Human Weapon

I have been really getting into the show Human Weapon on the History Channel (Friday's at 10). If you haven't seen the show, the basic premise is that 2 guys, one a former MMA fighter, the other a former football player and wrestler, travel the world studying the history and technique of different martial arts. It's a lot more interesting than I would have guessed. Obviously I enjoyed the Karate episode the most, but also found myself very interested in Eskrima stick fighting. I haven't watched the Krav Maga episode yet but have it recorded and am looking forward to seeing it.

Even if you aren't interested in fighting, I believe the historical aspects of the show are enough to interest you. For example, I don't find Judo particularly interesting to watch, but found it's origins quite interesting. Ju Jitsu started from unarmed samurai needing a way to fight each other, and traditional strikes were ineffective with all the armor on. Judo evolved from Ju Jitsu, with more of an emphasis on being a sport.

The other aspect of the show I find intriguing is the varying training techniques. Not only do all of the different styles have different training techniques, but different schools of the same style often have widely varying training.

Anyway, getting to travel the world and train in a variety of different martial arts would be a great job. Until I can get that job though, I'll just have to be satisfied with watching.