What is a 720 Martial Arts Kick?

Series Summary

Tae Kwon Do is known for high speed, mid air kicks such as the jump back spinning crescent kick and the 720 kick. These kicks take skill and practice but can be mastered. The 720 necessitates speed, accuracy, finesse, and incredible balance. If you would like to learn how to master the 720, you can learn for free from one of our experts.

In this free online video series, learn how to do a Tae Kwon Do 720 degree kick from expert Caleb Labarda. Caleb will show you how to do a 720 degree kick, and all the steps it takes to build up to the 720. Learn how to do a crescent kick, how to do a back spinning crescent kick, how to do a hook kick, how to do a reverse hook kick, how to do a 720 degree hook kick, and how to do a 720 degree crescent kick.

Video Transcript

"CALEB LABARDA: All right. What is a 720, you might ask? There's 2 types of 720s: there's a cheat 720 and a regular 720, okay? A cheat 720 is where you jump off one foot and you do about 1 1/2 rotations, over a little bit 1 1/2 into a kick, okay? So one jump, 1 1/2 rotation, then to a kick, and then go all the way around into a punch. And then a regular 720 is you jump two rotations in the air, and you're going to through a hook kick out of it or a crescent kick, okay? So a regular 720 is off both legs and a cheat 720 is off one leg. All right. So now a 720 was invented by a martial artist for a competition and just--it's a really showy kick, but it can be also be very powerful. You can also hit a target or hit an opponent with it and it can be a knockout kick or a very forceful kick. That's what a 720 would be. It is very hard to actually hit a target but it'll take a lot of practice and a lot of timing. But once you get it, you can actually have a lot of power coming out of a 720, and it's a really cool kick that you'd use in performances and shows."