How to do a butterfly kick in Wushu martial arts

This is an animated martial arts tutorial for the butterfly kick. Use the controls to pause, slow down and follow along with detailed step by step text instructions that match up with each movement. This instructional martial arts video is incredibly in depth and a great guide for learning the back flip layout.

How to do a Butterfly Kick - Wushu

In this lesson you will learn how to do a butterfly kick in Wushu.

The butterfly or butterfly-kick is the easiest out of the wushu jump kicks. Its easier than the other jumps because you don't have to turn all the way around or land on the same leg you jumped from. So this move doesn't require that much of expertise. You can try this technique right after you learned the basic kicks and the sweep ( one of your first training sessions ). Butterfly kicks can be performed in a combination or as single techniques. In competitions, butterfly kicks don't count much, but are still performed by many good athletes, because they look really cool if performed properly.

Trainer advice: Butterfly Kick - Wushu

* Watch the butterfly kick videos below.
* If you don't go low enough with your head at the butterfly run up, you will not be able to perform the jump at a horizontal level. Its safer to do a straighter butterfly kick at the beginning, but this doesn't work with the butterfly twist.
* Go into the bow stance after the hop and swing down your upper body as if you were jumping into a butterfly kick. (Bow stance with right leg bent, left arm forward, right arm to your right) Swing up your upper body and your right leg, open your arms, but dot jump from your left leg. Try to circle at least 360° on your left leg and later try it with a little hop from your left foot. This is just a balancing exercise for the butterfly kick.
* Try butterfly combos. (More than 2 butterfly kicks in a row without steps in between)