Science is cool.

[Garland]

I've seen alot of statistics lately about who has the strongest kick, and how fast people can punch...but how are these things tested. Is there some sort of electronic thai pad that measures...what would it be, pressure and speed?
I needs one of these things, just think, you could tweak the angles and shift of your body to maximize your kicking and punching power.
Just think about how it would amplify technique!
On top of that, you could figure in knee torque off of knees, and where energy is being lost in your strikes, i.e. if you snap or push instead of actually cracking the pad.
IF these things are not being produced....whoever starts the patent could make some bank (with digital technology as it is today...who knows, it might be relatively cheap to produce, you could even market a computer program to work with it and measure progress or regression in the raw numbers, maybe even motion capture balls to help you hit the right way every time, or expirement to see the effect) selling to elite kickboxing and mma camps, not to mention Japanese Karate guys, and Olympic TKD guys...
Just send me one for the thought...

[Broadsword2004]

Considering that they have every workout gizmo possible on earth (like Iso-Lateral High Weight whatever machines to work your back, etc.....) I am sure they have such things somewhere.

[KonrinzaiKirema]

well, they have suits that golfers use that fully analyze aspects of their golf swing, asserting pros and cons (stance, formation, etc). i havent heard of any suit like this thats tailored for any kind of specific martial art, although i wouldnt be surprised if theres something out there like this for perhaps boxing.

nonetheless, it would be a hell of an invention

[luv2bfit]

Hey garland, sounds like one hell of an idea to me. You seem like a very innovative person. Maybe you could create it, or at least take the idea somewhere, and have someone else create it. I say copyright your concept, right it out, draw it, whatever, and cash in my friend.

[HtTKar]

I once saw an episode on the discovery channel or something like that where they had karateka kicking mats wrapped around poles. the mats had built in sensors to record the PSI of thier kicks. These were also connected to a computer that analyzed the physical body movements via video recorder, and also analyzed the direction of the kick on the bag. They were trying to prove why certian martial arts have specific techniques, and test whether the correct techniques were in fact the most proficient. One guy kicked at over 2000lb psi. The guy that actually kicked that hard couldnt believe it himself. They also had ribpads with the same technology built in. In this test they were trying to find out how a person could absorb a kick this powerful without breaking their ribs. They also tested weapons arts in full contact sparring. It was pretty interesting. Yeah they do have devices that can do this, but I'm sure it will be a long time before they get into the hands of common people.