
Fight Like a Physicist
The Incredible Science Behind Martial Arts
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Narrated by:
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Michael Butler Murray
About this listen
Fight Like a Physicist provides an in-depth, sometimes whimsical look into the physics behind martial arts for sport and self-defense. Whether you are an experienced martial artist or a curious enthusiast, this book can give you an "unfair advantage" by unraveling the complex science of effective fighting techniques and examining the core principles that make them work.
In addition to breaking down the principles behind the punches, Dr. Thalken, a computational physicist with a long history of martial arts across various styles, applies the mind-set of a physicist to a number of controversial topics in the martial arts:
- Making physics your "unfair advantage", in the ring and on the street
- Examining center of mass, pi, levers, wedges, angular momentum, and linear momentum for martial artists
- Protecting the brains of fighters and football players from concussions
- Reducing traumatic brain injury in contact sports
- Overturning conventional wisdom on compliance during an assault
Dr. Thalken invites listeners to take a scientific approach to training and fighting, and provides all the tools necessary to get the most out of their experiences and make their training count.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2015 Jason Thalken, PhD (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Fight Like a Physicist
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- Garry Schettini
- 04-11-24
Insightful
Great listen and very insightful. Dispels A lot of the mystics with pure science behind it. Great tips to employ in my journey of training.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-18-23
thank you
Excellent study and preparation for the adversity in life. A must read for all martial artists.
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- David Lucero
- 01-28-23
Great Book
Good fighting information. It made me understand different styles of fighting. The book covers attack stats.
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- Igor Ganapolsky
- 06-27-24
A good overview of rudimentary fighting physics.
However, it gives very little specific advice on how to train to become a better fighter. I would have loved to hear more real world examples of real fights, and an analysis of how to train for them.
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- Keaton
- 06-16-21
very insightful
Great book for understanding fighting and combat sport physics. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand martial arts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-04-19
Awesome Information
alot of great information in this book. I could have done without the tangent on disproving ki and mysticism and wish he would have focused more of the later chapters on the physics that make strikes locks and throws effective. the parts on traumatic brain injury were very good though I think they warrant their own book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- A. Goetz
- 02-02-23
Fun read
Interesting application of physics to explain techniques and best practices of fighting. Short and sweet.
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- Shane K.
- 04-30-24
A fun listen
There is a lot of humor and information in here. As a former fighter I really enjoyed this title.
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- SaK
- 04-10-25
Outstanding and a must read for anyone training or coaching
This book gave me great satisfaction. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount and had many questions spanning a 40 year martial arts career answer, it also both validated a lot of my theories, and perhaps even more importantly prove me wrong on a few. This is incontestably the best martial arts book I have ever read.
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- B. Visher
- 05-12-23
Classic Example of Judging a book by its cover
Judging by the cover you’d expect this book to be about force production and punching power, then you realize it’s about applying science to a myriad of martial arts topics and training modalities. Overall not a bad book. I plan on listening to it again. 👍
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