Customer Reviews

Chinese Fast Wrestling for Fighting: The Art of San Shou Kuai Jiao Throws, Takedowns, & Ground-Fighting

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike most grappling arts, the philosophy of San Shou Kuai Jiao is to drop your opponent quickly without getting entangled and going to the ground yourself. You can use its throws to knock your attacker senseless and get cleanly away, all without breaking the fragile bones in your hands and feet with punches and kicks. This type of fighting is a good idea, but it is much easier read than done. This is evidenced by an informative section on groundfighting in the back of the book.

As good as this book is, its many excellent photos and descriptions can't teach people how to use its techniques effectively. Timing, speed and body feel are key to successful application against an unwilling opponent or attacker, especially in this type of wrestling. An ex high-school wrestler won't let you do this stuff to him unless you are very fast. Anyone who has a modicum of boxing or kicking skills will break your nose or worse as you attempt to grab them.

Having spent years sparring and wrestling in several different fighting arts, it's clear to me that only repititve practice with a qualified instructor can make fast wrestling fast enough to work. Unfortunately, unless you happen to live in LA or Columbus, Ohio, I have not been able to find qualified instructors of this art in the US. I wish there were more.

For people in the rest of the US, perhaps some of the techniques could be used to augment practice in other grappling arts such as judo, aikido or ju-jitsu. But you would have to find a very open-minded instructor. Good luck.

By far the most exhaustive guide to the art of Shuai Jiao (Aka Shuai Chiao) in English. Prior to this volume, there was only a single other work in English on this most practical of wrestling styles ("Fundamentals of Shuai Chiao" by Daniel Weng, who was a student of Chang Tung-sheng's). Authors Liang Shou-yu and Tai Ngo offer a thorough history, in-depth explanation of the theory behind this form of fighting, and important body-toughening exercises. Then they demonstrate a rather complete catalog of techniques from throws and locks to holding and locking on the ground. It will probably come as no surprise to seasoned martial artists who have had the opportunity to watch a Shuai Jiao match that the main differences between this art and others is the speed at which techniques are executed upon a subject (one of the reasons Shuai Jiao body training is sooo tough!).

Prior to this volume, the only exposure most of us (outside China and Taiwan) had to Shuai Jiao were a few scattered articles dealing with the great fighting master, Chang Tung-sheng, who maintained an incredible level of fitness even beyond his '70's! The one point which is neglected in this book is the importance of striking PRIOR to the execution of a Shuai Jiao technique (Chang Tung-sheng's theory). Of course, Author Liang Shou-yu is from Mainland China and not Taiwan, and may simply offer a path which deviates from Chang's known methods.

This book is a vast improvement over other Shuai Chiao books (mostly Chinese language), which limit themselves to a few illustrations. The editors and authors have teamed up to make sure the photographs convey correct direction and motion. A sequel dealing with either competitive Shuai Jiao or advanced applications (striking + locking & throwing) would be most welcome. What a pity this magnificent art isn't more widely known and taught outside of China.

These throws aren't the prettiest throws that you've seen, but they will most certainly get the job done. Unlike Judo, these throws aren't dependent on grabbing your opponents gi. Also, the throws very nasty in that they tie up your opponent so that he will have difficulty breaking his fall - perfect for combat.

Take it easy when practicing some of these throws and make sure that your partner knows how to slap out.

What a rare gem of a book! I have studied Jujutsu and Judo, and been a close-combat instructor in the U.S.M.C. I thought I'd seen everything, but this is truly unique. Theres always a new perspective. Its a compilation of some 75 techniques, generally throws and take-downs, in the unique and unconventional manner often found in Chinese martial-arts. This is real Wushu for close-combat! A common critisism that "chair-borne rangers" and "armchair commandos" make about various martial-arts books, is the usual nagging about a certain technique "not being practical against certain opponents". The fact is, any technique can be effective if you develop your skills, and use it in the right circumstance at the right time. A real martial-artist knows this. Its just common sense. You will find many effective techniques portrayed in this book, some techniques that conventional grapplers may not have considered.

This book contains a very good introduction and a _few_ wrestling techniques with lots of good pictures, but some of them apply only to very specific situations. If the author had included more general San Shou techniques, it would become a reference book. The bad part is the layout of the book: the pictures were placed one after the other, with no indication on where a series starts or finishes - some series starts at the middle of a page and ends at the middle of the next - requiring a lot of flipping and attention of the reader.

This small volume on San Shou Kuai Jiao is brimming with good information. It will especially enable kickers & punchers to ascend the next level in their fighting. The written content provides very lucid principles to understand the Chinese view of the well-trained fighter. The pictures are definitely some of the best I've seen in a martial arts book with clear and high-contrasting photographs marked with arrows to dilineate the intermediate principles of motion. The layout is logical starting with general principles, then progressing to stances, warm-ups and exercises, then followed by techniques (which are subdivided further by application methods ie. holding leg throws, leg hooking techniques, throwing techniques, etc.). This little known art is a formidable tool in any fighter's arsenal. For those of you who are looking for Hollywood techniques that look pretty---THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR YOU. All others will find this a very well thought out book that shows the strength of San Shou---getting the job done and getting the fight over with as fast as possible. I definitely would look forward to seeing more from this team of authors.

The throws are well done, especially the clear explanations with arrows and numbering (something lacking in most martial arts books). However, the entries are a little bit contrived and a student would have to have a little knowledge to see how they would REALLY work. The last chapter is about groundfighting and is quite useless for a beginner as it only shows finishing submission holds and gives no instruction on how to move on the ground or set up the holds.

I teach Yoshinkan Aikido and also have dan ranks in Judo and Jujutsu. When I look at other arts I usually look for things that will blend well with these arts and offer ideas that may help take them to another level. That is what first interested me in the Chinese forms of the throwing, grappling and joint locking arts. After reading books and watching videos on Chinna, I turned to this book for further knowledge and understanding. I found what I was looking for.

The book starts off by giving some historical background, which brings an important understanding of the origins and intent of the art. It then briefly discusses other styles of wrestling so that the reader can understand how this method differs from others. This is followed by a section on the general principles of San Shou Kuai Jiao. These are "the things that make it work" and what make the art what it is.

Many books are just pictures of techniques and are quite impossible to learn anything from. You can look at the pictures and see positions, but you can not see the science behind the art. This book gives the reader an introduction to the science, mentality and strategy that need to be learned and applied in order to make the techniques functional.

There is a section on "basic training" that shows warm up exercises and conditioning drills to help develop the physical skills that will also be needed to perform the techniques.

The last 5 chapters are the techniques. Each chapter addresses a different category of techniques and shows. The explanations are clear and there are "key points" covered after each description. The photos are sufficient to illustrate the techniques. There is also a chapter on "ground fighting" which is vitally important in today's martial art's world.

I generally advise trying to learn martial arts strictly from books and videos. There is only so much that can be accomplished through these media. But I think that this book accomplishes more than the typical "how to" martial arts book. From reading this book, I have a good understanding of the basics of this art and it's differences and similarities to mine. I am comfortable with trying to incorporate some of this material into my martial arts training and will keep this book handy to use as a reference over time.

I am a Western Martial Artist studying the art of Fiore. Our community is relatively young, and we cross train and look for good martial arts to observe and learn from. This is a fantastic book which made me think about my own art in a different way. I highly enjoyed the training with apparatus examples, and although the individual pictured is not some early 20s killer with 200 pounds of chiseled muscle and adrenaline, it looks like he has put in some serious time training, and knows his stuff.

Even though there is some warming up exercise not really correct from a physiological point of view, the book is very interesting. The main point is the explanation of throwing techniques very different from the ones coming from the Japanese tradition. Very fast, quite simple and very effective, really the highest result with the less effort. From a technical point of view I found that these techniques just throw the opponent away making the landing not controlled. For this reason I highly recommend to not to tray the techniques if you don't already have specific training. Good to buy but be careful on applying it.