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Fight Science is a television program shown on the National Geographic Channel in which scientists and martial arts masters work together to analyze the world's fighting techniques, to compare the disciplines and to find out which one has the strongest hits, kicks and deadliest weapons. The show also tries to prove through science if certain legends in fighting are possible, such as whether a one-punch knockout is possible,and if a Tae Kwon Do master can really beat his opponment to the punch or if ninja are as nimble and deadly as stories tell. There is also a feature on human strength, wherein a man hits his head on bricks in order to shatter them. The show had several spin-offs including Sport Science. Narrator is Robert Leigh.^[1]

It featured fighters including Rickson Gracie, Bas Rutten,^[2] Randy Couture, Alex Huynh and Dan Inosanto.^[3]

Legend tests

• The agility of a ninja was confirmed by revealing that one's center of gravity was constantly shifted to balance properly within the limit of the foot. It can be done but takes much practice and possibly years of training.^[4]
• The one-punch knockout and shattering bricks with one's head were confirmed, but only as a perfect shot, and therefore unlikely to be seen in a real-life fight. The punch of the dead was confirmed too, because its VC was 0.8.

Weapon tests

All weapons were rated on range, control and impact.

• Eskrima sticks and the bō were revealed to show extension of range and good control, but would break if sufficient impact was delivered.
• The nunchaku and the three section staff showed good extension, but it was revealed to be out of control for a fraction of a second after striking an opponent and some of the impact was absorbed due to its flexibility.
• Shuriken and Bows were really only effective at long-range rather than close-up because once the shuriken was thrown or the arrow released, it was completely out of the user's hands.
• Swords originally came in two variants: stabbing (like a rapier) or slashing (like a scimitar), but the katana was proven to be highly effective at both.

Criticisms

The program has been heavily criticised for a number of things.

• Related to the above point, the weight of each practitioner was not included in the analysis. Even though the boxer had the strongest punch, he was also the largest of the participants. They should have provided a “force of the strike”/”weight of the striker” ratio. The Kung-Fu practitioner had the “weakest” punch, but he was also the smallest participant and was only a one inch punch from the least distance.^[5]

See also

• Human Weapon
• Fight Quest

References

External Links

• Official site