8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very useful, December 12, 2000
This review is from: Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings, And Other Things To Avoid When A Fight Goes To The Ground (Paperback)
Fighting on the Floor is a very difficult thing. Everyone who does a martial art covering that topic knows that. But when a "real" fight goes to the ground, everything's much more difficult. So in this book, MacYoung describes ways to keep the damage on your side as low as possible, and getting the damage on the opponent's side as high as possible. And like all the other books from this author, it's the neat little tricks that make this topic interesting.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fighting on the ground, June 27, 2004
This review is from: Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings, And Other Things To Avoid When A Fight Goes To The Ground (Paperback)
As the name of the book implies, this book concentrates on fighting on the ground. The book starts with basics, where the author explains how to fall safely and without injury. Then the book handles techniques on how to break free from a grip, how to take your opponent with you when falling, how to defend yourself when on the ground, how to wrestle effectively, and finally how to get up from the ground.
The book covers some good principles on fighting. There are also numerous little tricks and techniques of ground fighting. Most of the techniques seem very simple, therefore easy to learn. What I especially liked was that the author does not just teach the techniques, but he also explains the physics and principles that make the technique work. That makes it easier to understand the techniques. There are some photographs and line drawings, to clarify the explanations. Sadly, there are some techniques without any pictures, making it somewhat harder to grasp what the author is saying.
Although the author does a good job on explaining the techniques, it is clearly visible how difficult it is to teach a physical skill with written text and a few pictures. That is the major shortcoming with all books like this, and not this book alone. With more pictures, this shortcoming could have been somewhat evaded.
Clearly, some readers are offended by the somewhat harsh language and sense of humour Animal is using, but they didn't bother me. I found the little stories Animal uses to illustrate a point somewhat amusing, but I can relate to readers who are put off by them.
To sum it up, I would say that to fully benefit from this book, you should have some previous experience on martial arts and/of wrestling, and a training partner with whom to experiment the techniques. As it is very hard to reach a physical skill without being able to present the action with moving picture, the techniques and some of the principles presented may be a little hard to understand by just reading the book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book on the realities of fighting on the ground, not in the ring!, March 19, 2007
This review is from: Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings, And Other Things To Avoid When A Fight Goes To The Ground (Paperback)
Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it's definitely worth owning. One such book is Marc "Animal" Mac Young's, "Floor Fighting."
As you may well know from my previous reviews of Marc's books, one of the things that I absolutely love about his style of writing is his no-holds barred direct approach to getting his point across. There is never any sugarcoating or politically correct terminology is his books. He simply tells it like it is, whether you like it or not.
Once again, Marc gives you a no-holds barred look at the reality of fighting and surviving on the street. This book focuses on the subject of fighting on the ground, which as most of us know, is where the vast majority of fights end up. As with all of his books, Marc really gives you an in-depth look at the principles behind the techniques that he explains in his books. This is one of the true tests of a quality martial arts or self-defense book.
The Basics:
In this section, Marc goes over with you the four laws of surviving a trip or fall to the ground. He also goes over the techniques for rolling backward, forward, to the side, and over your shoulder. As always, the principles behind these techniques are gone over in great detail.
Breaking Grips:
This section not only shows you the techniques for breaking someone's grip on you, but also the four things that are likely to happen if you don't break their grip. One unique item I found very practical was that if you aren't able to break free from someone's grip, punch out of it. This is very practical and useful information. Marc also includes a brief section on how to deal with advanced grips.
Spoiling the Dance:
If you do end up falling down to the ground, this section supplies you with the principles and techniques that you can use to increase your chances of landing on top of your opponent, rather than on the bottom. Marc also shows you how to increase the damage to your opponent by using your elbows and knees on him when you fall. Also included in this section are techniques on how to roll with the impact of falling, gaining and keeping your distance from your opponent until you are able to get back to your feet, and how to deal with someone who knows how to throw you.
Floor work:
This section covers several areas such as;
1. Offensive and Defensive Ranges.
2. What happens when you hit the floor.
3. Countering, deflect the attack rather than blocking it.
4. Best floor fighting position.
5. Triangle Defense.
6. How to defend against the stomping kick.
7. Offensive Ground Techniques.
Wrasslin':
In this section Marc goes over some of the things to do and not to do when rolling around on the ground with your opponent. This includes generally speaking not punching your opponent, except for the use of hooks and uppercuts. Although you can make good use of the ground mauling techniques that Marc goes over in this section.
Keeping Your Man Down on the Ground:
Marc makes a very valid point here in the fact that once you have your opponent on the ground, make sure he stays down until after you have safely left the area or until you have ascertained that he is no longer a threat. Marc also takes a look at the very real possibility that you are the one who ends up on the ground. If this happens, he explains how not to get up from the ground and why. As well as, how to get up safely with minimal chance of getting hurt while doing so.
As with all of Marc's books and this one is no exception, it is loaded with tons of very good practical information that would be a definite asset to anyone wanting to improve their self-defense skills.
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