Discovery channel - Xtreme Martial Arts

[midnight armadillo]

Did anyone else catch this on the Discover channel last night? To those who didn't, they did some nifty stunts with computer graphics and special suits to sense body positions to illustrate martial arts techniques.

At least that was the idea. What a total turkey of a show. Nothing was covered in anything more than the most shallow, superficial manner. The guy they had demonstrate the katana (the Japanese samurai sword) barely knew how to scratch his own arse with it. This is not a weapon that is swung with the arms! The martial arts competition story running concurrently was, in my not-so-humble-opinion, a distraction at best. The physical accomplishments of the competitors were impressive, but hardly martial in nature. Note the contrast between the flashy solo stuff and the two-person sparring in terms of speed and technique...anyway, that stuff's not my cup of tea.

The instructor of the competitor (names are forgotten already) mentions at the end that he wants to pass on the traditions of martial arts: honor, integrity, honesty, hard work, and "flash is trash without fundamentals". On that last point... :wtf: I always learned in martial arts that flash was ALWAYS trash :-)

This was a show was an interesting premise, that got totally and fatally sidetracked by its own flashy technology. Alternative topics that could have been illuminated through their bag of tricks: the generation of force in different punching styles (ex vertical vs. horizontal fists), how internal styles (ex tai chi, ba gua, aikido) differ from external (ex karate, muay thai) ones in how they use the body, how different weapons require radically different body technique and motion, relative advantages and disadvantages to the more circular motions in Chinese styles and the linear Japanese ones from a biomechanics perspective, and so on. Now that would have been a cool show.

Part of the show was to advertise Tom Cruise's new move "The Last Samurai." This looks to be an interesting movie and is getting good previews.

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. Yeah, I chose not to watch that

knowing the quality of recent Discover Channel exclusives like "Anatomy of a Shark Bite" and those awful "More than Human" shows. I skipped it. I practice Hapkido, Kuhapdo, and Kumdo, and I knew it was gonna be a lousy show. I actually though they were going to do motion capture for a video game based on the ads I saw. Guess I was wrong.

Thanks for the summary. I won't bother with one of the countless reruns.

And you are absolutely right. Flash is trash.

[DS1]

2. How exactly does a person swing a katana then?

*don't cut my head off*

[BigMcLargehuge]

3. It's a coordinated stroke

using hips, shoulders, abdomen, arms, and wrists.

It sounds more complicated than it is actually.

[midnight armadillo]

4. From the hips...

...at least that's how I was taught in the aikido (aikiken) and Kashima Shinryu styles of Japanese sword.

Everything comes from movement of the center of gravity - the arms are pretty much along for the ride. If you want to give this a try, take a baseball bat or stick. Whack it into a tree as hard as you can, trying to use your hips. Good. Now swing it about 1000 times until your shoulders are massive balls of pain and your arms are like lead pipes. Repeat, again using the hips and legs as the source of power. I guarantee you'll hit it harder now that your arms are out of the picture :-)

[midnight armadillo]

6. In the words of an expert:

by William Gleason, 6th dan aikido:

"Cutting with the Japanese sword is an expansive motion in which the tip of the sword must be unified with ones center. The basic diagonal cut, called kesa giri, may be equated with ikkyo in barehanded aikido training. If one truly masters this one cut, he or she has already realized shin shin toitsu or body-mind unification. ... The sword falls by its weight alone and the weight of the body comes to ride on top of its free fall. The turning of the hips and the subtle connection between your own center and the tip of the sword create effortless power and speed. Just as in aikido, this basic way of cutting with the sword is dependent on a continual expansion of our feeling; in fact, that is the life of the movement itself."

[htuttle]

5. I saw it

I agree.

I would have rather seen an hour on the physics of Bruce Lee's 'One Inch Punch'. Now THAT would have been cool.

[DUreader]

7. Hey, Midnight, your idea for a show sounds great!

Maybe you should try to 'pitch' it to somebody

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. The best puncher I have ever seen...

Was pushing 70. Why? He didn't use what we know as "strength".

Google "William Duessel".