Customer Reviews

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Nasty Fighting Techniques For Any Self-Defense Situation

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am the author of ATTACK PROOF and have been studying self defense for 49 years and have trained with many of the world's best teachers. This book DIRTY DOZEN by Larry Jordan is one that I will have my students read and pass on to their friends and loved ones. It is basic and practical. It does describe some types of criminal attacks but first and foremost it is nasty and if you don't have a long time to train this book can be very helpful. Yes it does not show you how to get out of a mounted position from a world class fighter but I don't see many of these top professionals attacking people for money or kicks in the street. As I said it is for basic understanding of how to fight dirty in a short time. You might try the U.S. Army combatives books both present and past if you have the time. I gave this book a five star rating for exactly what it was. A fine and nasty quick primer on street survival.

The book is excellent, practical and really dirty !

If you are learning a martial art, your objective is to preserve a
cultural institution. You are mastering the art form for the sake of
the form itself, and fighting competency (if you actually develop any)
is y byproduct of that process. If you are only interested in learning
self-defense, the artistic side of the fighting arts is not important
to you. How you look when you drive the your elbow into someone's face
does not matter, as long as you do it with enough power and speed
to get the job done - says the author.

The book starts with the author's autobiography - from the streets of
Sacramento to the Special Forces soldier.

Author then expalains the nature of the brutal violence under the
titles like murder, rape, roberry, kidnapping, carjacking, aggravated
assault and battery and terrorism. Then winning mindset and positive
attitude is being established.

After that the author introduces tools - natural body weapons,
vital targets and finnaly - the dirty dozen self protection
techniques and scenarios.

If you are serious about self protection - buy it.

With a little practice you will not miss.

The techniques presented in this book are simple and deadly. They are meant to be used when one is facing a life and death situation. Many involve holding on to your opponent's head while delivering a potentially fatal blow. Some of these techniques are suited only for attacking the eyes or throat. If I were going on to the battlefield, this book would be all I'd need; however, in the civilian world, there are things that this book does not address, such as awareness and avoidance, and legal considerations. However, it does address different crimes that the reader may come up against, and having the proper mental attitude to deliver these fatal techniques. I'd recomend getting this book as a suplement to a more awareness-based self defense program; these are great techniques, but knowing when to use them is critical.

I got this book several months ago and it could have saved me many years of looking for self-defense instruction that was worth anything. It is very simple, and in a real adrenaline situation, that is all you will have time for. Don't waste years learning 100's of throws and wrist-locks...they WILL GET YOU KILLED in today's world. There is a reason dogs and tigers go for the throat....

I have no interest in learning a martial art and wanted some easily learned steps to apply, should I get caught up in street crime (I am going to a country, for work, where street crime is high).

I knew a few of the tactics listed in the book (go for the eyes, groin, larynx or carotid artery / jugular). These were taught to me by an OTC instructor in college. This book is practical advice that can be learnt fairly quickly. The chapter on the winning mind is great.

The book is easy to follow, has enough illustrations, and gave me just what I wanted. Great book.

Larry Jordan has seen it all - life on the tough streets of L.A., barroom fights and combat as a Special Forces soldier. Simply put, he knows what works and what will get you out of a bad situation, whether it be a barroom "disagreement" or a brutal assault.

The "dirty dozen" encompass a series of very simple and sometimes potentially maiming/life ending techniques that anyone can use regardless of their size or age. They are not traditional martial arts, sport karate or even combat sports such as submission fighting (Ultimate Fighting Championship). They are economical,quick moves, that once executed properly, will end the fight. Many of these moves can be done from a seated or even prone position.

As a proficient boxer and black belt in Karate, I have been able to defend myself in a couple of barroom "situations." However, in a fight, I usually found myself using boxing combinations that while effective, rely heavily on speed and strength. Basically, I was trying to handle a self-defense situation with a sport or martial arts approach. Had I known these moves, I would have been able to end these situations much earlier and with much less effort. These are moves that I'll be able to execute the rest of my life!

If you are looking for self-defense/survival techniques that are brutally effective on the street - you've found the right book!

In a real-life defense situation, knowing a few basic techniques really well will prove much more valuable than knowing vast amounts of techniques marginally well. In other words...keep it simple stupid (KISS) philosophy. For example...no high kicks, thus eliminating the possibility of being knocked over/off balance. No fist punching (in boxing, even with gloves on, the majority of injuries are to the puncher's own fist.) For people who do not train in specialized manners to break down and toughen hand bones, its not practical to punch using boxing type punches to the head in a street fight....fingers break very very easily. Another common theme in this book is the concept of holding while hitting. The average person without much specialized training, will have trouble generating serious power from the ground (as highly trained boxers do by pushing off on their feet.) Also, many people will not put sufficient snap/recoil in their punches...which makes the power of you punch dissapate into something of a push, as your attacker rolls with ths punch. However, by holding and hitting, it is quite easy to double the power of a blow, even by somone with marginal experience. Any advanced martial artist can probably find some flaws with these techniques...(for example, straightening your arm while trying to push someone off you can result in an arm breaking armbar), however, for 99% of people in real life situations, these basic, nearly common sense techniques would put them at a serious advantage...and someone truly fluent in them, who has trained perhaps 30 min a day for a couple years on just these 12 moves, they'd probably outfight a very high percentage of physically equal black belt opponents. In summation. KISS.

This is a great book whether you are a serious martial artist or someone who simply wants to learn a handful of extremely effective self defense techniques. I am a practicing mixed martial artist with training in judo, wrestling and Kenpo Karate. My experience has been that formal training, particularly in the martial arts, can be too time consuming and cluttered with useless detail and information. After almost 6 years in one particular art I can tell you that the techniques presented in this book are right on the money in terms of simple, fast and effective as well as easy to learn, practice and execute.

The author clearly has the life experience to present this material. I read the book in short order and am already practicing the techniques with training partners.

If you're serious about defending yourself in a violent situation, this is more than worth the investment. The techniques are geared toward the reality of violence on the street rather than the perfect scenarios that are studied in a studio on a nice soft floor with padded partners.

And for those of you who are simply too busy with life, why would anyone want to learn 400 techniques when these 12 do a better job of covering all the bases and can be practiced to an extreme level of proficiency.

A little pricey for a 96 page book but worth every penny if you need to acquire fundamental self-defense skills quickly and do not have access to proper training. For years I've said you'll never learn any martial art solely from any book, yet this excellent work may be one of the few exceptions to that rule. It contains simple, straightforward, and easy to apply techniques that really work. They are well described and fully illustrated to help you understand what to do. Essential mental factors are covered as well. The scenarios are well thought out, covering many (but certainly nowhere near all) situations you may find yourself in. The target audience is primarily folks with little to no martial training. If you are an experienced martial artist you'll find nothing new. If you are not, however, the sections on vital targets and dirty dozen techniques are right on target and sound advice. It's a bit lacking when it comes to avoiding confrontations in the first place (e.g., awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, evasion, escape) and also falls short on dealing with weapons but there's only so much one can cover in a hundred pages so I did not mark down for that. I believe it encompasses what it set out to do thoroughly enough. Overall it is a well written, highly recommended book.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Blinded by the Night, among other titles

If I knew absolutely nothing about fighting and martial arts this would be the very first book I would buy. These are fundamental simple easy-to-use techniques. With sufficient training these techniques can be used under extreme duress and could certainly save your life. Many martial artists scoff at these techniques because they are so simple, but simple is good when you have to remember what to do while in a life-threatening situation. I've trained martial arts all my life (Greco- Roman wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), My father was US Army Special Forces in Vietnam for 7 years and my step-father is a Special Forces colonel and a TKD black belt currently serving in Iraq and we all would attest to the effectiveness of these techniques. (Generally I think it's a good idea to trust the advice of cops, soldiers, and those who've actually experienced life threatening close quarters combat, than those who've only played a sport or practiced in a dojo).
There is definitely much more to fighting than what is in this book, but this is an excellent place to start, and if you wanted a bare bones effective and versatile set of techniques, the Dirty Dozen is were it's at.