Sports & Recreation

What if there were a secret ingredient that could make every one of your martial arts techniques better? Not only faster and more powerful, but more likely to slam home to exactly the right target every time? Maybe there is.

Timing is the art and science of ending a confrontation as quickly and efficiently as possible. In Timing for the Fighting Arts, authors Loren W. Christensen and Wim Demeere team up to teach you exactly how to get every last ounce of speed and power out of your techniques.

Whether you want to feel safer on the street or emerge from the ring victorious, this book is packed with inside information essential to defeating your opponent.

• Why many experts say timing is more important than speed
• How to put the OODA loop and Hick’s law to work for you
• Why timing is both an offensive and a defensive asset
• Which types of verbal distraction can give you an edge
• Why controlling your opponent’s spine gives you an advantage
• Which tournament techniques really work on the street
• How to set up multiple opponents to create timing opportunities
• Which tricks law enforcement officers rely on to buy time
• How you can improve your odds against a gun or knife

You will find drills and practice scenarios to help you develop every one of these concepts. Go beyond theory and put your new knowledge to work in the ring or on the street, where you need it most.

Grandmaster Kim, Bok Man is one of the most recognized authorities of taekwondo in the world. He worked tirelessly with General Choi Hong Hi as a founder of taekwondo curricula used today by the many international taekwondo organizations.

Originally published in 1979, this book provides defense techniques taught to military, law enforcement officials, and black belts. Beginners will have a chance to see the application of their training in actual weapon defenses.

Advanced students will learn techniques and fundamental training that has been 'field' tested since the inception of the art in the 1950s.

Chapters include:

• History and the theory of power
• Defense against weapons: knife, baton, pole, sword, bayonet, and pistol
• Sparring: releases, grabs, throwing, falling, free-sparring
• Patterns: Silla pattern 1, Silla pattern 2, Silla knife pattern, and Silla pole pattern
• Training: stretching, calisthenics, action principles, hand and foot techniques, using a heavy bag
• Body parts for attack and defense, stances, vital points for striking

This book catalogs the essence of the fighting art of taekwondo as it was originally intended.

“Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.” ― Bruce Lee, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do

The best of both Eastern and Western stick fighting techniques

The Art and Science of Stick Fighting is a unique, non-style specific, approach to fighting with the short stick. Its curriculum is streamlined and divided into nine logical stages of training that allow the reader to quickly and methodically learn and develop the skills needed for fighting with the stick. Whether you are just starting out, or have been practicing stick fighting for years, there is something for everyone in this book. Also included are systematic workouts and descriptions of how to make and use specific training equipment as you learn and master The Art and Science of Stick Fighting.

• Nine levels of instruction, progressing from easy to expert
• Over 700 photos with motion arrows
• A “nondenominational” approach to the stick, utilizing the best of Eastern and Western arts
• A comprehensive, methodical approach to building stick fighting skills

This book stands apart from other stick fighting training manuals because it emphasizes the dynamics of combat. Many other books focus on forms and twirling. The author draws on thirty years of martial experience, presenting the best of both Eastern and Western traditions.

The Art and Science of Stick Fighting begins with the basics, upon which everything else relies.

• A stable stance
• Basic footwork
• An effective guard

Once the basics are in place, you learn the strategies and tactics of fighting with the stick at long, middle, and close range. By controlling the distance, you control the fight!

• Learn important guidelines for sparring, from light contact up to full-contact training.
• Learn how to construct your own padded weapons.
• Learn effective fighting tips that will rev up your game.

Also included are chapters on advanced techniques; combating short ranged weapons such as a knife to long range weapons like the staff. Even detailed techniques to use when your opponent is armed but you are not!

Whether you already study the stick or are just starting out, if you want to learn how to get an edge , The Art and Science of Stick Fighting is for you!

The Definitive Cardio Kickboxing Program from the Man Who Created It!

Frank Thiboutot, the man who created the original Cardio Kickboxing presents it as it was intended to be — more than just an aerobic workout, but as a real sport and a real means of self-defense.

Let's be honest. You're not going to learn anything just punching and kicking the air. In fact, you could hurt yourself. You have to learn what impact resistance and hitting moving targets are all about. Learn the safe, authentic and effective way to punch, block and kick, using real equipment and real bag work. Acquire real Kickboxing and self-defense skills while getting into the cardiovascular shape of your life.

There are plenty of fine fitness classes to choose from, but if you're serious about Cardio Kickboxing, serious about getting into shape, then you need Cardio Kickboxing Elite!

• Over 500 Photos for Detailed, Easy-to-Follow Instruction.
• Cardio and Circuit Training of Professional Kickboxers.
• Real Self-Defense Techniques & Bag Work.
• Excellent Cross-Training Regimen to Enhance Any Activity, Sport or Martial Art.

This book traces the evolution of the Fighting Arts from the 'old worlds' through today's modern societies. It divides it's contents into two parts. "The Early Development of Martial Art" and "Our Modern Culture and Martial Arts".

Part one explores ancient classical fighting arts and the cultural influenced that helped to shape them. Time is spent discussing the differences between civilian and military warfare along with the myths and legends of old.

Part two focuses on the assimilation of these "ancient arts" into modern western societies. The segmentation of these arts for the western practitioner along with the role martial arts have in today's society is given prominent attention. A final section discusses the realities of terrorism yesterday and today.

• Learn why there are so many martial art styles.
• Understand why the military doesn't train "classical" martial arts.
• For all styles and all levels of experience.

Learn the Whole Story Behind the World's Most Popular Martial Art!

Although millions of people around the world practice the fascinating art of Taekwondo, so little is known about its history, principles or philosophy. It is time to find out just what Taekwondo is all about! Learn how principles such as honor, perseverance, and dedication will enhance your daily life, how the philosophical and physical tenets combine to form not only a way of living, but a solid system of self-defense, and why these concepts are not just quaint ideals, but more important than ever in today's age.

Taekwondo's Ancient Wisdom is not only a 'must read' for every practitioner of any other martial art, but for everyone who seeks to learn from our collective past to better navigate through today's confusing times.

• Includes a thorough history of Taekwondo.
• Discover exactly what having a black belt is all about.
• Learn a simple way of meditation that will benefit any martial artist.
• Discover the difference between the martial arts as an 'art' and as a 'sport'.

BECAUSE NOT ALL KRAV MAGA IS THE SAME®

Hardcover format includes all photos in FULL COLOR!

This book is designed for krav maga trainees, security-conscious civilians, law enforcement officers, security professionals, and military personnel alike who wish to refine their essential krav maga combatives, improve their chances of surviving a hostile attack and prevail without serious injury.

Combatives are the foundation of krav maga counter-attacks. These are the combatives of the original Israeli Krav Maga Association (Grandmaster Gidon).

It is irrefutable that you need only learn a few core combatives to be an effective fighter. Simple is easy. Easy is effective. Effective is what is required to end a violent encounter quickly, decisively, and on your terms. This book stresses doing the right things and doing them in the right way. Right technique + Correct execution = Maximum Effect.

Contents include:

• Key strategies for achieving maximum combative effects
• Krav maga’s 12 most effective combatives
• Developing power and balance
• Combatives for the upper and lower body
• Combative combinations and retzev (continuous combat motion)
• Combatives for takedowns and throws
• Combatives for armbars, leglocks, and chokes

Whatever your martial arts or defensive tactics background or if you have no self-defense background at all, this book can add defensive combatives and combinations to your defensive repertoire. Our aim is to build a strong self-defense foundation through the ability to optimally counter-attack.

BECAUSE NOT ALL KRAV MAGA IS THE SAME®

Hardcover format includes all photos in FULL COLOR!

Israeli Krav Maga is the Israel Defense Force's official self-defense system. 

The system is simple, instinctive, adaptable, and if necessary, brutally effective to thwart a life threatening assault. This book presents the most up-to-date and effective techniques to prevail against armed threats and attacks.

Many of these updated defenses have never been seen before. Grandmaster Haim Gidon has improved and evolved this material with the late krav maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld's formal approval.

Contents include

• Weapon awareness training; functionality, range, and deployment
• Dominant control holds over a stunned assailant
• Edged weapon defenses
• Impact weapon defenses
• Handgun defenses
• Rifle defenses
• Defending against weapons while on the ground
• Defending against continuous attacks
• Non-conventional weapon threats
• First-party hostage situations
• Kravist weapon defense drills

Regardless of strength, size, age, or gender, you can learn krav maga techniques to fend off an armed attacker.

Use too much force and you are going to jail.
Use too little force and you're in for a world of hurt.

Conflict and violence cover a broad range of behaviors, from intimidation to murder, and they require an equally broad range of responses. A kind word will not resolve all situations, nor will wristlocks, punches or even a gun.

In Scaling Force the authors introduce you to the full range of options, from skillfully doing nothing to applying deadly force. They realistically guide you through understanding the limits of each type of force, when specific levels may be appropriate, the circumstances under which you may have to apply them, and the potential cost, legally and personally, of your decision.

• Level 1 — Presence. Staving off violence using body language alone.
• Level 2 — Voice. Verbally de-escalating conflict before physical methods become necessary.
• Level 3 — Touch. Defusing an impending threat or gaining compliance via touch.
• Level 4 — Empty-Hand Restraint. Controlling a threat through pain or forcing compliance through leverage.
• Level 5 — Less-Lethal Force. Incapacitating a threat while minimizing the likelihood of fatality or permanent injury.
• Level 6 — Lethal Force. Stopping a threat with techniques or implements likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.

It is vital to enter this scale at the right level, and to articulate why what you did was appropriate. If you do not know how to succeed at all six levels there are situations in which you will have no appropriate options. More often than not, that will end badly.

Originally published in 1983, this authoritative work has been the guide for thousands of Taekwondo Black Belts as they advanced in their training. Whether your training is for self-defense, forms competition, or for preparation for Olympic games, this newly revised edition provides beginner/intermediate to advance level training to assist you on your journey in Taekwondo.

Contents include:

• History, Philosophy, and Meditation.
• Hand and Foot Techniques.
• Sparring Techniques.
• Self-defense Techniques.
• Breaking Techniques.
• Nine Black Belt Forms – required for promotion by the World Taekwondo Federation, and used in sanctioned international Taekwondo competitions.
• Eight Taegeuk Forms – required for promotion of all color belts and 1st dan black belt, and used in sanctioned international Taekwondo competitions.
• Rules and regulations of the World Taekwondo Federation including sparring and poomsae competitions.

The popularity of Taekwondo is ever increasing. This is apparent in the tens of millions of practitioners worldwide, and by the inclusion of Taekwondo in the summer Olympic games. With all its popularity, it is paramount that the art be handed down in a clear, knowledgeable, and sustainable way - this book does just that.

Whether you are a law enforcement officer seeking to improve your edge or a martial artist wanting to expand your knowledge of street-proven techniques, you will find Defensive Tactics: Street-Proven Arrest and Control Techniques is filled with invaluable information to prepare you for even the most difficult scenarios.

Highlights include:

• Joint manipulation that works
• Leverage control vs. pain control
• Striking with the hands, feet, forearms, and elbows
• Safely and quickly crossing the gap
• Blocking an assailant’s strikes
• Using vulnerable points to gain compliance
• Head disorientation
• Safe application of carotid constriction or “sleeper” holds
• Controlling a suspect on the ground
• Arresting big guys
• Fighting concepts to take on patrol
• Weapon retention in close quarters and on the ground

Loren W. Christensen is a retired cop and high-ranking martial artist who survived everything the mean streets threw at him, working patrol, gang enforcement, and dignitary protection. Defensive Tactics goes beyond what is taught in the academy, during an officer’s in-service training, and what is allowed by the administration.

This book also includes a chapter on proven ways to control a suspect on the ground, written by LAPD officer Mark Mireles, an MMA coach, police academy trainer, and champion wrestler.

“Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.” ― Bruce Lee, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do

The best of both Eastern and Western stick fighting techniques

The Art and Science of Stick Fighting is a unique, non-style specific, approach to fighting with the short stick. Its curriculum is streamlined and divided into nine logical stages of training that allow the reader to quickly and methodically learn and develop the skills needed for fighting with the stick. Whether you are just starting out, or have been practicing stick fighting for years, there is something for everyone in this book. Also included are systematic workouts and descriptions of how to make and use specific training equipment as you learn and master The Art and Science of Stick Fighting.

• Nine levels of instruction, progressing from easy to expert
• Over 700 photos with motion arrows
• A “nondenominational” approach to the stick, utilizing the best of Eastern and Western arts
• A comprehensive, methodical approach to building stick fighting skills

This book stands apart from other stick fighting training manuals because it emphasizes the dynamics of combat. Many other books focus on forms and twirling. The author draws on thirty years of martial experience, presenting the best of both Eastern and Western traditions.

The Art and Science of Stick Fighting begins with the basics, upon which everything else relies.

• A stable stance
• Basic footwork
• An effective guard

Once the basics are in place, you learn the strategies and tactics of fighting with the stick at long, middle, and close range. By controlling the distance, you control the fight!

• Learn important guidelines for sparring, from light contact up to full-contact training.
• Learn how to construct your own padded weapons.
• Learn effective fighting tips that will rev up your game.

Also included are chapters on advanced techniques; combating short ranged weapons such as a knife to long range weapons like the staff. Even detailed techniques to use when your opponent is armed but you are not!

Whether you already study the stick or are just starting out, if you want to learn how to get an edge , The Art and Science of Stick Fighting is for you!

"The Japanese sword and Japanese swordsmanship involve a scheme that is deeply embedded in the Western world's mind. Therefore the sword has become a subject of great historical and cultural significance.

It is my belief that, if the chrysanthemum and the crane are two of Japan's cherished icons, the third has to be the katana or samurai sword. To the fighting machines of antiquity: the legions of Alexander the Great, Attila's hordes, the armies of Caesar, and Mohammed's faithful warriors, we must add another fighting machine of antiquity, the samurai of Japan, a martial caste born in the tenth century." —from the author's preface.

In this book, the author takes us on a tour of the Samurai code of Bushido. He talks of his encounters with the descendants of famous samurai' of the past. We are taken to ancient Japan to meet the most influential samurai through the memories of their descendants—as told to the author by members of those very samurai families!

We learn about the many rituals of the sword and discover how they were made, cared for and tested. The author instructs us on the use of the sword with over twenty traditional sword drawing techniques and sparring routines.

Discover what made the Samurai such lethal swordsmen. Learn the "one cut"

According to the World Taekwondo Federation, there are over 90,000,000 taekwondo practitioners worldwide. Every level 1 black belt student is required to learn Poomsae Koryo. Yet, few are familiar with the ancestral form known as the 'Original Koryo'.

Prearranged forms known as poomsae in taekwondo, are a primary method of transmitting martial arts skills from teacher to student. As sport preference supplanted fighting preference in taekwondo's reason for existence, the Original Koryo was modified in kind to today's well-known Koryo.

Written specifically for level 1 and level 2 black belt students, this book is a scholarly attempt to capture, transmit and preserve as an inheritance, the historical treasures and technical elements inherent in Original Koryo and Koryo, as well as the applications less obvious or even secretly encoded in these forms. This knowledge will benefit those seeking more than triumph in the ring or aerobic fulfillment from their taekwondo training.

In summary, students will find in this book:

• History and philosophy
• Technical elements for learning the basics
• Detailed instruction for learning Koryo
• Detailed instruction for learning Original Koryo

Over two hundred photographs, line of motion charts, stepping patterns, and martial applications are provided throughout this in-depth instructional book.

An in-depth look into the physics behind martial arts.

• Momentum is for knocking people over
• Energy is for breaking bones and causing pain
• A haymaker travels 3.14159 times farther than a jab
• You are only an “object” when you are rigid

Fight Like a Physicist blends inquiry, skepticism, and irreverent humor—all while punching holes in myth and mysticism. Highlights include

• Making physics your “unfair advantage,” in the ring and on the street
• Examining center of mass, pi, levers, wedges, angular momentum, and linear momentum for martial artists
• Reducing traumatic brain injury in contact sports
• Exposing the illusion of safety provided by gloves and helmets
• Overturning conventional wisdom on compliance during an assault
• Busting up Hollywood action clichés

Fight Like a Physicist reads like a manifesto on the rational practice of martial arts. It’s intelligent, fun, and dangerous—and nothing short of iconoclastic.

All too frequently, martial arts practitioners study their art without truly understanding where it comes from, how it was developed, and why it was created in the first place. Indeed, many don't care - and if you feel this way, you should put this book down. For the rest of us, who have taken our art beyond tournaments, it is reasonable to expect that we want to uncover the past. We want to understand the where, why and how of martial art development. We are intellectually curious about our combative history.

To study the combative arts is to understand the circumstances of their development and to gain insights into the views and ethics of the societies that created them. As we travel back in time, we see consistent evidence of martial systems being influenced by those that came before and/or invaded. We also see the use of 'pre-arranged' fighting patterns kata to transmit proven techniques from one generation to the next.

It is this transmission of martial knowledge, through kata and other forms of communication, that this book will explore. The author will demonstrate that pre-arranged fighting techniques katas were used by ancient Greek, Egyptian, Asian, African and European societies. And that Poetry, Dance, and Song were also significant methods of preserving and transmitting battle-tested fighting tactics through the ages.

The purpose of kata training is not to become bound by the form but to transcend the form itself - to evolve.

There is a truth in the world of hand-to-hand combat that too many martial artists aren’t aware of or refuse to believe. Every time you discover a sure technique, one that makes all your training partners groan and writhe in agony, there exists out there in the mean streets a host of people who won’t feel it. People like these:

• Attackers with large muscle bulk or large fat bulk
• Attackers intoxicated on alcohol
• Attackers under the influence of drugs
• Attackers out of control with rage
• Attackers who are mentally deranged
• Attackers who feel pain but like it

Loren W. Christensen draws on decades of martial arts training and law enforcement experience, giving you techniques to survive the worst-case scenario. This book isn’t about working out with a training partner. It’s about surviving a desperate street attack against a nightmare adversary who doesn’t acknowledge what you thought was your best shot.