# Best Martial Art In A Zombie Attack? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014 "2021-12-14T01:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/41 "2021-12-14T15:31:08Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Certainly, I could. But any such attack risks injury to the attacker, and getting that close means there is a risk of infection or maybe a bite. All to basically disable a zombie and make it crawl. But if there are 10 of them? 100? What good is that, really? > > Basically, if I had no choice I’d try that, but if I could walk or run away, I’d do that and look for a weapon…preferable a gun, but at a minimum, a staff or spear would be my choice. Well, yeah, that’s basically been my point all along. Hand-to-hand with zombies is just a bad idea all around, no matter how you do it. It might be necessary in the first five minutes of the ZA, before you really understand what’s happening, but after that, it’s weapons or zombiefication. The longer the stand-off distance, the better. Fists \< knives \< swords \< staffs \< spears \< pikes \< bows and arrows \< guns \< artillery \< ICBMs. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/42 "2021-12-14T15:34:22Z")
Yeah, I was agreeing with you…sorry if that didn’t come across. In a pinch, or if I’m down to no choice, certainly I’d do what I can, but given a choice I wouldn’t use much of my martial arts training to combat a zombie. My WAG is anyone who thought they would go all Bruce Lee on the zombies would be what is commonly referred to as…a new zombie, in fairly short order. Martial arts just isn’t the right tool for combating a zombie outbreak. It’s really not even the right tool for combating the humans in a zombie outbreak, let alone the zombies. Its value, really, is you always have it with you and can use it if you have to, but as a last, not a first resort. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/43 "2021-12-14T15:40:28Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Yeah, I was agreeing with you…sorry if that didn’t come across. I demand that we continue violently agreeing with each other! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/44 "2021-12-14T15:42:07Z")
😛 Ok, I agree with your demands to agree on this. But only this one time. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/45 "2021-12-14T15:55:58Z")
Get a zombie-proof room, you two. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/46 "2021-12-14T16:17:03Z")
A (Anti-)Dead Space, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/47 "2021-12-14T16:47:43Z")
Would there be a difference if the zombies are the type that merely want to bite you so that you become a zombie vs. the kind that want to eat your brain? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/48 "2021-12-14T16:57:12Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > All of a sudden I’m wishing I’d seen a movie where advancing zombies keep walking into slapsticky mayhem due to found objects serving as _improvised_ weapons via Jackie Chan… “Oh no - the zombies have chased us into this hardware store!” “Quick - to the rake section! I’ve got an idea…” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/49 "2021-12-14T16:58:05Z")
Or a sporting-goods store! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/50 "2021-12-14T17:02:13Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Has any investigation of zombies, in fact or fiction, questioned whether there’s anything so bad about becoming a zombie (or vampire, for that matter)? There seems to be an axiomatic assumption that being a zombie is a seriously undesirable condition – but does anybody know? The first episode of _The Midnight Gospel_ deals with a worldwide zombie outbreak. We eventually (briefly) get to see things from the zombies’ POV. It is…unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/51 "2021-12-14T17:02:44Z")
Heck, Zombieland has some great slapstick-type zombie kills (of the day, week, or year). No rakes coming up to bonk zombies on the head, though perhaps that will happen in Zombieland 3…the search for more money! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/52 "2021-12-14T17:04:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “Oh no - the zombies have chased us into this hardware store!” > > “Quick - to the rake section! I’ve got an idea…” You laugh, but [a rake like this one](https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/certified-bow-rake-0595508p.0595508.html?ds_rl=1283573&ds_rl=1283573&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnuGNBhCPARIsACbnLzpwU5JsQYZbaFnAyi8Szobfi6qtBN3_86sTPVcruGzNBWWA7Bt4OasaAgBHEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#store=422) would actually be quite useful. Solid enough to not bend under vigorous use, the wide part could be used to hold a zombie at bay while a buddy brains it with a hoe. Determining the best ratio of rakes to hoes for your fighting group is left as an exercise for the student. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/53 "2021-12-14T17:05:05Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > But if I’m surrounded my a horde wrestling isn’t likely to be all that useful. I don’t think any martial art would be effective in such a situation. Agreed, if it’s a horde around you, then welcome to zombie town. You aren’t escaping. But let’s say it’s only six zombies surrounding you, and you have to take out one of them for a clear escape path. I think you want whatever knocks down that one zombie while minimizing the risk that you end up on the ground next to them. Taekwondo kick to the chest? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/54 "2021-12-14T17:10:06Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Taekwondo kick to the chest? Taekwondo is too Hollywood for a zombie fight. The higher you kick, the more likely you are to end up on your ass just because you fell over, regardless of what the zombie does. I’d use something more like this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XjBtQ0e7F38/maxresdefault.jpg "How to Do a Shin Kick") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjBtQ0e7F38) but target the knee in hopes of breaking the joint, or target the lower leg, in hopes of knocking them down quickly, giving me time to get past them. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/55 "2021-12-14T17:13:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The first episode of _The Midnight Gospel_ deals with a worldwide zombie outbreak. We eventually (briefly) get to see things from the zombies’ POV. It is…unexpected. This novel starts in a “school” in which child zombies are sequestered. But the zombies are entirely sentient, more-or-less like ordinary people except for their defining characteristic. So it’s not really like presenting the POV of the traditional slow zombie. An excellent book, the movie wasn’t terrible but it conveyed little of the nuance. > **[The Girl with All the Gifts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_with_All_the_Gifts)** > > The Girl with All the Gifts is a science fiction book by M. R. Carey, published in June 2014 by Orbit Books. It is based on his 2013 Edgar Award-nominated short story Iphigenia In Aulis and was written concurrently with the screenplay for the 2016 film. It deals with a dystopian future in which most of humanity is wiped out by a zombie-like fungal infection. > The title is a loose translation of "Pandora". The Pandora myth appears in the story in several different ways. > Twenty years ago, human... ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/56 "2021-12-15T01:31:11Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > But let’s say it’s only six zombies surrounding you, and you have to take out one of them for a clear escape path. I think you want whatever knocks down that one zombie while minimizing the risk that you end up on the ground next to them. Taekwondo kick to the chest? Single-leg takedown and I’m out of there. Thanks, Coach Jeffries. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014/57 "2021-12-15T01:48:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > All of a sudden I’m wishing I’d seen a movie where advancing zombies keep walking into slapsticky mayhem due to found objects serving as _improvised_ weapons via Jackie Chan… _Home Alone_ meets _Night of the Living Dead_ isn’t the crossover we deserve, it’s the crossover we need. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-martial-art-in-a-zombie-attack/956014.md?page=2)