How do you fight with an axe?

[HighKick]

The master of fighting with plain bone Axes.

Good video, but as someone who used the Axe kick a Lot, I cannot agree with comment 1 & 3. Not so much in formal class learning, but there are many, many varieties to the Axe (some of which are displayed in the video). A person's ability to throw it from varying ranges can make it a very hard kick to predict. Sometimes I kept the leg straight but oftentimes I would bend the knee to work the kick on the inside.
In argument, the used in the video is often called a crescent kick so there is a modicum of confusion here.

The 'lean back'. I aver Andy had/has exceptional balance/flexibility in his Axe kick motion, so the (very) slight lean he does is to create more power by creating a leverage for the leg. He never stops the forward motion by driving the hips and has enough power and vertical position to immediately follow the kick.
Leaning too far back Greatly slows down the follow-through of the kick and any follow-up move post kick. Plus, it can leave you in a Lousy defensive posture.

It is a Great kick but honestly, the parts of the kick that make it a high percentage strike has little to do with the actual kick itself.

 

[Dirty Dog]

This is true of the fencing foils I'm familiar with when I was training around 1980. Fairly rigid, they still had bend, but not as much as modern ones.

Ever compared them to real swords? I did a lot of HEMA stuff in the 80's and 90's. I've never seen a foil with anything near the stiffness of a smallsword. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but it would seem unlikely. The blunt tip and flexible blade are what makes them safe. I could easily take a stiff piece of steel with the same dimensions as a foil and put it deep enough in your torso to be fatal.

 

[Fungus]

there are many, many varieties to the Axe (some of which are displayed in the video)

I agree, as with many kicks they can be morphed into similar but different kicks, like crescent kick and spinning hooks that hook a bit downward instead of horizontal. What is even possible, is individual.

Andy Hug was great, but I don't get anywhere near his godly flexibility, I do his spinning low kick, and a easier axe version to the leg/thigh-nerve or kidnet, like a hybrid of 45 degreed downward axe-chop and spinning hook, with adapted angled. But I always hit with the heel, unlike crescent kicks.

The kicks is a mix of the "clean standard kicks".

 

[Fungus]

The lower version of the axe sort with an angle is effectively the same as this one

Similary, if you try to raise this kick to the head, it would morph into the regular axe kick.

The master of the "low kick" version of the spinning axe kick is Valeri

I love this kick, not just because its nasty because it is one of the ones i can do with easy in despite back issues, unlike head kicks.

 

[HighKick]

I agree, as with many kicks they can be morphed into similar but different kicks, like crescent kick and spinning hooks that hook a bit downward instead of horizontal. What is even possible, is individual.

Andy Hug was great, but I don't get anywhere near his godly flexibility, I do his spinning low kick, and a easier axe version to the leg/thigh-nerve or kidnet, like a hybrid of 45 degreed downward axe-chop and spinning hook, with adapted angled. But I always hit with the heel, unlike crescent kicks.

The kicks is a mix of the "clean standard kicks".

Could not go in my style of competition but I could come out of the clinch, still hold on (sort of) and do a straight-on or outside axe kick pretty much at will.
Good times.