Kick is an important part of combative sport like boxing and kickboxing. In a hand to hand fight, kick forms the physical strike using the leg, foot or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This is a form of attack which is frequently used, and is equal to stand up fighting. Apart from boxing and kickboxing, kicks forms an important combative tool in various other martial art forms like Pankration, Kung fu, Taekwondo, Karate, Vovinam, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, Silat, and Kalarippayattu.

Basic Kicks in Kickboxing
Front Kick
Delivery of the front kick involves raising the foot and the knee of the leading leg to the desired height and extending the leg to contact the target. The actual strike is mainly delivered by the ball of the foot. Thrusting one`s hip is always a common aspect in creasing both the power and reach of the kick. Typically, front kick is executed with the upper body straight and balanced. It is aimed at targets below the stomach, chest, thighs and knees. Highly skilled and efficient martial artists are often capable of striking head-level targets with front kick.

Roundhouse Kick
Roundhouse kick is also known as the turning kick or round kick. It is the most commonly used kick in boxing because it is easy to execute and produces lot of power. There are various types of roundhouse kick based on many chambering of cocked leg (small, or full, or universal or no chambering) or various footwork possibilities (rear-leg, front-leg, hopping, switch, oblique, dropping, ground spin-back or full 360 spin-back).

Side Kick
Side kick is delivered sideways in relation to the body of the person kicking. In this type of kicks there are two areas that are commonly used as impact points: the heel of the foot or the outer edge of the foot. The heel is actually more suited to hard targets like ribs, jaw, stomach, chest and temple. During the process of execution of the sidekick with the heel one should pull their toes back so that only contact is made with the heel and not with the whole foot. It a fighter hits with the arch or the ball of the foot, then that can lead to break or injury of the ankle. A benchmark sidekick is performed by first chambering the kicking leg diagonally across the body, then extending the leg in a linear fashion toward the target, while flexing the abdominals.

Traditional Back Kick (Reverse Side Kick)
It is also known as mule kick, donkey kick or turning back kicks. This kick is actually aimed backwards, keeping the kicking leg closed to standing leg and using the heel as a striking surface.

Advanced Kicks in Kickboxing
Advanced kicks involves complex version of basic kicks, either with a varied target or combined with another move, like jumping.

Axe Kick
Axe kick is also known as the stretch kick or hammer kick is typically characterized by straightened leg descending onto an opponent like the blade of an axe. The kick is executed with one foot rising upward as in case of crescent kick. Upward arc motion is halted, and then the leading foot, used for attacking, is lowered in order to strike the target from above. This arc can be successfully performed in either an outward (clockwise) or inward (counter clockwise) manner.

Butterfly Kick
This kick is performed by doing a huge circular motion with both the feet in succession, making the combatant airborne. Variations exist in case of butterfly kicks. This kick may appear like slanted aerial cartwheel, and at the same time, the body also spins horizontally in a circle. The kick starts with a jump with one leg while kicking with the other, then moving down the kicking leg, putting up the and the jumping leg into a kick, thus landing with the first kicking leg, all while spinning.

Calf Kick
This kick is referred to kicking of the calf. There is also a variation of calf kick which is known as jumping calf kick. Here the kicker jumps before kicking his opponent. This form of attack takes the form of sweep in a clinching situation and is mainly seen in Judo matches.

Hook Kick
Hook kick is done with the heel from the side. It is executed like a side kick. However, the kick is deliberately aimed trivially off target in the direction of kicking the toe of the foot. At full extension, the knee is bent and the foot snapped to the side, impacting the target with the heel.

Flying Kicks
In martial art, a flying kick is referred to general description of kicks which engage a running start, jump, then a kick in mid-air. When compared to the regular kicks, the user can achieve huge momentum from the run at the start. These kicks should not be confused with the jumping kicks. A flying kick is similar to the jumping kick, except that it lacks running start and the user simply jumps and kicks from a motionless spot. The flying kicks are actually obtained from basic kicks. Some of the widespread flying kicks known to people are: flying side kick, flying back kick and the flying roundhouse kick, as well as the flying reverse roundhouse kick. It is practised in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Wushu, and Muay Thai for fitness, exhibitions, competition, as well as self defence.

Scissor Kick
Many kicks can be referred to as scissor kicks. This kick generally refers to those kicks which involves swinging the leg out to kick multiple targets or taking the help of the leg to take down an opponent. Famous version of the scissor kick is lying down or jumping, the person kicking brings both the leg down to both the sides of opponent or to their head and body, and then brings both in as a take down.