American society has been fascinated with martial arts for as long as there has been an influence in our culture of the predominantly Asian fighting style, maybe it’s the ability to kill or severely injure another man with just your bare hands and feet, or the fact that the human body’s ability to move so fast and anticipate so much intrigues the imagination. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Jason Statham all resonate with moviegoers because of the explosive moves and training.
The History Channel delves deep into this with Human Weapon, a new series focusing on the many different schools and techniques of martial arts and the ability to turn a man into a human weapon, with the ability to inflict serious damage and even death on your opponents.
The show’s structure takes its two hosts, Jason Chambers, and accomplished Total Fighting Challenge fighter and Bill Duff, former football player and accomplished martial artist, to the major locals of each of the traditional fighting styles and pairs them up with masters of each craft, teaching them the basics and pitting them against the trainers champion in an end battle. It plays out similarly to several other reality/edu-tainment series, only the first two acts of the episode are focused on training and history of the style rather than personal lives or how much the host’s girlfriends are complicating their lives.
The premiere episode travels to
For any student or fan of the martial arts, Human Weapon is a great look into the aforementioned disciplines, albeit brief, there’s a lot to be learned about the development and evolution of hand to hand combat through the ages.