Alright. You want to perform the Axe Kick perfectly in Muay Thai or any other martial art. That’s excellent news because this article will teach you to do that. If you desire to start executing this kick properly, read this article.
But first, let’s review what it is and what its effects are.
The Axe Kick is a technique commonly used in martial arts, including Muay Thai. It’s a powerful downward strike delivered with the heel or blade of the foot, resembling the motion of swinging an axe.
Now that I have your attention, I want to address a critical point to master the Axe Kick or any other strike in any martial art, whether it’s Muay Thai, Kickboxing, MMA, or Boxing. Practice is the key to perfection.
You won’t get anywhere without actual practice. You must go to your martial arts gym and implement what you had learned. Without it, you won’t be able to learn anything, even if you’re reading or watching the best coach in the world.
So now, let’s dive into the practical steps you need to take to throw a solid Axe Kick in Muay Thai.
How to Throw the Axe Kick in Muay Thai
The first part of this article will also be the longest one. It’s going to review the steps you need to take to perfect your Axe Kick and highlight the most common mistakes many Muay Thai fighters make on their way to proper execution.
After that, we’ll go through combinations (2nd part) and end this article with some variations of this effective kick. You can follow the links to skip to these parts.
Anyways, what we’ll do now is break down all the steps to proper Axe Kick execution. You’ll see that if you want to perform it properly, you must begin in your fighting stance. Yes, how you stand before you throw it will influence your power, speed, accuracy, and overall effectiveness.
So without further ado, let’s dive into the first step!
#1 – Stand in the proper stance
The first point in proper Axe Kick execution is your fighting stance. The question you want to ask yourself is whether your Muay Thai fighting stance serves you. If the way you stand isn’t optimized to generate power and speed, you won’t be able to go a long way.
Start in your Muay Thai fighting stance, with your dominant leg positioned slightly behind your lead leg. Keep your hands up to protect your face and maintain a balanced posture.
Now, I have an entire article dedicated to perfecting your Muay Thai fighting stance. I highly recommend you click the embed below to read more about it.
The key point here is to have your guard up (I like when it covers your face entirely), have your dominant leg in the rear, and maintain an overall balanced posture. You also want to stay light on your feet and jump in and out with a certain rhythm.
Here’s what I mean when I say rhythm.
#2 – Lift your knee
Now that you have your fighting stance down, it’s time we dive into the first practical step in executing the Axe Kick properly.
The first practical step is to lift your knee upward. Your goal is to set up this kick by having a long range of motion. Do you think it’s easy to hit your opponent’s head or even collarbone when you’re unable to generate a lot of height?
This step is here to make kicking higher a bit easier.
Lift your dominant leg’s knee upward, bringing it as high as possible. Your thigh should be parallel to the ground, or as close as you can get it.
#3 – Extend your leg upward
In the previous steps, we did two things. We ensured our fighting stance benefits us to generate more power and speed, and lifted our kicking leg’s knee upward. That’s all we did.
The next step, which is the cornerstone of this kick, is to extend the same leg upward.
Begin extending your leg straight up into the air, maintaining control and balance throughout the movement. As you extend, rotate your hips and torso slightly to generate more power.
I deliberately have made sure to break down bringing the knee up and extending the leg after. You must follow these in order if you want to get some real height with your kick. The Axe Kick won’t be nearly as effective if you can’t reach your opponent’s head or collarbone.
Therefore, I’ve purposefully broken down the steps for you; so you’ll be able to begin getting results as quickly as possible.
So make sure to follow these in order.
#4 – Snap your leg downward
Once your leg is fully extended, rapidly snap it downward toward your target. Focus on using the heel or blade of your foot as the striking surface. Aim for your opponent’s head, neck, shoulder, or collarbone area.
This is the part of the Axe Kick that most Muay Thai fighters have difficulty with. It’s quite hard to extend your leg and not hit the target, as it’s what you learned thus far. However, for this kick and this kick alone, you don’t want to hit the target in step #3. Rather, you want to generate force by extending your leg.
Understanding this difference is critical to generating more force with the snapping downward motion. This step is all about snapping your leg downward on the target you selected.
Now, if you weren’t able to generate sufficient force with your leg extension, you won’t be able to get a lot of power with this kick. This is why separating the two motions is key.
In the variations part of this article, we’ll review a few ways to extend your leg and a few ways to snap your leg downward. For instance, you can extend your leg in a circular motion and bring your leg downward in a straight line, which will help you generate more force and inflict more damage. But more on that later.
#5 – Generate power from your hip
The next step is critical to understand. This is where most Muay Thai fighters get confused and are unable to utilize it to generate more power and speed with their Axe Kicks.
As you execute the downward strike, engage your hip muscles to generate additional power and speed. This hip motion adds force to the kick, increasing its impact.
You should strive to generate most of your force with your hips. Although your legs are the thing that’s driving the power, it’s as if you tried generating power with your Jab from your arm only. This will be very ineffective.
However, it’s not the case. When you Jab, Cross, or throw any punch whatsoever, you’re using your hips to generate most of the power. You can even charge up your punch by giving a slight turn to the other side before you throw the punch.
The same applies to the Axe Kick or any kick for that matter. Before you throw the kick, you want to use your hips to generate most of the power, and not generate it from your leg itself.
#6 – Keep your guard up
Defense is 50% of the equation. However, it seems as if many Muay Thai fighters skip defending themselves entirely. You must keep that in mind when you execute this kick.
Let me be as blunt with you as possible. Without defense and without keeping your guard up when you throw the kick, you’ll get dominated in competitions and spars. Let’s assume your opponent reads you and predicts your Axe Kick (Which is more than likely going to be the case.)
In that case, he’ll probably either evade your kick or counter, which is the thing we need to prepare for. A good counter is going to be getting closer and throwing a Straight Elbow, for example. The Uppercut and Hook are also viable options.
Here’s what you should do to avoid that.
It’s crucial to maintain good defensive awareness while performing any strike, including the Axe kick. Make sure your other hand is guarding your face, and be prepared to defend or counter if necessary.
Keep your guard up; this is the most important piece of advice I can give you and likely the one I would want you to get from this article. You can always practice speed and power with the Axe Kick. However, it’s going to be difficult to practice keeping your guard up if you have never paid attention to it.
#7 – Recoil and reset
Thus far, you were able to bring your knee upward, extend your leg, snap your leg downward on the target you have selected, and did all that while keeping defense in mind. That’s fantastic and let’s even say you were able to hit your desired target.
You did all that. However, your execution is still not over.
After executing the Axe kick, quickly retract your leg back to its starting position. Reset your stance and be ready for any subsequent actions.
Resetting your stance is key to keeping the fight going and keeping the advantage on your side. If you do everything perfectly but stay in your current vulnerable position, which is after an Axe Kick, your opponent WILL gain the advantage on you even though you were able to land one of the more deadly kicks in the world of Muay Thai.
So bring your leg back to its original position once you hit the Axe Kick.
And these are the steps to perform the Axe Kick perfectly in Muay Thai. Follow each step and implement it alone, so you can build effective muscle memory. For example, practice bringing your knee upward enough times that you won’t even need to think about it ever again.
And now, let’s advance to the next part: Combinations!
Axe Kick Combinations (Muay Thai)
Combinations in Muay Thai are extremely important to know and understand. You won’t be able to cause substantial damage if you don’t combine offensive techniques properly.
Let’s assume you were to give up combinations. In that case, imagine what would happen; you wouldn’t be able to throw more than a single offensive technique at a time. Therefore, you wouldn’t be able to cause a lot of damage at all, which will make you a less competent fighter.
In Muay Thai, combinations involving the Axe Kick can be effective for surprising your opponent and creating openings for further attacks. Here are a few combinations that incorporate the Axekick:
- Jab, Cross, Axe Kick:
- Start with a quick jab with your lead hand.
- Follow up with a powerful cross using your rear hand.
- Immediately transition into an Axe Kick with your rear leg, targeting your opponent’s head or collarbone.
- Lead Teep, Hook, Axe Kick:
- Use a lead teep (push kick) to create distance and disrupt your opponent’s balance.
- As your opponent recovers, throw a hook punch with your lead hand to the head or body.
- Finish the combination with an Axe Kick from your rear leg, aiming for the head or upper body.
- Rear Knee, Rear Roundhouse Kick, Axe Kick:
- Throw a strong knee strike with your rear leg, aiming for your opponent’s midsection or thigh.
- Immediately follow up with a rear roundhouse Kick to your opponent’s body or leg.
- Finally, transition into an Axe Kick with your rear leg, targeting your opponent’s head or collarbone.
- Lead Push Kick, Cross, Axe Kick:
- Utilize a lead push Kick to create distance and disrupt your opponent’s balance.
- Quickly follow up with a cross punch using your rear hand.
- Finish the combination with an Axe Kick using your rear leg, targeting your opponent’s head or collarbone.
- Rear Teep, Lead Hook, Axe Kick:
- Execute a rear teep (push kick) to create distance and create an opening.
- As your opponent reacts, throw a lead hook punch to the head or body.
- Conclude the combination with an Axe Kick from your rear leg, targeting your opponent’s head or upper body.
Axe Kick Variations
In Muay Thai and in fighting in general, you want to learn as many techniques as possible. If you do that, you’ll diversify your toolbox and be able to increase the likelihood of you hitting the Axe Kick.
Indeed, in martial arts, the more you know, the more versatile you’ll be. This is critical when you face someone whose defense is solid, so you’ll need to create angles and attack consecutively to create offensive opportunities.
This is what knowing variations will do to you. Now that you know how important constantly learning is—let’s break down some of the more common Axe Kicks you want to familiarize yourself with.
- Straight Axe Kick:
- The straight Axe Kick is the most basic variation, where you raise your leg straight up and then bring it down in a vertical motion. The strike is delivered with the heel or blade of the foot.
- Diagonal Axe Kick:
- The diagonal Axe Kick involves a slight diagonal angle as you bring your leg down. Instead of striking directly vertically, you bring your leg down at an angle, aiming to hit your opponent’s head, neck, or collarbone.
- Jumping Axe Kick:
- The jumping Axe Kick adds an element of surprise and power by incorporating a jump into the technique. From a slight hop or jump, you raise your leg high and execute the axe Kick on the way down. This variation can be useful for attacking opponents who are taller or when you need to cover a greater distance.
- Spinning Axe Kick:
- The spinning Axe Kick is an advanced technique that involves spinning in the air while executing the Axe Kick. You pivot on your lead foot, rotate your body, and bring your rear leg up for the Axe Kick. This variation can catch your opponent off guard and deliver a powerful strike when timed correctly.
- Switch Axe Kick:
- The switch Axe Kick is performed by switching your stance during the execution of the kick. You start in one stance and then quickly switch to the opposite stance as you bring your leg down for the Axe kick. This variation can create confusion and open up new angles of attack.
Final Words
Muay Thai is one of the most effective martial arts in the world. It’s a striking-based martial art that teaches you a wide range of offensive techniques, including punching and kicking. Kicks are a major part of what you’ll learn, so it’ll be worth investing a lot of time into learning more and more of them.
Your next step is to get on the mat and practice what you learned in this article. Reading is simply not enough, which means that you want to get on the mat and start implementing and perfecting your technique.
While the Axe Kick is definitely a solid offensive technique, I encourage you to follow this link to learn about the best kicks in Muay Thai you must learn to call yourself a fighter.
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