Product Description
Axe Kick is the third volume in the extremely well written and fully illustrated, Achieving Kicking Excellence series of martial arts related books.
Axe Kick, along with the other nine volumes in the Achieving Kicking Excellence series, goes into intricate detail over all aspects of executing the co-primary kicks, which in this case are the Out-to-In and In-to-Out Axe Kicks, and several of their main variation… More >>
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Volume 3: All of Shawn’s books are a wealth of invaluable technical information. I’ve been a martial artist for more than twenty years and have taught and written about martial arts. This book is incredible in the detailed consideration of how to execute the most effective kick possible and to apply the body as a lethal weapon.
Shawn uses the analogy of chopping wood to begin his explanation and exploration into one of my favorite kicks – the Axe kick. Shawn literally teaches this kick by the number in an extremely simple to follow manner. I love how he takes the main phases of the kick and breaks each phase down, but numbers, into its component pieces. This book proves that to do any kick properly, there is much more to it than meets the eye. I found myself being drawn in by the details wanting to learn more so that I could improve the effectiveness of my kicks. The detailed “by-the-numbers” approach provides readers with the knowledge necessary to do practice drills and isolate each element of the kick almost at an atomic level. You WILL come away from this, and all of Shawn’s kicking series, a more excellent kicker. This will translate into fewer injuries, because you know what you’re doing, more productive practice sessions, and ultimately, more deadly kicks for when you really need them!
Like his other volumes, Axe Kick is an incredibly scholarly work. When I first heard that a martial artist had written 10 volumes on kicking – each on a different core martial arts kick, I thought, yeah – right. How much can you say about any one kick? I thought, there isn’t that much knowledge in the universe about kicking that could fill 240 or so pages, even with pictures – and to have written ten of these volumes? Well I was wrong.
What is so amazing about this book and the others in the series is that Shawn has created an easy to follow format that is also very easy to read. The book is jammed full of photos and charts and helpful diagrams that provide all the knowledge one could hope to gain about a kick. Another great thing about this book is that, while it is full of everything that you need to know about the kick, you can isolate and focus on any one aspect of it and just work to improve that part, then move on to the other phases of the kick and get good at those. I liken it to a body builder whose goal is to build his or her entire body to a certain level of size and definition. To accomplish this, the body builder has to focus on each muscle group and on each individual muscle such as the bicep, in order to isolate and focus on that muscle and how to train it, build it and sculpt it properly. This is what Shawn does for kicking and it is truly amazing!
Axe Kick has excellent and detailed photos, which break down the kick and all of its variations and nuances. The photos are very well labeled showing every angle, every line of movement and attack from head to toe. Once you read the books in this series, you quickly discover that none of the volumes is really about a single kick. Each kick in the series has numerous important variations, which any serious martial artist needs to study and practice to expand his or her horizons.
I very quickly found myself lost in the details of this book – wanting to absorb as much as I could. I’ve been teaching martial arts for more than 20 years and yet I never really thought about how much information an instructor might pass on to a student about any particular kick. Each day we cover a few more details and finer points with our students. What Shawn has done a magnificent job of here is capturing, structuring, packaging and synthesizing in one volume, everything a martial artist needs to know about a given kick. If you’re going to practice for hundreds of hours, performing thousands of kicks, you need to get it right and understand what you’re doing. This goes for the back kick, the sidekick or any of the other kicks that Shawn covers in his other volumes.
If you take the time to assimilate this easy to read book, practice the various concepts, drills and stretches, then you will be learning correct kicking from a true master of the art! I highly recommend this book. I have been involved in martial arts for a long time and yet still found a wealth of excellent material; some new to me, and some which I already understood. Whether you are a sixth degree black belt or a white belt, this book will serve you as an excellent companion throughout your studies. This book proves that, no matter how long we may have been studying or teaching, there is still more knowledge out there that that can help us improve and that we are still always white belts inside.
Kevin Brett: Author
“The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life!”
Rating: 5 / 5
Veteran martial artist Shawn Kovacich has fought in a host of bloody full-contact tournaments, established world records for the Guinness Book of Records (11,000 high kicks in 5 hours) and applied his hard-earned skills in the mean streets.
Although Shawn is a formidable all-around martial artist, he is especially recognized for his incredible kicking ability. He shares his knowledge in a multi-volume book series he calls “Achieving Kicking Excellence.”
In the Ave Kick volume, Shawn has made a real effort to offer something for every learning style. If you like sequential photos, there is a wide range of how-to-do pics that show the many ways – shot from several angels – to deliver a devastating axe kick. If you like technical info, the author breaks down every facet of the kick so that you completely understand the how and why of its execution.
As in all of the books in this series, Shawn includes exercises – weights and free-hand – that target the specific muscles needed to develop your power, speed and accuracy in the axe kick.
There is an applications section in which Shawn clarifies certain key points about delivering the kick. I love the troubleshooting guides he puts into his books. It’s a little like getting personal coaching since you’ll probably find a question answered there that has been troubling you.
Achieving Kicking Excellence Axe Kick is a wonderful guide that will help you develop your optimum kick. Every martial artist – veteran and newbie – will benefit from the insightful instruction in this book, written by a guy who has truly mastered kicking and applied his knowledge in the ring and in the street.
I’ve been training, teaching and writing about the martial arts since 1965 and I highly recommend this book.
Loren W. Christensen, author of over 40 books, martial artist, 8th dan.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have been practicing the martial arts since the age of 14. This year will mark the 40th year that I’ve studied one system of combat or another. Additionally, I have been a police officer for 31 years and my profession has occasionally offered me the opportunity to use the thingS that I’ve learned in the Dojo. I have an entire set of Shawn Kovacich’s superb series on Achieving Kicking Excellence (Vol. 1- 10) and can truthfully say that I have seen no more thorough books on the art of kicking in the all my years in the martial arts. The kicks covered (one per volume) include the back kick, the heel kick, the axe kick, the crescent kick, the reverse crescent kick, the front kick, the hook kick, the hatchet kick, the round house kick, and the side kick.
Each volume begins with an overview of the kick and instructions on how to make the best possible use of the kick. Chapter 1 delves into the anatomy of the kick and which muscles are used, and in what manner, to achieve the maximum possible efficiency in kicking.
Chapter 2 outlines a stretching program and offers helpful tips in that area for the student. Chapter 3 deals with the basic principles of kicking movement. These include the striking implement, target areas, stability (a biggie!), balance, alignment, sequence of movement, accuracy. Strength, speed, timing and distance, impact, retraction, and visualization. Each area is explained in detail as it relates to developing your kicking ability.
Chapter 4 deals exhaustively with the primary kick. It follows the kick from initiation through each phase of the kick to impact, recoil, and recovery. He troubleshoots the problems that many martial artists experience with the kick at each phase and offers corrective actions for each problem.
Chapter 5 goes over pretty much every variation of the kick known to man and these are dissected with master Kovacich’s usual thoroughness.
Chapter 6 is one of the strongest parts of the book for me. In this chapter, Master Kovacich discusses training and practice methods. He details skill, strength, speed, and power training. Learning how to do the kick is only half the battle. Developing the kick through specific training methods and exercises is the other half and is usually overlooked by other authors.
As if he hadn’t already done enough in this area, Master Kovacich outlines further specific trouble areas for the student in chapter 7. Chapter 8 covers kicking applications for tournament and street.. Master Kovacich shows how the kick is set up and how delivery can be affected by your opponent’s actions as well as your own.
In chapter 9 you can see why Master Kovacich’s kicks are so good and why you should pay attention to his advice. He is in the Guiness Book of World records for throwing more high kicks in an afternoon that I believe I have thrown in my life.
If you desire to become a more powerful, competent kicker, then these books represent an important investment for you . I can tell you that, even after 40 years of fighting experience, there are things in these books that have made me re-think some of my training methods regarding kicking.
Master Kovacich will be coming out with a new series of books dealing with the combat applications of each kick in the near future. As I’m sure these books will cover combat applications with the same thoroughness of this series, I eagerly await their publishing.
Rating: 5 / 5
The Axe kick is one of the sorriest kicks in my kicking arsenal. Having your leg in the air like that was the equivalent of hanging you out to dry. Ask any reciever on the football team about catching high balls in the middle of the football field. Ouch! That perception changed after reading Shawn’s third book on kicking techniques. I still don’t like the Axe but I have a better understanding of what can be done with a well placed and executed Axe Kick.
Shawn has illustrated what I have always said. Nothing and I mean nothing beats a good coach or teacher. I always executed my Axe Kicks straight up and down with very little setup or arc. Shawn’s troubleshooting guide, in the back of the book, has helped me change the way I am doing this kick. For the record, I never said I wasn’t deadly with the Axe kick, however, now I have more options.
Note in the explaination of the Axe Kick Shawn says to keep the base leg foot in constant contact with the ground but in all of the pictures he is on his toes. For anyone that has read his books there is a section in the back where you will see a series of photos with explainations of the action. Shawn always ask, “Did you see anything wrong or improper in this series of photos?”. He never asks that of the main photos, maybe testing us to see if we have been paying attention or something to see when you re-read and study the book again. Either way I have seen the Axe kick performed both ways and they both work depending on the person executing the kick. Bravo Shawn. Thanks for teaching an old dog new tricks.
Rating: 5 / 5
Shawn Kovacich is a committed, highly regarded and honored practitioner of martial arts with a specialization in Kicking. Yet not satisfied to have achieved the degree of excellence in his craft, Kovacich has devised a series of books that extend beyond the usual ‘self-help’ category of writing. His considerably cautious eye and sense of balance, in sport and in life, has resulted in his publishing a series of books – ACHIEVING KICKING EXCELLENCE – that at this point are ten in number but promise in the near future to be doubled in amount. Each of these books, handsomely designed and with excellent photographic illustrations, takes one type of kick at a time and explore not only the development of that kick, but also inform the student reader the kinesiology of that kick as well as slowly advising how to develop and master that kick.
Most books on martial arts fall into one of two categories: some are written in a format that is beyond the understanding of the reader who may be completely new to martial arts while others dumb down the reader with superficial ‘quick fix’ problems thinking the reader is already proficient in the fundamentals of Martial Arts. Kovacich respects his reader/pupil, and with great dignity of writing style and unfolds each kick mastery with surety of developmental skill and encouragement of each aspect of a single movement. This allows the reader who may be proficient in Kicking to buy just the one book written for the type of Kick the reader finds difficult to master: buying the entire set of books assures the reader that each stage of development will be respected from the beginning to the mastery of the ten Kicks Kovacich addresses.
Each of these ten volumes is equally excellent. The ten volumes include Back Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Front Kick, Side Kick, Crescent Kick, Reverse Crescent Kick, Hook Kick, Wheel Kick, Axe Kick and Hatchet Kick. Having exposure to each of these ten volumes gathers respect for Shawn Kovacich not only as a man who is able to master a tough medium of sport, but also one who has discovered the perfect manner of teaching and communication. The ten volume set is well worth the investment, monetarily and educationally. Grady Harp, May 09
Rating: 5 / 5
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