360 Crescent Kick - Variations

Variations

The different variations depend solely on the position of the hips and the direction the toes of the kicking foot are pointing. The mechanics to all the variations are basically unchanged from what is described above.

• 360 Crescent

Here the toes are pointing either directly up or straight forward. If aiming for a target, the target is hit with either the blade of foot (outer edge from heel to pinky toe) or with the side of the heel. The hips rotate completely around, generating a good amount of power and speed, however the reach is somewhat shortened by the position of the body.

• 360 Hook

Here the toes are pointing in the direction opposite of the direction the heel of the foot is moving. If aiming for a target, the target would be hit with the heel of the foot, maybe the flat of the foot depending on the material of the target. The hips do not rotate as much a crescent, but it is easier to obtain farther reach this way. Because of the way the hips rotate, the body bends towards the direction opposite of the kick, sometimes making it difficult for beginners to maintain balance on the landing. This kick is sometimes called a Jumping reverse roundhouse kick

• 360 Split Hook Kick

The distinguishing feature to this kick is that the practitioner does the splits in midair. After completing approximately 180 degrees of the rotation, both legs are kicked outward in opposite directions. Because the legs are thrown in opposite directions, a stall in the rotation is created which can give the appearance of floating. Once the legs are brought back in the rotation can be partially recovered to finish the landing. Some practitioners do not recover the rotation for stylistic purposes. Jean-Claude Van Damme was well known for executing this kick in many of his movies.

• Split Kick to Hook

Though not widely practiced or even officially named, the Split kick to Hook kick still shares some similarities to a traditional 360 kick. First the practitioner will jump and execute a basic split kick where both legs are kick out like snap kicks in opposite directions. Immediately afterwards, the practitioner will then begin to rotate their body in order to swing one of their legs around into a hook kick. Though the body does not rotate a full 360 degrees, it has to rotate much more than 180 degrees to be properly executed. This move was developed by Anthony Atkins.

• 360 to the Splits

All variations of the 360 can be landed in the splits, however the more the hips rotate, the easier it is to set it up. Once the kicking leg has executed the kick, it is swung back while the other leg is maneuvered forward.

• 360 Gyro

This is simply a normal 360 kick where an additional 360 degrees of spinning is executed after the kick, effectively spinning 720 degrees. A 360 Gyro is normally executed as a crescent, mainly because of the easier rotation of the hips after the kick. This is comparable to a 720 kick.