown in the UFC Werdum opened with a jumping side kick, landed it too

Th crescent kicks are actually good, not for hitting the face but its great for knocking down someone's guard In kickboxing. And then following up with a cross. I haven't done it in full combat but ot does work in sparring. Your results may vary

Although you definitely make some good points, and I don't want to argue with someone who probably has more years of experience than i have life, but i think that some of these kicks can be of use, if done correctly. Tornado kick as a distance closer and counter, and almost all of the others as straight up kicks, or feints. I still very much respect your opinion and your channel❤️💪

Don’t forget Werdum vs Browne. That was a big flying side kick by a big fella

I started out with 130 kicks & now I am down to 30 kicks !!

I like to use the axe kick more for knocking down their lead hand to set up a 2.

Yo that very first kick looked badass as hell though 😂

What do you think of the Kyokushin Heel Kick / Gedan Soto Kakato Geri ? Had a lot of success using it in the clinch during muay thai sparring striking the thigh, but I've almost never seen it used in any proffessional fights.

Throw the axe kick to the nose, or circle it up and bring it diagonally down on the chin

The only two kicks from this video I train or ax, kick and tornado kick the ax kick. I only use as a sort of goofing around thing like you said, and tornado kick. It’s very rare that I even use that anyway but when I do I already have a clear shot for it same with the ax kick not only do I use it when goofing around but if I see a clear shot for it, like if my opponent is not very effective with blocking, which has happened a few times, then I might go for that, but other than that I don’t really train any of these other kicks.

Totall agree. Axe kicks are more of a danger to yourself than your opponent, in my opinion. Mostly because of the possible knee injuries, but also because you have to be very flexible to pull it off, it is no use against taller opponents and the attack is rather slow compared to other kicks.

I've seen people manage to set up tornado kicks after throwing a few spinning back kicks to the body. If your opponent is expecting a kick coming in a straight line to the body but suddenly there is a kick coming in a circular line to the head, it's a kick that comes out of nowhere. And the thing is that people consider that the tornado kick is too slow because it takes a long time and the opponent has a chance to react, but if you set it up after a spinning back kick the actual time of reaction is between realizing that it's not actually a spinning back kick but in reality a tornado. I'm not saying that it's something super useful and consistent, but, if we're going to judge it, we might as well judge it based on the best use of the kick, not the worst. Otherwise it's like saying that a spinning hammerfist is useless because it's slow when in reality it's always used in specific situations where you can disguise the spin and time it well, not something you simply throw out of nowhere at any time during a fight.

I use the hatchet kick to set up my teeps and lead leg round kicks for orthodox. Its kinda like the superfoot thing, but more thai style. It sounds awkward but i promise you it works. At least for me it does

Ace kick should come down at an angle across the head or neck to knock them down by having their body follow their head. Also, that twitch of the head might cause the dizziness or K.O. like kyokushin fighter Andy Hug.

gabirel you can make a Crescent kick, if you throw a couple low kicks then fake low kick into a Crescent kick

An *axe kick* imo is a precursor to remove guard and counter that's the only reason to use an "axe kick" but if you miss you get countered easy. So it's really a thing to do to disrupt patterns.

Couldn't agree more, and I grew up doing tkd, so yeah...a little too much kicking experience on my resume, if you know what I mean ;) ps: vg video, you got my sub

The Ax kick almost broke my knee using it!

Kick #4 is actually a blocking , deflection, kick against a spear, long stick or large knife (wrist).

There's a clip on RU-vid of a jumping side kick in action. It's from a football match and the attacking player takes out the goalie and a couple of seconds later out of nowhere one of the goalies team mates comes flying from off screen with his side kick. It's a bit funny because it's so unexpected/shocking.

The Saenchai cartwheel kick lol coming from Bboy/breakdance background I’d throw this to style on someone during playful sparring

the axe kick is amazing. fully opening your legs exposing your testicles as much as possible while facing your opponent.

i use the crescent kick as a fake to prepare for a side kicks. That works like a charm but in sparring not sure if it would in high level

Jumping side kick is amazing to use if you wanna kick someone in the back to get them off of someone else and thats prolly about it, dont think ive ever seen a good one in the ring though. Ive seen a few good running flying knees for jaquar style attack though.

I won a match/got points with a tornado kicks in the -80. I still remember the feeling 😅 when my foot hit him. It was TKD meets/challenge kungfu competition. 1000 tickets sold. Those were the days.

I think a lot of Karate dojos teach the axe kick first because it helps you develop flexibility for the high kicks that you get taught later. Thats the only reasoning I can think of. Because I do use axe kicks to warm up before kicking the bag.

Bruce Lee himself apparently advocated not using any jumping kicks during sparring and reserved them for his films, according to his notes/books

I agree that crescent kicks as explained are indeed weak. Improving it with the hip turn is what unlocks its strength, and additional vulnerability for the user. But it does hit like a brick then. And it makes for a great way to mix up the entry of an axe kick; convert an in-out crescent into an axe to catch those tricky folks trying to duck it

Behold! The truth is spoken! At last someone is talking about reality!

I’ve seen at least a couple KO’s from axe kicks in Shidokan and Kyokushin full contact karate. I think it can be very effective especially since it comes at a totally unexpected angle. It’s hard to get a lot of power on the down swing but it can definitely be perfected. I half way agree with you about the crescent kick. I think throwing inside crescent kicks is a good way to damage your knee if you actually land it. Not to mention it leaves you open to punches. The outside crescent on the other hand is a very sneaky move that you can hide a straight punch behind. I saw this work in a UFC fight that ended in a KO. Look up Mark Weir vs Eugene Jackson. Also Anderson Silva was fond of lead leg outside crescents, which is the only way they should be thrown in my opinion. You’re absolutely right about the helicopter kick. It’s nothing but wasted motion and energy and if you actually manage to land it on any part of your opponent’s body, you’ll probably end up falling on your butt. Also, any decent fighter should see it from a mile away. There’s no upside to it. It’s purely for movies and forms. The running-jumping side kick is a move that can only possibly be effective at the very beginning of a fight when both fighters are approaching each other from distance. Fabrico Werdum only kind of pulled this off in a couple of MMA matches and it didn’t contribute to the outcome of the fights. I think the tornado kick can be effective in the same way a spinning back fist can be effective. If one strike misses, you use the stored up momentum to throw another. That being said, it’s still a highly risky move and considering it requires total body commitment, it leaves you open to a lot of counters or simply your opponent moving away. I think Michael “Venom” Page is the only guy to ever get a KO from one but I could be wrong.

Surprised you didnt mention Fabricio werdums flying side kick to the face

Fabricio Werdum landed the jumping side kick in the face of Travis Browne

I have seen jumping side kick used in international K1 tournament. The opponent was in corner and he was crushed between the kick and corner pad. But perhaps it is not very cost-effective to train jumping side kick. 😀

We all practiced those jumping spinning hook kicks/helicopter kicks after watching Van Damn movies.

As a TKD ITF Black belt with a lot of experience in kickboxing and MMA I would have to agree mostly, except for the "Tornado kick", which you could go in my profile and watch me land in a Sanda competition. Done effectively it could be very confusing and a great feint, however I would not recommend it over other kicks, because ALL jumping kicks/attacks require unreasonable amount of energy for a potentially small reward.

I've seen a big guy get knocked out by a crescent kick when the guy was using the heel from the outside in and it's executed slightly differently than a normal crescent kick, but he knocked the guy out cold, accidentally, and he was the smaller fighter. I found a new appreciation for the technique lol. But it starts down low and shoots at an angle up high usually masked by a jab and set up by a pump fake front kick and jab earlier. I still don't practice it, though lol.

I think the problem with a lot of these flashy kicks is that either you telegraph whats coming too much, or there just isn't any power behind it (ie, crescent kick). The last kick is just a disaster waiting to happen. You turn your back on your opponent, you're up in the air, you can get dizzy, you can lose your balance, you telegraph what you're doing, your opponent can rush in or step back, and it can be lights out for you -- all for what? a flashy kick with little power and low pay off?

you can practice them less, but more arsenal means more options, which isnt always good, you should definetly have a " to go " arsenal, but once you have your high levevk arsenal, you could implement something alse that may not be a knowout blow, but it may be the transitioning move you were lacking, or the psychological factor advantage you wanted etc. ( also axe kick can be great if you are good with frontal snap kicks )

How about the jumping spinning back kick? Is it worth it?

Heard of Andy Hug, Francisco Filho, Mirko Cro-Cop or Kyokushin Karate?

Bear in mind, Gabriel is not saying that these kick cannot work. There are just other kicks that are much more likely to produce the desired results. Of course, you COULD axe kick someone, but you could also do something else that is statistically more likely to work, and thus, more effective.

On the Axe kick, there's some random MMA fighter out there in which a fighter lands a ko Axe kick, possibly a Russian fighter. Food for thought. The Crescent kick was shown to me as a way to knock a gun or knife out of an attackers hands🤣.

Oooh, how could you forget Fabricio Werdum's flying sidekick to the head against Travis Browne!?! 🤣😂 The stuff of legends!

I actually landed the jumping side kick. When the opponent is backpedaling alot you can close the distance with the jump. Although the jumping sidekick when you have the feet mostly on the floor is safer and more powerful. And if the opponent moves sideways, you can abort this kick halfway unlike the jumping one where you fully commit by jumping in the air.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the tornado kick really supposed to be a spin feint into a round kick? So maybe it could work if you're landing spins and opponent is biting on your spins fients?

Great Video! I am a big guy, 6’5” 300lb. I blew out my knee trying a jumping roundhouse. At that point I was done. I only train front kick, roundhouse kick, side kick, and back kick. I do use the axe kick, but only as part of the stretching and warmup routine. I found your comment about crescent kicks interesting. As a big guy I may be able to pull off that kick, but it wouldn’t work against other big guys …. So isn’t that pointless? With all the hand elbow and knee options, it’s hard to train everything…. So it’s just better to have kicks that work in your fighting system…. Using them and shifting levels and range makes it plenty hard!