History Main / ArtisticLicenseMartialArts

** Julius Reinhold's entire character is that he has no martial arts training whatsoever, outright eschewing it, and [[UnskilledButStrong relies solely on his physical strength training and being the size of a fridge.]] He's loosely based on real-life powerlifter Mariusz Pudzianowski. HoweverHowever, Pudzianowski spent a lot of his early career struggling against the limitations of his previous training, such as low stamina and maneuverability, and didn't become competent until he lost a lot of weight and started retraining. Simply put, the skillset and body type needed to become a powerlifter is very different from the one needed to become a martial artist--though the necessity of weight training is somewhat disputed, ''exclusively'' training to lift weights is considered a bad idea. Julius, meanwhile, suffers from none of these limitations and is instead depicted as a LightningBruiser whose inexpert technique is his sole weakness.

** Julius Reinhold's entire character is that he has no martial arts training whatsoever, outright eschewing it, and [[UnskilledButStrong relies solely on his physical strength training and being the size of a fridge.]] He's loosely based on real-life powerlifter Mariusz Pudzianowski. However, Pudzianowski spent a lot of his early career struggling against the limitations of his previous training. Simply put, the skillset and body type needed to become a powerlifter is very different from the one needed to become a martial artist--though the necessity of weight training is somewhat disputed, ''exclusively'' training to lift weights is considered a bad idea. Julius, meanwhile, suffers from none of these limitations and is instead depicted as a LightningBruiser whose inexpert technique is his sole weakness.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' has Will go into a Crane Kick pose, but not use the attack, when she and the girls race back to where they were hiding Yan Lin. Equally frustrating was the fact that, as they were running, at least one of them climbs over and jumps off a big rock, which would just use up strength needed to fight if something bad WAS happening.

** Kirk used a horizontal jump kick so often that when Creator/WilliamShatner nearly got into a RealLife fight, he realized that he was instinctively planning on using it. After a moment of consideration, he realized that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome flopping onto the floor at the beginning of a real fight would go very badly for him]], so he walked away.

* Defied in ''Literature/{{Katanagatari}}''; one of the {{Central Theme}}s of the story is that many a MartialArtsMovie tends to show Martial Arts just as a way to obtain different superpowers. Nanami reminds us that true Martial arts seek two SimpleYetAwesome things: [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre To teach a technique that improves the students self-worth by patience and practice]], and to [[YouAreNotAlone give the students at the school a sense of community and pertinence]]. Those were the very things her BlessedWithSuck incredible power denied her. That is what makes her duel a true tearjerker:

** The famous Vulcan nerve pinch, in which the base of the neck is pressed with the fingers and induces instantaneous unconciousness. Creator/LeonardNimoy invented the move on the spot when he decided that simply clubbing an opponent with a phaser didn't seem very Spock-like. The original concept was that Spock produced a bio-electric/psychic shock through his fingertips, turning his hand into a taser. When Spock uses it in the Original Series, he simply touches the necks of his opponents. However, the move was misinterpreted as a nerve pinch, and remained this way through future incarnations of the series.

** Subverted with the open-hand strikes that hit with the base of the palm, common in Next Generation and used by Worf and Riker in particular. It looks odd but there are actual reasons to do this in a fight, one of which is that it prevents the attacker from breaking knuckles or other bones in the finger. Also, Worf has a different skeletal structure and physiology than humans so there may be other reasons for him in particular to use that technique.

* Some of the earlier fights in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had poor choreography on Robin's part. Several times he backflips ''away'' from the enemy to kick them. Fortunately he cleaned up his act in later seasons. This might be deliberate given that every time he fought [[BigBad Slade]] (who didn't bother with flips or gymnastics at all), Slade kicked his ass.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' features a few moves of dubious authenticity.
** The chopping blows to the base of the neck or elsewhere, sometimes remembered as "Judo chops," though Judo is a grappling art that does not allow strikes, much less strikes to the neck. The principle behind "chopping" strikes is that the "blade" of the hand has a smaller surface area, and has been recommended in a few real-world fighting systems.
** The famous Vulcan nerve pinch, in which the base of the neck is pressed with the fingers and induces instantaneous unconciousness. Creator/LeonardNimoy invented the move on the spot when he decided that simply clubbing an opponent with a phaser didn't seem very Spock-like. The original concept was that Spock produced a bio-electric/psychic shock through his fingertips, turning his hand into a taser. When Spock uses it in the Original Series, he simply touches the necks of his opponents. However, the move was misinterpreted as a nerve pinch, and remained this way through future incarnations of the series.
** Kirk used a horizontal jump kick so often that when Creator/WilliamShatner nearly got into a RealLife fight, he realized that he was instinctively planning on using it. After a moment of consideration, he realized that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome flopping onto the floor at the beginning of a real fight would go very badly for him]], so he walked away.
** Hand-to-hand fight scenes in every series almost invariably feature a two-fisted hammer punch. Holding the hands together like that tends to decrease the reach of the strike as well as make it more difficult to defend oneself.
** Subverted with the open-hand strikes that hit with the base of the palm, common in Next Generation and used by Worf and Riker in particular. It looks odd but there are actual reasons to do this in a fight, one of which is that it prevents the attacker from breaking knuckles or other bones in the finger. Also, Worf has a different skeletal structure and physiology than humans so there may be other reasons for him in particular to use that technique.
** Klingons on the newer spin-offs tend to just hack with bat'leth swords and head-butt each other, despite Worf's claim that the elaborate tai-chi-looking moves he practices are "Klingon martial arts". This was addressed in some ExtendedUniverse material in a way that can be summed up as, "Martial arts are for artists, this how you [[CombatPragmatist fight a REAL battle.]]" Not to mention that bat'leths are highly impractical weapons, when compared to a typical sword, eliminating one of the greatest advantages of a sword - range. Trying to use a bat'leth like a normal sword would also result in the other sharp end pointing straight at your gut (not a good idea).
* The long-running ''Pili'' series from Taiwan features Kung Fu puppets with wire-fu, precision-guided swords and CG special effects. It's basically Chinese puppet theater.

* When the Canadian science fiction channel Space still used the "Space Bar" intros to its regular "Movies From Space" segments, one [[RubberForeheadAlien character]] demonstrates a traditional martial arts kata of his people; it looks utterly ludicrous. The bartender asks if it actually works. The alien says it works very well; their opponents laugh long enough for them to run away. The character's people are ''extremely'' good at ObfuscatingStupidity, to the point where they're not entirely sure if their stupidity is in fact obfuscating...
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In early seasons, Buffy's stunt double actually knew martial arts, leading to fairly realistic combat with a few exaggerations easily explained by her super strength. Later, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar lost so much weight that only gymnasts could fill in for her without the switch being obvious, leading to a lot more wire-fu and gymkata.

* In the Spanish adventure series ''Series/AguilaRoja'', Gonzalo, the main character dresses and moves like a ninja, but his fighting style is somewhat indetermined, and doesn't resemble Ninjutsu at all.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Fight choreography favors a lot of spinning, particularly in Minbari and Centauri martial arts, because it looks [[RuleOfCool pretty sweet]].
* The sketch-comedy ''Series/AlmostLive'' did a long-running series of bits titled "Mind Your Manners With Billy Quan", where the eponymous guy would regularly do impossible martial arts moves, in particular his [[SignatureMove double-footed jump-kick]], which could home in on its target, travel for blocks, go around corners, etc.

* Although ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' is usually pretty good with its fight choreography, some of the fights in the first season had the titular character doing flips in the middle of a fight, seemingly just for RuleOfCool.
* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': In "Going, Going, Gone", Wonder Woman faces off against a real BruceLeeClone from TheSeventies. His moves were very showy breaking of boxes, screams of "Hiyahh!", high and wide kicks, and two very clear and very ineffective punches that bounced harmlessly off her amazonian abs. She finished the fight with blocking a kick which became a foot grab, which somehow resulting in [[SuperStrength him being lifted into the air in a lying down position]], thrown across the dock, and knocked out. A tour de force of '70s Martial Arts Artistic License!
-->'''Wonder Woman:''' ''[standing over the defeated BruceLeeClone]'' This really hasn't developed into a very good day, has it?
* Subverted in ''Series/TheFollowing''. With the exception of one wonky joint lock, the series fighting is both realistic in terms of what most people would look like fighting against one another (such as the very simple yet useful Knife techniques used by Theo), to the variety of ways that they fight unarmed, from techniques taught to police on how to defend themselves when their pistol is grabbed, to weapon disarms.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Literature/JeffTheKiller has a fight in which two teens (about 13 or so) engage in a Hollywood-style fight scene, including throwing each other around like ragdolls, pretty much no-selling multiple kicks to the face, and Jeff even killing a guy by stopping his heart with a punch to the chest.
[[/folder]]

* One episode of ''La Seine no Hoshi'' had an interesting mix of this and ShownTheirWork: a one-shot character featured in it had some rather improbable techniques, but not only was the martial art chosen for him, Savate, appropriate to the place, era and social status (the series being set in Paris right before the French Revolution, when Savate already existed but was only used by soldiers, sailors and street brawlers), the character was noted as extremely skilled, [[LampshadeHanging doing things that shouldn't have been possible]], and the one time he fought a skilled foe (another Savate practitioner) he fought in a very sensible manner, aside for the flying kick that won him the bout (with the foe actually being caught by surprise by the attack and unable to dodge in time).

* PlayedWith on ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. Ziva, a former [[BadassIsraeli Mossad]] operative, frequently engages in hand-to-hand combat, and you can definitely see elements of UsefulNotes/KravMaga in her fighting style. But it's definitely gussied up for television, as Krav Maga, at its heart, encourages one to be a CombatPragmatist.

** Perhaps the most ''JustForFun/{{egregious}}'' thing about this series is the [[YourMindMakesItReal imagination battles]]. Yeah, as if sparring with a completely imaginary 220 pound praying mantis ''and actually suffering injuries from it'' is anything within the realm of actual martial arts.

** Sendo's Smash punch is based on Canadian boxer Donovan "Razor" Ruddock's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNo8nXD3xoc signature punch]]. Not nearly as impossible as it looks, but Sendo's version leaves him far more open to getting tagged with a counter.
** The Dempsey Roll. Now this is a perfectly normal (if risky) technique for fighters of small build, and is named after its most famous practitioner. The artistic license comes from the fact that Ippo maintains it on his opponent for a good 8 seconds straight. If that was done in real life, there would be 3 possible outcomes: either the opponent would counter it somewhere in that time frame (since the Roll puts out so much offense that it leaves next to no defense), they were knocked flat on the ground from its beatdown long before 8 seconds had passed, or a referee would step in to give an 8-count or stop the bout entirely.

* WebOriginal/JeffTheKiller has a fight in which two teens (about 13 or so) engage in a Hollywood-style fight scene, including throwing each other around like ragdolls, pretty much no-selling multiple kicks to the face, and Jeff even killing a guy by stopping his heart with a punch to the chest.

** Hand-to-hand fight scenes in every series almost invariably feature a two-fisted hammer punch.

* Loads of moves in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' are highly dubious, to say the least. Then again, it's a comedy, so the MST3KMantra applies.

Jump kicks are an interesting thing in that they do exist in some forms of martial arts, but they're primarily for demonstration purposes rather than dueling. Claims that it had a practical purpose seem to rely on unverifiable sources.

* In line with ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and other 2D fighting games, ''Franchise/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' use this trope a lot. Mai Shiranui offers a notable example in having a move that, were it to be performed in real life, would probably hurt her much more than her opponent: her ''musasabi no mai'', which has her dive headfirst towards her opponent; she doesn't even use her head to hit, but ''her face''. The first version of this move (back in ''VideoGame/FatalFury2'') was different but not much better; its sprites strongly implied that she was attacking with her ample bust (''Magazine/ElectronicGamingMonthly'' even dubbed the attack "Mai's swan dive").
* As with above, Ermac in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' should be lucky they got mental manipulation. For the first strike - a headbutt to the face with enough force to break the unlucky sap's skull - would had also broke Ermac's skull as well. Ermac also has a move he can perform while hovering, which involves tripping up the opponent by striking the ground. How does he strike the ground? By turning upside down and slamming his entire body onto the ground, neck first. There's even a bone-cracking sound.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' has ''Hokuto Shinken'', which, if you ignore its ability to give whoever is the successor to it nigh super human strength and speed as well as its result of causing whomever is hit by it to swell and explode, isn’t ''too'' ineffective as a fighting style, should you have the speed and strength required to pull off the RapidFireFisticuffs needed for it.

* The grip-and-strike disarming technique featured in ''Film/TheFifthWave'' is SuicideByCop at its finest. Even if you somehow achieved the grip without the gunner shooting you point blank, the strike would only increase the chance for the gun to fire accidentally while perfectly pointed at you, not to mention it might even make the gunner instinctively pull the trigger even if he didn't actually intend to shoot. Being held at gunpoint, especially at such close quarters, is enough reason not to try anything, but seriously, do ''not'' try that move in real life.

Take a martial arts scene. Now, ask yourself; "Would this move work in UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts?" If the answer is no, it's likely under this trope.

These days it seems to be less prevalent, particularly with the rise in popularity of fighting systems such as Mixed Martial Arts or [[CombatPragmatist Krav Maga]].

This Trope is usually included with SupernaturalMartialArts. Compare MartialArtsAndCrafts, ChopSockey. Contrast WhatTheFuAreYouDoing, where the lack of knowledge is on the part of the character instead of the writers.

* The grip-and-strike disarming technique featured in ''Film/TheFifthWave'' is SuicideByCop at its finest. Even if you somehow achieved the grip without the gunner shooting you point blank, the strike would only increase the chance for the gun to fire accidentally while perfectly pointed at you, not to mention it might even make the gunner instinctively pull the trigger even if he didn't actually intend to shoot. Being held at gunpoint, especially at very close quarters as in the film, is enough reason not to try anything, but seriously, do ''not'' try that move in real life.

* In ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'', Karate is described to be "a branch of Judo" with Chinese origins, and how there are "only three practitioners with Black Belt" in the world.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* The medium, or at least the actual matches. Even the simplest of punches is painfully slow, clear to the opponent weeks in advance and aimed at low-damaging areas, frequently the opponent's massive pecs. And that's not even considering the more ludicrous maneuvers detailed below.[[note]]The reason is that they're only trying to put on a good show, not actively trying to kill each other.[[/note]]

* In ''Film/WhosHarryCrumb'', Harry Crumb kicks his shoe off of his foot onto someone's head and claims to be a black belt in Aikido. This is not specifically an Aikido move, as Aikido focuses on the redirection of the opponent's momentum. This happens to be a spur-of-the-moment decision, and does not preclude one from having earned a black belt through years of hard work and dedicated training.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'': one of the {{Central Theme}}s of the anime is that many a MartialArtsMovie tends to show Martial Arts just as a way to obtain different superpowers. Nanami reminds us that true Martial arts seek two SimpleYetAwesome things: [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre To teach a technique that improves the students self-worth by patience and practice]], and to [[YouAreNotAlone give the students at the school a sense of community and pertinence]]. Those were the very things her BlessedWithSuck incredible power denied her. That is what makes her duel a true tearjerker:
-->''Seventh head of Kyotouryuu, Shichika Yasuri\\
Without Style nor School, Nanami Yasuri.''

* The [[Wrestling/RandyOrton RKO]](jumping [[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage diamond cutter]]\[[Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis ace crusher]]), which, despite inheriting [[Wrestling/TheRock the People's Elbow]]'s Most Electrifying Move title, is a move where the victim does about half the work and then pretends to be out of it. Even if it was real, it'd be the kind of move that only stuns for a few seconds.

* The Irish Whip is extremely common. It involves swinging someone around by the arm to send them sprinting across the ring, bounce off something springy, and sprint back towards you to receive a follow-up attack. While certain joint locks and such can give you control over an opponent's movement, The Irish Whip takes it to absurd levels. What's more, most wrestling rings use wire rope or cable wrapped in tape in place of a springy cushion, for [[NoBudget budget reasons]], meaning whipping someone towards them usually should be the offensive maneuver, rather than a setup(winding steel rope too tight resulted in the loss of Wrestling/MickFoley's {{ear|ache}} and Perro Aguayo Jr's ''[[CasualtyInTheRing life]]'')

* The Crane Kick from ''The Karate Kid'' shows up in ''WebVideo/AshensAndTheQuestForTheGameChild'', and its impracticality is lampshaded: the villain brags about how powerful the move is, and Ashens takes a few steps back, bringing him out of the kick's range, and the villain cannot get closer because he is standing on one leg, which is getting tired. The villain asks Ashens to not hit him while he is changing the leg he is standing on, and [[CombatPragmatist Ashens hits him anyways]].

* In ''Film/RomeoMustDie'', Anthony Anderson's character does the Crane Kick stance while facing Jet Li's character. Jet Li [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome kicks him square in the crotch.]]