Watch out from above! The axe kick can come out of nowhere, from a distance or from right in front of you, leaving your head ringing from impact. Did someone mention rising block?

There is no denying that axe kicks are versatile when it comes to Olympic style sparring and they come in many flavors such as inside to outside, outside to inside, spinning, straight downward and what I like to call the face mush, where an opponent places their foot gently on top of someone’s head and shoves them towards the floor.

Though I've not seen too many axe kicks successfully make contact in mixed martial arts competitions, it remains a great technique when done properly and timed just right. When caught off guard this gem can be devastating.

Here are the basic steps of the Rear Leg Axe Kick laid out in a horizontal fashion as a quick reference guide. You may get the poster size of this by clicking on the picture.

Now that you have the basic steps, you must practice them and refine your technique. Get those motor skills programmed in and fine tune the mechanics. As I said before, I would work with an instructor on the details because there are a lot of details in between each step and far beyond the scope of this guide.