Taekwondo is particularly known for its fast, powerful and sometimes overly flashy kicking techniques. Taekwondo kicks are versatile in application and incorporate both the circular kicks associated with many Chinese styles, and the more linear kicks associated with Japanese Karate.

Korea is extremely mountainous and the Korean people have for centuries been avid mountain climbers. For this reason, Koreans had always had a predisposition to strong leg muscles. It is thought that this contributed to the emphasis in kicking techniques in the Korean martial arts.

A chief precursor to taekwondo is the ancient Korean martial art Taekkyeon, which focus on kicking techniques. Taekkyeon’s kicking techniques are mostly circular in motion, often used as sweeps, defensive kicks that include foot blocks and pushing kicks, as well as some attacks. These kicks were incorporated into taekwondo. Karate’s more linier kicks, such as the front kick and side kick were also added; however, the relaxed (and therefore faster) style of kicking inherited from Taekkyeon was retained. taekwondo also adopted the higher stances in Taekkyeon, rather than the lower Karate stances, when kicking. Another modification away from the Japanese style of kicking that evolved in taekwondo was to pivot on the ball of the foot when kicking. Traditional kicking in Karate keeps the standing foot flat on the ground during the kicking motion. This pivoting in taekwondo kicks helped to add more rotational force to the kicks and also lessened the strain on the knees. Rotating on the ball of the foot opened up many possibilities for taekwondo’s kicking arsenal, which started to include a variety of spinning kicks. Park Jong Soo one of the taekwondo pioneers under General Choi Hong Hi, is often credited to have invented the first spinning kick, namely the reverse turning kick (bandae dollyo chagi).

Because of the “flashiness” of the kicks they are often preferred in films, as they are well captured on camera and make for good action cinematography. It is believed that part of Bruce Lee’s movie fame came from the use of high and flying taekwondo kicks that he learned from taekwondoist Jhoon Rhee. The media’s depiction of impressive high kicks have led to many taekwondo practitioners focusing unnecessarily on high kicks, which are often regarded impractical in real combat (rather than sport combat) situations.

Together with Wushu and Capoeira, taekwondo is the preferred style for tricking enthusiasts. Tricking is a freestyle expression of martial arts and gymnastics that often include dynamic spinning kicks.

ITF style kicks tend to be more controlled and powerful. WTF style kicks tend to be much faster, focusing on rapid point scoring during sparring tournaments.

The most common kicks include the front kick or front snap kick [apchagi or apcha busigi] , side kick (aka side piercing kick) [yobchagi or yobcha jireugi], turning kick (aka roundhouse kick) [dollyo chagi], downward kick (aka axe kick) [naeryo chagi], back kick (aka back piercing kick) [dwitchagi or dwitcha jireugi], reverse turning kick [bandae dollyo chagi], reverse (or spinning) side kick [bandae