Taekwondo is famous for its kicks, and for good reason — no other martial art develops the legs as weapons so systematically. Here are the foundational kicks every beginner learns, and how we build them in class.
The front kick comes first: knee up, snap out with the ball of the foot, retract. It teaches the fundamental pattern of every kick — chamber, extend, re-chamber. The roundhouse follows, adding hip rotation, which is where real power comes from. Then the side kick, the most powerful of the basics, driving through the heel.
What beginners do not expect is how much of kicking is not kicking. Flexibility training is built into every one of our classes, because a high kick is earned in the stretching, not the snapping. Balance work matters just as much — a kick you cannot recover from is a kick you should not throw.
From there, students progress to back kicks, hook kicks and spinning variations, always with an emphasis on technique over flash. In supervised sparring, you learn the part no pad can teach: timing and distance against a moving partner.
Ready to try it yourself? Book a free trial class at Matawan School of Martial Arts in Matawan, NJ — no experience needed.