The Many Styles of the 'Human Weapon'
History Channel travels the globe in search of the best style in martial arts.
July 20, 2007 — -- When Jason Chambers signed on to co-host the History Channel's new show "Human Weapon," the show's producers conveyed the excitement, telling him about the adventure and exotic locales.
What they did not harp on, according to Chambers, was the fact that he was "going to get punched in the face by a lot of Asian men."
"Human Weapon," premiering tonight on the History Channel, takes Chambers and co-host Bill Duff around the world in search of the history and tradition behind 13 martial arts styles, from French Savate streetfighting to Cambodian bloodsport Bokator.
Each episode focuses on one of the fighting styles and will culminate in a hand-to-hand fight between one of the hosts, who has had a week's worth of training in the discipline, and one of the school's masters.
"The show is about finding why these arts started and where they started from," said Chambers, who is a mixed martial arts fighter that has been training in some form of martial arts since he was 6. "But basically, it's also going to be a whole lot of me just getting my butt kicked."
After filming nine of the show's 13 episodes and delving into the history of each discipline, a slightly worse-for-wear Chambers has found one thing shared among all styles.
"All these arts have evolved from war; all out of necessity," Chambers told ABCNEWS.com.
"For instance, when Ferdinand Magellan came over to the Philippines, the Spanish took away all the people's machetes. So they used what was around: vines, branches and tree sticks. That's how Arnis [Filipino stick fighting] was born," he said.
John Whitman, a fourth degree black belt in Israeli Krav Maga and president of Krav Maga World Wide, believes this is why the styles vary from one part of the world to another.
"The systems were developed with specific things in mind. Tae Kwon Do today isn't so practical," Whitman told ABCNEWS.com, referring to the leaping and high kicking that characterizes the discipline, "but the reason it was developed in Korea is because oftentimes foot soldiers and peasants had to deal with trying to hit soldiers on horseback."
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