National Geographic Fight Science

[chrisnhernandez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAF9J-RmXuc

an excellent show of how martial arts works with the anatomy of the body, and they have a variety of methods.

on the mini library to the right of the video, click on the links, they have episodes 1-10 just not in order

[badsifu]

That one is pretty funny.  I like how they measure the different impacts based on lbs of force but they have different sized guys.  "good old fashioned boxing almost 1000 lbs of impact" and he is only the heaviest guy in the group.  OK  Science my @ss

[chrisnhernandez]

well we all have opinions sir. i respect the fact that you believe that, but that is only one test, have you seen the rest of the test? i watched all of them yesterday, and thats the only thing the boxer is good at...and it just goes to show how diffrent types of arts or sports build a body and uses diffrent technique to get the maximum out of the punch. and i know pretty much all martial arts try to get the maximum out of all their strikes. but remember the boxer does nothing but punch, so it doesnt surprise me that he would have the most force. did you watch the muay thai fighter? hes knee gave the same impact as a 35 mph car collision. but i believe it, if you dont then thats alright too, no one is forced to believe anything.

[badsifu]

Belief implies faith. 

Science implies unbiased fact.

I did watch the entire video.  I have seen it a couple of times.  You are right about being able to believe whatever you like.  Go ahead and keep on believing.

[RizZ]

Its hard to establish any conclusions from this study because the martial artists vary in size and strength.  The boxer outweighs any of the other men by a significant amount.  The kung-fu guy must weigh like 150lbs. and the boxer looks to be over 200lbs.  It was still a very intersting video, especially the segment where the ninjitsu guy balances himself on those poles. 

[John Bishop]

Its hard to establish any conclusions from this study because the martial artists vary in size and strength.  The boxer outweighs any of the other men by a significant amount.  The kung-fu guy must weigh like 150lbs. and the boxer looks to be over 200lbs.  It was still a very intersting video, especially the segment where the ninjitsu guy balances himself on those poles. 

That's the main problem.  They had some excellent equipment availiable, but it seems like the show was more to showcase the equipment, then the results. 
If they would have made a effort to match the participants in weight, height, age, and training time, the results would have been much more useful and revealing.

[chrisnhernandez]

ohhh ok now i see what point you guys are trying to make. if they were as close to eachother in weight and height to truly see which arts are different?

[RizZ]

ohhh ok now i see what point you guys are trying to make. if they were as close to eachother in weight and height to truly see which arts are different?

When you see a boxing match or a UFC match, the fighters are almost always similiar in weight.  The same thing had to be done in this study.  The subjects in this video should have been about 5'10 and around 180lbs.  Once the fighters are about the same size, then the only thing that could prevent a fair evaluation of each martial art would be the fighters' individual athleticism or just overall talent as a martial artist.  But since all of these men appeared to be very talented, I dont think there was be a problem.

[Rob Poelking]

I watched the show when it aired and they did very specifically say in the beginning that size does matter. So, seeing that ninja guy was probably a little smaller than myself means that just about anyone can deliver a fatal blow to an enemy if delivered correctly. That's some serious mojo to consider if you are in an altercation.

[Gints Klimanis]

I finally got around to watching the Fight Science episodes.   I kinda enjoyed the show, but most of this just makes my blood boil. The Wushu gymnastic routines are sooooo out of place.  NO ONE will be twirling weapons like that in a fight.   Why are those stupid ultrathin aluminum Wushu demo blades used in the flashy routines, then switched with the sharp blades for the cutting demo, topped off with a few twirls and tosses  in the air of the katana by the body-waxed pretty guy.   Are real martial arts so uninteresting to watch that they can't be put on a such a show?  How about a real match for the cameras ?

[Danjo]

   Are real martial arts so uninteresting to watch that they can't be put on a such a show?  How about a real match for the cameras ?

I think it's the same reason that real news isn't put on TV anymore. It's "Infotainment" and they don't trust their audience to appreciate real news. This is "Martialtainment" and it's designed to appeal to those that watch Power Rangers and Jet Li movies, rather than actual martial artists. Even in the movies, how many of us would rather see more realistic fight scenes than all of that "Wire-fu" stuff?