Martial art with the most powerful kick revealed.
In this video, Fight Science gives a ‘kick test’ to one high-level practitioner from each of 4 martial arts; Capoeira, Karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo.
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.
Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music, and is sometimes referred to as a game.
It was developed in Brazil mainly by West African descendants with native Brazilian influences, probably beginning in the 16th century. It is known for quick and complex moves, using mainly power, speed, and leverage for a wide variety of kicks, spins, and highly mobile techniques.
Karate is a martial art developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It developed from the indigenous martial arts of Ryukyu Islands, under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane.
Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes.
Historically and in some modern styles grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital point strikes are also taught.
Muay Thai is a combat sport of Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques.
This physical and mental discipline which includes combat on shins is known as “the art of eight limbs” because it is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, shins, being associated with a good physical preparation that makes a full-contact fighter very efficient.
Most powerful kicks
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art with a heavy emphasis on kicks.
Taekwondo was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by various Korean martial artists as a blend of the indigenous Korean fighting styles of taekkyeon, gwonbeop, and subak, with influence from foreign martial arts, such as karate and Chinese martial arts.
The emphasis on speed and agility is a defining characteristic of taekwondo and has its origins in analyses undertaken by Choi Hong Hi.
The results of that analysis are known by ITF practitioners as Choi’s Theory of Power. Choi based his understanding of biomechanics and Newtonian physics as well as Chinese martial arts.
For example, Choi observed that the power of a strike increases quadratically with the speed of the strike, but increases only linearly with the mass of the striking object.
