Interesting article, check it out

Take a look at the following article:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060814-fight-science.html

In a nutshell, researchers used high-tech equipment to test world champion martial artists from diverse disciplines against a customized crash-test dummy outfitted with impact sensors. This allowed scientists to measure and map the speed, force, range, and impact of the fighter's techniques.

The results of the findings are less surprising today than they would've been 50 years ago, or for that matter, before the evolution of today's mma. Still, I thought it was pretty cool.

What do you guys think?

Lautaro

Great find!

An excerpt:

"The researchers were surprised to find that boxing is the fighting style capable of delivering the most force in a single punch.

BOXER Steve Petramale delivered about 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of impact force, the equivalent of swinging a sledgehammer into someone's face.

His punch, the sensors revealed, starts in the feet and travels up the legs through the hips to the chest and shoulders, multiplying in force as it travels up the body."

Another excerpt:

"The tae kwon do spinning back kick delivered more than 1,500 pounds (680.4 kilograms) of force, while the kung fu flying double kick produced about 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of force.

But the undisputed winner practices a discipline known for its ability to deliver a knockout: MUAY THAI, also known as Thai boxing.

Melchor Menor, a former two-time Muay Thai world champion, uses a simple technique to incapacitate his opponents: a knee to the chest at close quarters.

Menor himself was surprised at how powerful this move can be.

"I wasn't expecting to have the highest force. When he said the power of the knee [kick] was equal to the power of a 35-mile-an-hour [56.3-kilometer-an-hour] car crash, it was humbling."

The displacement sensor in the dummy's chest measured nearly two inches (five centimeters) of chest compression from Menor's knee strike.

Like the boxer's punch, the energy from this kick starts from the feet and moves up to the knee. The blow is delivered to the soft tissue below the rib cage while Menor holds his opponent's head stationary.

The ribs are driven backward through the lungs and solar plexus, a cluster of nerve cells behind the human stomach that controls some organ functions.

Truly a death blow, Menor's knee kick can cause internal bleeding and even cardiac arrest."

"The interesting thing is Menor has kneed other Muay Thai fighters in the chest before, and they didn't even seem winded."

That's because they were, using sports psychology terms, in "peak arousal."

Their bodies were pumped with adrenaline and endorphins, and their heart rate was up. In this state, they can endure a lot of pain. A LOT.

To top it off, these other fighters most likely "braced" their bodies for the oncoming strike. This changes things signficantly, in terms of shock absorption.

Try it on yourself:

Get a buddy to throw a mean cross to your mid-section while you're braced. So far so good, no?

Now take a deep breath, relax, keep your below soft, and have your friend belt you in the gut again. NOT so good this time.

How well a person takes a strike is dependent on their physiological and psychological state.

Its no real surprise that the sport guys hit harder.

The Fight Science show is scheduled to air on the National Geographic channel Sunday night from 9:00-11:00. It looks interesting, I saw the previews a week ago and set my DVR... "must-see TV".

-Kev

I'm watching it now. Rickson's in it.

Too bad they didn't get savateurs. :(

Guro Dan is here too! Cool.

I watched the first part last night, it was pretty interesting, even though they cheesed it up a little.

sg

Very cheesy, especially towards the end.

I can't watch it myself (don't have cable). Can someone please tell me more about it? What did Rickson and Dan do? What were the cheesy parts, especially towards the end :)?

Lautaro

Rickson did a neck crank from the crucifix on a crash-test dummy, to measure the amount of pressure he could generate.

Final tally: 600lbs.

One cool thing was when he talked into the camera, and pretending to "attack" the camera as if it was an opponent. He brought the camera to the ground, talking to the audience the whole time.

At the end of the segment, when he finished talking, and there was a very brief glimmer in his eyes, where you could see the fierce warrior. Looked scary to me.

Guro Dan was doing a type of improvised sinawali with a training partner, and he discussed the effectiveness of a kali stick.

When they tested the force generated, it showed that the stick could break bone, but not as lethal or as dangerous as a long weapon that can generate more force.

The cheesy parts was when they started measuring the force of dim mak shots, ninjutsu walking, concrete block breaking, etc.

All the while, they were cutting away to old Shaw Brothers movies to clarify their point.

CHEEEESE.

LOL! Sounds hilarious! Too bad I missed it.

I don't see what measuring the force of dim mak shots would prove though, since dim mak depends on proper location, proper angle and time of day (as is my understanding of it).

Measuring the force of a savateur's kicks would've been cool, of course, but the beauty of savate is that with a well-placed kick it actually doesn't NEED a lot of force to be effective. I once got into a scuffle with a guy where I kicked him in the solar plexus with a fouette. It was a relatively light kick, but it ended the fight immediately, with the guy in a crumpled heap on the ground. I actually felt pretty bad because he was in so much pain...

Lautaro

lautaro:

Good points about the fouette.

I've found from my experience that the "light" fouettes seem to have to most devastating effect.

I still can't figure out why. shrugs

It was pretty goofy at the end with the TKD guy doing the katana demo on the dummy... The japanese guy looked good with his cuts.. nice movements.

Having the TKD guy doing all his stuff barechested was annoying too. You could tell the guy was all into "the look".

Not to mention the fact that they were looking for the "perfect" weapon. Puleaze.

sg

"Not to mention the fact that they were looking for the "perfect" weapon. Puleaze."

Not to mention that they deemed the downward elbow/cinder block-breaking dude "lethal."

I also loved the one where the kung-fu guy's strike was recorded as "faster" than a serpent's strike. They kept saying that a "faster" strike was a more powerful strike.

No one at NG seemed to notice that kung-fu guy's strike scored the LOWEST in terms of force production via THEIR OWN TESTS out of all the strikers.

Ninja, please!

Melchor menor's a freaking bad ass Thai fighter/coach. That's one tough
pinoy Thai fighter,

Anyone know if they standardized the sampling? How similar were the sampled group of martial artists physically speaking?