 So today we're going to try a fun little mental exercise and do something a little bit different. So while you're all cozy in your homes watching this, or chilling on your phone, or probably should be working, we're going to pretend that the event happened and our world is now overrun by zombies. Now, surely being a martial artist, we would easily have the leg up on anyone who hasn't trained, right? I mean, we'd have the advantage of taking on the roaming and the rotting. Or would we? Now, even though this scenario really isn't realistic at all, it was a fun and interesting exercise to think about what would be the best martial art to use against zombies. Okay, I mean, first things first, we're going to have to acknowledge there's going to be some suspension of disbelief here because zombies really don't make sense and they can't exist. I mean, truth of the matter is, the walking dead just doesn't, you know, there's no blood flow, they can't talk, they can't move, they can't see, so we're just going to put that aside and just kind of pretend for a minute that zombies actually do exist. Now with that being said, let's kind of establish what the rules for this video are going to be. You see, you know, all throughout media, there's different types of zombies, those that can talk, that can run, that are just crawl, the brains, whatever. So for the purpose of this video, we're going to kind of do the more generic, more common type, the slow meandering zombies. They're rotting, they are just hungry, and if they bite you, you'll get infected, and if they get their blood on you or if you've got open cuts, we're going to assume you get infected too. So, and we're also going to apply the same general rule as the only way to kill them is to destroy the brain. So with that in set, we're going to kind of go along those rules. Now when doing this exercise, even though it's kind of goofy and fun, just like real self-defense scenarios, you have to take things into consideration. Is it one zombie, or do you have multiple to deal with? Just like in real life, that strategy is going to change dramatically on how many are attacking you. Are you running from one? Are you cornered by one? Are you in hand-to-hand with one? Are you being swarmed by a mob of them? All very different scenarios. Okay, now let's look at some of the challenges. It might be easy to think, oh, you know, no martial arts, I can punch kick, I could beat a zombie, I've got no problem. Most likely, however, a lot of techniques that will work on a person are not going to work on a zombie, primarily because they don't feel pain. So, you work with pressure points, forget it, liver shots, mm-mm. Soft targets, eyes, throat, groin. It's not going to have any effect, because they're past the point that that does not affect them. They've got one thing on their mind, and that's your brain, and they want to eat it. And they're going to keep on coming no matter what they do. And they also, they age and they fall apart. So, that might seem like an advantage, but if you think about it, and anyone who's ever watched a show The Walking Dead, you'll know that the worst shape the zombie is, sometimes the harder it is to defend against. I mean, if they're really, really in bad shape and you try to grab and push away, they might fall apart in your hands. So, it's gross to think about, but, say, we're talking about zombies after all. So, it's important to keep in mind that what will work on a normal human being won't work on them, because, primarily, they don't feel pain. So, how do you hurt them? You can break all the ribs you want. It's not going to stop them. So, let's just start with good ol' karate, maybe something like shodokan, more old school traditional shodokan. Strong strikes, solid stances, good speed. So, you're going to deliver some good solid blows. The downside is that power might be wasted, because that power is not going to work so well on them. As I said before, you can break a rib, you're going to punch them right in the sternum. You're not going to stop their heart. You're not going to stop them from coming. At most, you might knock them back a little bit. So, this might not be the best art just by itself against the zombies, because it's not really dedicated to the kind of trauma that you need. You hit them in the head? Sure. Basically, you have to go for blunt force trauma to the head. Shodokan definitely has the power, but maybe the techniques aren't formulated for that, because I don't think when they formed this art, they were thinking zombie apocalypse. Especially if they tackle you go to the ground, shodokan doesn't have much to defend against that. Now, speaking of good power and damage and strikes, it'd be foolish not to even mention kiyokushin. Kiyokushin is one of the hardest contact style martial arts out there. Strong, strong body blows, devastating kicks to the head. So that's going to be a good art to start with, but once again, kiyokushin suffers very similarly from the same situations that shodokan does. That power is going to be wasted. And plus, kiyokushin is a very, very close art. It's all getting up there and doing constant body shots. If you're that close, you're with an arms and possibly mouth reach. You don't want to be that close and those body shots aren't going to work. Now, kiyokushin has some really, really, really powerful kicks. However, I advise against that because if you're that close, a lot of the kicks they have in tournaments are high axe kicks that come down. It's easy to get caught on the shoulder. You're taking yourself off balance. The thing lumbers forward at you. You might fall down. So kiyokushin is going to do damage. You actually have a good likelihood of breaking them apart a little bit. So maybe you could do enough damage where they can't quite chase you. If you do some structural damage, then you might have a chance. But kind of like shodokan, that power might be a little bit wasted because you're not talking about an opponent who can actually register it as a normal person would. Now, before we should leave this one out, American Kempo, this is my art. I've trained in this art. I love this art. It's known for its fast strikes. And now we're talking about an opponent that will just stand there for choreographed techniques. So you can do all you want to them. The problem is you might not do a whole lot. I love Kempo. It's designed to destroy joints. It's vital target areas. It's designed for a street fight. But once again, the zombies are not going to respond to vital strikes. Yes, Kempo has got some blunt trauma to the head, but it doesn't quite have the power of Kyoko Shin does. So, and Kempo is at its most effective up close, way closer than you're going to want to be, most like for a zombie, especially if there's multiple. So as much as I wish this would be the best art, I'm not much of a better boat than anyone else's in the apocalypse because I don't think Kempo would be as effective as I would like it to be against a zombie apocalypse. It looks impressive, but it's not that effective against the dead. Okay, so at this point, we've kind of established body strikes don't work so well because you have to deliver head trauma. I mean, you've got to destroy the brain. That's really the focus and your best chance of defending it against the walking dead. So, okay, what about boxing? I mean, you're talking about a nice good solid art, shots of the face, shots of the head. That could work. Two problems I see with that though. One, you're getting really, really close. And not only that though is you're putting your hands in their face. Chances are you're not wearing boxing gloves in this scenario in the apocalypse. So you're probably gonna be boxing bare knuckle. Do you want your knuckles hitting zombie teeth? I wouldn't. And not only that though is the head trauma is good. It's there, but you're gonna expend a lot of effort to do it. You know, yes, sure, zombies haven't trained and it'll spar, but you start boxing. If you of them, you might get winded pretty quick. You might have enough endurance to last a while, but you're still expeling a lot of effort to do some damage that might not be quite enough. And again, it's a much closer range that I'm comfortable with. You guys might disagree, but to me, I would not approach a zombie with boxing. So, so far, we're not doing so well during this apocalypse, are we? All these arts I've mentioned so far are fantastic arts. But again, we're talking about a creature that doesn't respond the same way as a normal human would. All right, so what about Muay Thai? Okay, I see some potential with this one. It's got the same concerns I have with boxing in terms of you're still gonna get kind of pretty close contact and I still would not want any bare knuckles hitting the zombie's face, but Muay Thai's got some devastating leg kicks with it and some great footwork like boxing would have as well. So something like a teep might be really good at keeping them at base. So if they're coming up on you, you threw a couple kicks, front kicks, teeps, you can probably push them back a little bit. Muay Thai also has some devastating leg kicks. You've got a riding person coming after you and you dropped that dropping shin kick. There's a good chance you're gonna break that leg. Well, okay, good, the zombie can't chase anymore. Not bad, so Muay Thai, I would say, has a pretty fair chance. I don't know if I would rely on it 100% on its own, but it could do some damage, at least enough hit him a few times, get him off of you so that you can escape. Now, since we're talking about powerful kicks, I couldn't possibly leave out Taekwondo or the Korean arts. They are known for their kicks, their powerful displays, acrobatics, their speed. This might actually be an asset during the zombie apocalypse. Now, Taekwondo is also known for a lot of competition, but what art do you know that focuses on head kicks anymore than Taekwondo? So the speed's gonna be an asset, the power's gonna be an asset, and you probably will deliver some good head trauma, and also possibly with multiple attackers. So if you've got a couple zombies around you, switching up kicks, back forth, round kick, spinning kicks, might actually be an asset. The downfall is you're going to expend your energy quickly. I mean, the people I know who train in Taekwondo, they train hard and they get a workout, but by the end of a sparring session, they're exhausted because it's a lot of energy expelled because of that power and speed and accuracy. So yes, this could be an effective art, but I think you're gonna kinda suffer in the longevity side of it. It'd be good for maybe a couple zombies, but if you've got a swarm, you got a problem. And I also just kinda wanna add to any of the kicking arts I've mentioned, the head shots are gonna be risky for kicks just because you're compromising balance potentially and you don't wanna get your foot caught on the shoulder or anything, I mean, they're not gonna counter grab or do anything like that, but you never know. So it's just kicking that high above the head presents some risks, but if you're good at it and you've got the power, it could be an asset to you. Okay, I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for this one. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu slash wrestling. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to say no on this one, not because I don't like the art. I love Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It is a fantastic art and you're gonna tear up a person using it, but let's take a close look at this with a zombie. Do you want to roll on the ground with a rotting corpse? I don't, because you've got some serious considerations here. We talked about the dangers of close contact. You're not gonna get any closer contact in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and ground fighting. You're not gonna be able to submit them. The Camorra's not gonna work. The Scarful's not gonna work. You're not gonna be able to choke them out. You wanna do side control? You wanna wrap your body around their snapping jaws? I don't. So I don't think it's really good for that part of it and I don't wanna be on the ground if there's multiple because you're not gonna be getting back up. They start piling on you, you're done. Now where it will work and I think is an asset is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has some great reversals. Again, if you've watched any zombie movie or TV show, there's always one character who falls to the ground and the zombie drops on top of them and they're holing them up and the jaws are snapping and they're freaking out. That's where Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will shine. You get someone on top of you, you flip them over, you get a reversal, that's gonna be awesome. You're gonna have some great escapes for that but don't stay there and grapple with them. Don't grapple with them. Get out, get up, get out. Okay, kung fu. Okay, this one has some considerations too. I think it shares a lot of similarities to karate in that it's great power and great motion and fluid and powerful but just like karate, a lot of the damage is not gonna be felt. Again, they don't feel pain. Now what may be effective is maybe like some of the Wushu competitions, arts that have big sweepy motions with weapons that are actually very acrobatic and it can clear the area. I wouldn't necessarily say stand and fight but that might be good to get out of a scenario especially in a swarm. So you might have some potential here to escape. Speaking of kung fu, we gotta look at Wing Chung. Wing Chung is very, very powerful, very, very quick. It's got great techniques, it's got great balance and you're gonna stay on your feet. However, once again, close range. And also Wing Chung is very well known for it's fast chain punching but where did those chain punches go? Do you want your hands hitting their mouth or their head? I don't think that's a good idea. You're gonna do a good job driving them back and especially if it's one-on-one, that's zombies' toes. You're gonna knock them down, you're good. But how does it work against multiple zombies? Again, since Wing Chung is a close range art, it's great for self-defense, it's great for a human being but you punch a corpse, you can chain punch them all you want. You're just gonna get some bloody knuckles and an infection for your hard work. So Wing Chung is awesome but may not be ideal for the zombie apocalypse. Don't feel bad all you guys out there, I diss my art too. What about drunken style? This was a little bit of a different approach. Couple of things, one, well first of all, it depends if you've been fighting a lot of them already do you have their gunk all over you or your dirty? If you study drunken style and you're out there, cloning around like this, they might mistake you for one of them so you might even just blend in. Also, you're gonna be faster, you're gonna be looser, you're gonna move around and let's be honest, if it's the zombie apocalypse, do you wanna be sober anyway? You might be happier in this style, you might not defend yourself but you'll probably be happier. Okay, what about stand-up jujitsu or judo? Hmm, another possibility here. What are they really good for? Take downs, throws, locks, grappling. Okay, but that being said again, just like Brazilian jujitsu, you don't wanna grapple with a zombie. It's the same reason as before, too close to contact, you're not gonna hold them, you're not gonna submit them. However, what might be effective here, especially the judo and jujitsu, I mean how many times have you seen in movies, characters are fighting off a zombie and a straggler comes up behind them, maybe they grab and right before that fight comes in, you might be able to respond and catch a shoulder throw, you might be able to throw them off you, get them away from you. Especially with jujitsu where it's designed to throw opponents into each other, it might be good for pulling them off you. I wouldn't keep that as a primary art for zombies because again, they're the close proximity and again, you can put them in whatever lock you want, not gonna stop them, they're gonna keep snapping a join until their buddies come and swarm you but it's good for a pinch, if they grab you, it gets them off you real fast. Also, in judo, a lot of competitions use sacrifice rolls with the throws and all that, I wouldn't do that here, just stay on your feet, stay in the ground fighting, just get them off you and move on. This one has potential, maybe. What about kendo? I mean, you are talking about an art that practices with a weapon. Now, if you go back to its more traditional roots, you might have a chance. I mean, I wouldn't mind having a sword during the apocalypse, it gives you a lot of drama to the head and it's quick and as long as you learn the technique, you'll be good. The only thing with kendo is kendo these days focuses a lot on competition and sport and I don't know about you, I don't think zombies care so much about keeping score. So a sword art with some sword discipline would be awesome whether that be kendo or not, but that definitely has some potential right there. But since we're talking about weapon arts, I have to throw this one out there. What about a screamer or any former stick art? Now you're talking about blunt force trauma, big time, speed, especially with sticks, they're not gonna get stuck on the head. I mean, how many times have you watched a movie a character throws a hammer or a hatchet and it gets stuck and they're pulling, no problem with a screamer, you just beat them until they fall apart. And you can also replace them with machetes, you know, the same techniques. And I might be fine with two machetes during the zombie apocalypse, especially with the speed and technique involved, you might be able to even take on a bunch of them. So you've got your blunt force, you've got your hacking force, you've got your speed. Honestly, I wouldn't mind the screamer at all. It's got some definite possibilities. Honestly, a lot of weapon arts are gonna give you a leg up at this point. So okay, I've spent most of this video dissing all these arts, so I'm sorry if I've offended anybody out there. But again, we're talking about zombies and people who aren't gonna feel pain. So a lot of arts aren't gonna be as effective as we would like. But if I had to choose right now, what would my recommendations be? Ideally, I'm thinking some sort of a weapon art, a screamer or a sword, could be your primary art because you're gonna need that speed and you're gonna need a tool to do some damage. Maybe have some judo mixed in and really focus more on just the takedowns to throws and getting them off of you. A little bit of tackle window or more tie, get a couple of kicks in there so that they do approach you too quickly, get too close, get some kicks and knock them back. And it never hurts to know some Brazilian jiu-jitsu but focus on the reversals and the escapes. Don't worry about the submissions, they're not gonna work here. So the screamer mixed with judo, mixed with a kicking art and some Brazilian jiu-jitsu is probably a winner in my book. So I hope that all of you found this as fun of an exercise as I did. I know it's not a realistic scenario but it is a good mental practice to analyze different situations, even fictional ones and discuss what arts might be beneficial given certain circumstances. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe, share, comment below. And honestly, let's not lie to ourselves. The best art to know during the zombie apocalypse is parkour because you wanna get the HE double hockey six out of there. Gotta go.