Conclusion

You’re Only Getting

Started

“I think I can safely say that nobody

understands quantum mechanics.”
—Richard Feynman

This book is only one piece of the puzzle.

Even though I intended this book to be your unfair advantage in
a fight, it is, by itself, incomplete. The knowledge and understand-
ing you take away from these pages will help you learn faster while
you train, get more out of your training, and better apply your
training in a real, stressful situation, but all of that is meaningless
if you don’t train. There is a reason most undergraduate physics
classes have labs as well as lectures: when you read something in a
book, you might remember it, but when you apply what you have
read in a hands-on scenario, you own it.
137
138 FIGHT LIKE A PHYSICIST

Traditional martial arts can benefit from

science and sparring.
A profound statement can be difficult to distinguish from a pain-
fully obvious one, particularly in hindsight, so it is not surprising
to hear the most important lesson science has to offer martial arts
is the need for realistically stress-testing your skills. While the
majority of martial arts schools do include sparring, it is often
with the assumption that your instructor provides wisdom to
you, and sparring sessions serve as chances to validate your instruc-
tor’s guidance. A more scientific approach (which sometimes
appears in styles that train for competition) would be to view
sparring as the source of wisdom, while your instructor’s guidance
merely provides you with the tools you need to better extract and
interpret that wisdom.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu has earned a good reputation in mixed mar-
tial arts, and a large part of that success is a direct result of its sci-
entific approach. By narrowing its scope to exclude many of the
potential sources of serious injury (i.e., no punches or kicks), prac-
titioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu have the ability to provide genuine
resistance during training, and gain a level of experience unattain-
able in other styles. In Brazilian jiu-jitsu it is common to train for
contingent scenarios, like, “If you can control the arm, go for tech-
nique A, but if he won’t let you get the arm, do technique B.” It is
also common to train techniques for situations where you have
already screwed up and ended up in a bad position, such as escapes
once you’ve been mounted. This approach to training comes from
an appreciation for the chaotic nature of a fight, and it would not
exist without personal stress-testing experience. Of course, not
every style has the option of limiting the scope to the same
extremes as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but every style does have the option
to take a pragmatic approach to martial knowledge and constantly
learn and relearn what works and how things can go wrong.
Index

Abbott, David “Tank”, 77, 83 compressive strength, 125

acupuncture, 133 conserved quantity, 18, 21
sham, 133 Corbett, “Gentleman Jim”, 76
American Medical Association, 71, 131
angle, 43 dan tian, 10, 119
angled roof block, 42 dao sword, 42
arm bar, 35, 48, 56, 136 Davy, Humphry, viii
juji gatame, 48 dementia pugilistica, 61
Arneson, Dave, 13 diffuse axonal injury, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70,
atomic bomb, ix 87, 90, 91, 92, 94, 100
axonal bulb, 65 Dillman, George, 120, 121
Dog Brothers, 63
baseball helmet, 97 Duerson, Dave, 64
bending a spear or rod, 127 Dungeons and Dragons, 13
block, 19, 24, 41, 42, 44, 55, 114
Bowen, Milton, 77 Einstein, Albert, ix
boxer’s fracture, 83 elbow strike, 18, 51, 71
boxing, 71, 76, 77, 80, 84, 90 energy, xiv, 14, 21, 25, 26, 29, 31, 47,
Boxing Boys, 75 48, 57
brain, 61, 63, 64, 68, 69, 96, 113 kinetic, 20, 53
changes in, 62 eskrima, 24, 42, 51, 71, 112
traumatic injury, 65, 87, 106
brawler punch, 85 Faraday, Michael, viii
brawler’s fracture, 83 Feynman, Richard, 137
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, 10, 121, 138 final velocity, 40
breaking boards or bricks, 125 football helmet, 99
Broughton, Jack, 75 force, 30, 43
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 111 force curve, 67, 91
free lunches, 45, 48
Cameron, Tom, 121 Freel, Ryan, 96
center of mass, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 38, 40 fulcrum, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 56, 57,
chain punches, 23, 84, 85, 114 116, 117, 118
Chambers, John Graham, 75
chi sao, 55 Gadd Severity Index (GSI), 64
Chinese herbal treatments, 132, 133 garbage, 10, 26, 118, 135, 144
choke, xi, 53 Garlaschelli, Luigi, 121
chronic traumatic encephalopathy Gladwell, Malcolm, 140
(CTE), 61, 71, 87, 89, 101, 102, gloves, 81, 82, 103
103 boxing, 64, 82
circumference, 33, 34, 35, 47 MMA, 78
159
160 INDEX

gongfu, 22 Krieger, Dolores, 130

Gracie, Royce, vii, 77 Kunz, Dora, 130
gravity, 3, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 53 lever, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 68,
gun, 106, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 70, 116
115, 116, 117, 118 licking a hot shovel, 129
Gygax, Gary, 13 Liddell, Chuck, 66
lying on a bed of nails, 124
hand wraps, 82, 84 lying on swords, 124
hapkido, xiii, 27, 72
Head Injury Criterion (HIC), 64 magic, 10, 26, 63, 122, 132,
headgear, 25, 89, 90, 95, 96, 98, 100, 135
102, 103 Major League Baseball, 96
helmet, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, makiwara, 83, 126
98, 99, 100, 101 Manhattan Project, ix
baseball, 97 mass, 3, 4, 5, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24,
football, 99 99, 101
hit points, 13, 14, 25, 26 matter, 45
hiza garuma, 12 Matua, John, 77, 83
Hollywood, 20, 53, 105, 106, 107, 108, McCain, John, 77
109, 111, 118 mechanical bull, 7
Meditations on Violence (Miller),
ippon, 37 142
Is It Real?, 120 Miller, Rory, 142
mixed martial arts, x, 66, 76, 77, 120,
jab, 34, 38, 52, 85, 114 138
Jay, Leon, 121 MMA gloves, 78
jeet kune do, 55 momentum, xiv, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20,
Jennum, Steve, 77 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 43, 49,
Jobs, Steve, 134 66, 91
Journal of the American Medical angular, 27, 91
Association, 131 linear, 27
judo, xiii, 10, 11, 37, 38, 55 Moro tribesmen, 107
juji gatame, 56 muay boran, 76
muay Thai, 18, 25, 48, 52, 55, 70, 71,
karate, 22, 24, 37 76, 77, 95, 141
kenpo, 18, 55 forward knee, 18
kick, xii, 3, 8, 18, 19, 30, 37, 42, 49, 53, mysticism, 119, 120, 123, 130, 132, 133,
70, 138, 144, 145 134, 135
flying front push, 28
roundhouse, 127 National Collegiate Athletic Associa-
knee strike, 12, 18, 19, 38, 71, 144 tion, 89
knife, 6, 25, 114, 115, 116 National Crime Victimization Survey
knockout, 16, 25, 67, 69, 70, 71, 76, (NCVS), 109
105, 121, 122, 134 National Football League, 89
no-touch, 120 National Geographic, 120