Of all the martial arts, both traditional and modern, one of the most spectacular to watch is Taekwondo. Taekwondo was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by various Korean martial artists combining and incorporating the elements of Karate and Chinese Martial Arts along with the indigenous Korean martial arts traditions of Taekkyeon, Subak, and Gwonbeop.

While the big discussion within the martial arts community for the last couple of decades has been what is and is not effective in a real fight situation, there are times in which a spectator must put aside such questions and simply appreciate the control and grace required to achieve proper execution of a particular technique.

In the video above, a Taekwondo practitioner stands before a group of training partners holding pads, some of whom must rest upon another person’s shoulders so that they may hold their pad at the height required to make this kick truly sensational. He then takes two short steps towards them before exploding into a spinning kick that not only sees him rotate his body 720 degrees, but also maintain the accuracy required to strike each of the four pads in what appears to be less than a single second.

Such wild and flashy techniques may never save someone’s life on the streets or be a reasonable path to victory inside the mixed martial arts cage or ring, but they are certainly an impressive display of a martial artist’s physical prowess, and the dedication required to master such moves can often translate to success in learning more conventionally effective techniques.