How to Properly Throw an Axe

Throw an axe at over-sized wooden targets isn’t just fun. 

If you are throwing with proper technique than throwing hunks of steel almost two dozen feet and throwing it hard enough to make it stick in a piece of wood, has some great health benefits for you. 

First, a few extrinsic pros that axe throwing has on you:

• Get your adrenaline pumping
• Leg day
• Arm day
• Back day

Second, throwing axes also has several intrinsic perks for you:

• Relieve stress
• Change your mood
• (I’d be remiss if I didn’t put “its fun” on this checklist)
• A way to bond with friends & family

Not that you are aware of some of the benefits of throwing an axe. Here’s a short walk through of stepping into the cage and throwing one.

Make sure no is within the cage boundaries when you are up to throw. Even before you raise your axe, double-check behind you, there should not be anyone on your side of the cage line. 

Once you are in the cage with you hatchet in hand, there are two ways you can throw it, one-handed or two-handed. The proper techniques for each are as follows:

One-handed:

1. Start with your feet together.
2. Place the axe in your throwing hand. Hold the handle securely near the end.
3. Step forward with your less dominant foot, using your more dominant foot for stabilization.
4. Keeping your eye on the target, bring the hatchet forward, and release it once it’s level with the line of sight between you and the bulls-eye. On the release, use a karate-chop motion instead of a wrist-flicking motion.
5. Follow through with a stiff wrist. Releasing too early results in too many revolutions and hitting the target too high. Releasing too late results in hitting the target too low. Now following through with a stiff wrist can result in a wobbly throw, or the axe not sticking into the wood. 

Two-handed throw:

1. Start with your feet together.
2. Holding the hatchet securely near the end of the handle, raise it above and behind your head with two hands.
3. Step forward with your less dominant foot, using your more dominant foot for stabilization
4. Keeping your focus on the bulls-eye, bring the hatchet forward with two hands.
5. Once your hands are even with the line of the bulls-eye, release the hatchet.
6. Follow through. The goal is to have the hatchet do one full revolution before sticking securely in the wooden bulls-eye.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is a short clip of Jason Momoa drinking a beer and throwing a perfect bull-eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxal7BdCh0