Complete Kickboxing: The Fighter's Ultimate Guide to Techniques, Concepts, and Strategy for Sparring and Competition [Paperback]

Martina Sprague (Author), Keith Livingston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

In the most comprehensive book on kickboxing ever written, Martina Sprague and Keith Livingston teach you exactly what it takes to survive and win in the kickboxing ring. Whether you want to become a professional kickboxer or just train like one, this is an invaluable reference. Begin with the basics of movement, stance, punching, kicking and defensive fundamentals. Each skill is taught scientifically: learn good mechanics, drill with specific goals in mind and then apply your skills in sparring. Once you have established solid fundamentals, the authors introduce advanced skills like knee and elbow strikes, unorthodox punches, jump kicks and sweeps. As you build your arsenal, Keith and Martina share the kind of information that only two veterans of the ring can. Learn strategies for short and long range fighting, controlling the fight, outsmarting your opponent, working the angles and gaining superiority. If your goal is competition, Complete Kickboxing can ensure you don't miss a step along the way. Learn how to mentally and physically prepare for a fight, which equipment to train on, what goes on in the locker room before a match and how the business end of the fight game works. With nearly 500 pages of instruction and over 1000 photographs, "Complete Kickboxing" is the most comprehensive reference available on the exciting sport of Kickboxing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Turtle Press; 1 edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880336847
• ISBN-13: 978-1880336847
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Boxing

More About the Author

Martina Sprague is a military historian and martial artist. Her most recent book, Swedish Volunteers in the Russo-Finnish Winter War, 1939-40, is a history of combat and neutrality politics at the start of World War II. Her next book, Lessons in the Art of War: Martial Strategies for the Successful Fighter, compares Asian and Western martial arts with a focus on the theories of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz. This book will be released by Tuttle Publishing in 2011. For more information about this exciting new study, please visit Martina's Web site: www.modernfighter.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, November 3, 2004

By 

Loren w Christensen (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Kickboxing: The Fighter's Ultimate Guide to Techniques, Concepts, and Strategy for Sparring and Competition (Paperback)

Martina Sprague's and Keith Livingston's Complete Boxing is correctly titled. First of all there are 480 pages with over 1000 photos! And the Table of Contents takes up six pages with double columns on each page. This puppy is huge but it costs only $29.95. Even if you disagreed with some of the material - not that fighters are strongly opinionated - you're still getting more than your money's worth. It's that loaded and that good.

As the title says, the book is about kickboxing, that is, full-contact fighting. Not point fighting where eight times out of 10 the technique wouldn't have had an effect. In kickboxing, the players are really hitting and trying to defeat the other fighter by hurting him so badly that he can't continue, or by knocking him out. So you're not getting foo-foo techniques here; the material in this book is designed to hurt.

The authors have been there and done that. Combining their vast experience, they have produced a tremendous book - a huge book -that will keep you reading, learning, and stealing techniques for a long time.

As a guy who has written 18 books on the martial arts and has been punching and kicking for 40 years, I highly recommend Complete Kickboxing.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Every Penny, March 15, 2006

By 

Benjamin Thompson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Kickboxing: The Fighter's Ultimate Guide to Techniques, Concepts, and Strategy for Sparring and Competition (Paperback)

As said before me this book lives up to its title. It is very complete, the author talks extensivly not only on every aspect of kickboxing I've ever heard of, but also of many I haven't. The book is easy to understand and the author has a unique style of writing and organization that keeps you interested. This is one of the best martial art books I've ever owned.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-rounded compilation of facts, January 4, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Kickboxing: The Fighter's Ultimate Guide to Techniques, Concepts, and Strategy for Sparring and Competition (Paperback)

The collaborative work of martial arts experts Martina Sprague (kickboxing, modern freestyle, Kenpo karate) and Keith Livingston (kickboxing, Tae Kwon-Do, Kenpo Karate, boxing, Aikido, Ju-Jitsu, and former I.K.A. light heavyweight Rock Mountain champion), Complete Kickboxing is a "martial arts student friendly" instructional guide and reference for kickboxing techniques, concepts, sparring exercises and competition strategies. Beginning with the fundamentals of movement, stance, punching and kicking, and progressing to instructions on more advanced jump kicks and sweeps, strategies for short and long range fighting, outsmarting one's opponent, and the business mechanics of competition in the professional ring, Complete Kickboxing is an indispensible resource for novice and career kickboxers alike. A well-rounded compilation of facts, advice, and insight efficiently organized for improving one's skill and strengthening weaknesses.