Tornado Kicks | The Spectacular 360 Degree Spinning Kicks

Tornado kicks are the most spectacular kicks in any of the combat sports. The taekwondo players got mastery in these kicks and sometimes if you got the chance to see the tornado kick knockouts, then you are among the luckiest fellows in the world of combat sports. When I used to play Taekwondo, the 360-degree kick was my signature move and I did not use to care whether I hit or miss the target but every time I execute those spinning blows, I as well as the crowds used to enjoy them a lot.

Tornado Kicks in MMA

Tornado kicks in MMA are seen to a large extent nowadays. Fighters like Anthony Pettis and Yair Rodriguez uses these kicks a lot. These kicks can be very powerful as it involves the torque develop from the rotation of the body. There are many variations of Tornado kicks such as 360, 540 and 720-degree Tornado kicks which differ from each other by the number of rotation a practitioner rotates to hit the target.

However, a very rare 900-degree kick is also there. Performing a tornado kick is not an easy task. Despite having many variations, only 360-degree kicks are used in real competitions as other variations can be dangerous for the practitioners if they misjudge it. So let get inside the 360-degree Tornado kicks. These are the tornado kick steps:-

How to make a 360 Tornado Kick?

• Step 1: Stand in a fighting position and keep your hitting leg backward. Make sure you are at a reasonable distance from the target so that it cannot reach you while you are rotating.
• Step 2: Move a step towards your target with your hitting leg. Do not move to close as you still have to further rotate your body.
• Step 3: Now your hitting leg is at the front and non-hitting leg at the backward position. From there, lift the knee of your non-hitting leg making an inward angle with your body and rotate your body along with a jump. The higher the knee of your non-hitting leg goes the higher will be the kick.
• Step 4: The last and most important step is kicking your target. The Tornado kick will be a snap kick rather than the follow-through kick. This is due to the fact that if you somehow miss the hit then you may get thrown off balance or off direction and this can be very dangerous to you.

Additional Tips

• Do not try to hit your Tornado kicks too high unless your opponent is very tall. Just try to rotate your hips quickly to hit it with more strength and speed.
• Tornado kicks are the advanced level kick. So before practicing this kick you first have to perfect your Roundhouse and Dollyo Chagi kicks and understands the differences between the snap and follow through kicks. If you seek more details about how to do a tornado kick for beginners then visit the articles from our blog itself.
• Also, check out the common mistakes that beginners do while executing tornado kicks so that you do not do those mistakes.
• Do not go for hitting your opponent with this kick at once. Any skilled fighter can read your kick very easily and will give you a counter-attack. Instead, try to combine Tornado kicks with some other moves. For example, throw a jab at first and then a cross punch. When stepping in towards your opponent to hit with the cross, execute the Tornado kicks to give the crowd that spectacular knockout.

For some more spectacular kicks, visit:

• Spinning Back Kick
• The Axe Kick Analysis
• Yop Chagi – The Side Kick
• Know About Kodeup Chagi Kick