Customer Reviews

Martial Mechanics: Maximum Results with Minimum Effort in the Practice of the Martial Arts

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a long time martial artist and physicist I can offer two reviews of this book.

The martial arts suggestions in the book are sound and practical. There are a few particulars of the execution of certain techniques that I take exception to, but that is more from a stylistic difference than anything else. The martial fundamentals are solid and one could learn these from any qualified instructor who has put the effort into studying their particular discipline.

The physics presented in the book however are inconsistent, and, in many cases, wrong. In the beginning, when Sifu Starr lays the groundwork for the physics he wishes to present, he confuses weight, mass, and force. He also mixes up the use of energy and momentum. While this doesn't take away from the fundamentals that he presents later it does produce a convoluted and incorrect analysis of the actual mechanics involved in executing techniques.

He also doesn't adequately define what the term "shock" refers to, and his definition changes throughout the book sometimes referring to force, pressure, momentum, or power. Each of which are separate physical quantities.

The physics mistakes that he makes are very elementary and could have been picked up by most of my high school physics students. The book needed a better technical editor to catch these errors.

Overall the book has solid basics and acts as a good outline of what to look for when executing techniques, but don't let a book substitute for qualified instruction.

For years, martial artist have needed a source of information that shed some light on the practical use of body mechanics.

This is not that source.

It wouldn't take much to convince me that, if followed to the letter, the methods presented here would be more biomechanically efficient than other methods out there. However, that doesn't make them practical. The fundamental flaw with this book is that it has taken the common-sense saying, "Train how you fight", and has inverted it to, "Fight how you train". In Mr. Starr's world, a high-and-tight boxing-style guard somehow leaves you more vulnerable to punches than having your fists at your waist, and kicks are meant to be blocked by dropping your hands. Most of my training lately has been centered around JKD, boxing, and MMA training, but for the sake of argument I abandoned those systems for a few weeks and after some experimentation, tried to fight in the perscribed manner Mr. Starr presented. I experimented with both match-sparring situations and common street attacks. The bottom line is that trying to use the "Martial Mechanics" method, by rote, to defend yourself will get you punched in the face. A lot. The stance is everything it shouldn't be for a practical fight. The chin is up, the hands are down, and the weight is on the heels. I get the impression that there is no sparring at Mr. Starr's school, and I can't imagine a system like this being developed by anyone who's had practical fighting experience.

To add to the maddening impracticallity of it all, the tone is somewhat condecending. Mr. Starr treats the reader as if they were the dunce student in class. He also lectures about boxing without having any real knowledge of it, grappling is eschewed as something that will get your "cute little tush" looked at, and MMA, while not refered to by name, is implicitly referred to as "professional wrestling on amphetamines".

That does not mean this is a throw-away text. Mr. Starr offers useful advice on kicking, punching, stance, and body movement. This may be the most complete collection of universal "good ideas" that I've seen. The problem, and the reason he only gets three stars, is that for every good piece of advice, there's at least one bad piece of advice. I will leave it up to the reader to discern the difference.

I would only recommend this book to someone who spars or does reality-based drills on a regular basis. If you have enough practical experience to look at this book and pick up the good without the bad, it can be very helpful in subtly improving your techniques. It's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water. But under no circumstances would I advise anyone to follow the letter of this text when it comes to practical self-defense. I've already done some of that work for you. All it cost me were a few bruises. If you try using it in a hostile environment, it will cost you much more.

A practitioner with more than 50 continuous years of martial arts training, Sifu Starr is the founder of Yiliquan kung-fu, an art that seamlessly merges China's three classical internal systems. He has trained not only in the Chinese arts of baixingquan, taijiquan, xingyiquan, and baguazhang, but also in Japanese judo and karate, and Filipino arnis. And, he's a member of Inside Kung-Fu magazine's prestigious Hall of Fame.

Clearly Sifu Starr has the knowledge, skills, and ability to articulate this important information very effectively. His book, Martial Mechanics, is a very well-written, interesting, and informative tome, one that I believe is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to hit faster and more powerfully. Contents include principles of power, impact, speed, force, shock, stance, footwork, body rotation, body shift, breathing, spinal alignment, consolidation, overcoming inertia, combinations, density, and a whole lot more. Both hard (external) and soft (internal) dimensions are covered. The supplemental drills, such as learning how to use a candle, balloon, forging post, and heavy bag to augment your training, are a nice bonus as well.

Starr's writing is absolutely stellar, highly articulate yet pithy and unpretentious. There are no fancy foreign words to memorize or pointless pontificating to wade through. In fact, the tone is fantastic, with subtle and not-so-subtle humor throughout. The photos and illustrations are very clear, augmenting the text effectively. The book really is that good. In fact my only complaint is that there is no index to help me refer back to important topics quickly and easily. Consequently my copy is already crammed full of sticky notes, dog-eared, scribbled-on, and filled with highlighting.

Martial Mechanics really is a must read for any serious martial artist, particularly those who study predominantly striking arts such as kung fu, karate, taekwondo, muay Thai, or kickboxing.

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

I am afraid this book will not get the exposure it deserves because it is not flashy and does not promise quick fixes or ancient "secrets".

For a serious students of traditional martial arts, it is an important addition to your library, and should be refered to often. This information is important for beginners and long time practitioners.

If spinning heel kicks or tounament sparring are your thing, this book is probably not for you. If you want to survive an unprovked attack, study this book (and put in plenty of floor time at the dojo too!)

Martial Mechanics is a good introduction to martial arts basics, a good reminder of what's important for those who have trained awhile, and is good material to supplement the syllabus of teachers of the MAs. Sprinkled liberally with anecdotes and humor, the book is easy to read and contains many excellent photographs to illustrate the points being made. While written from an internal martial artist's slant, I found it easy enough to substitute my external training/practice and keep going (for example, when the idea of reverse breathing is mentioned). The material on posture and alignment equaling power, relaxation adding to speed, and how force is generated, are especially bright spots in the book. I would recommend this book to all practicing or aspiring martial artists.

Martial Mechanics is an innocuous title for an immensley powerful book! I am a student of the martial arts for 23 years and fortunately a practitioner of YiLi Chuan in the 1980's. Even though I am no longer officially affiliated, I was a student of a wonderful instructor of YiliChuan, a senior student of Master Phillip Starr. What Sifu Starr has done is to deliver a timeless, authentic, and ultimately practical skill set, and useful guides to put your martial art, whatever system that may be, as fundamentals are universal to any good art worth it's salt, in alignment with the soundest of martial principles. This stuff is GOLD! If you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced practitioner, this book is literally a treasure, a workbook, and a glimpse into what real martial arts look like, and when putting the principles into practice, what they feel like on the giving and receiving ends. These fundamentals I was privy to when I was just getting my "martial feet" wet so-to-speak, and those that have these skills intact, in my expereince are few and far between in West Texas certainly, and in many other locales too. I highly and exuberantly recommend this tome of martial transformation, as I am recommending this book to both students and friends alike. "When one goes to the well of knowledge, drink deeply or drink not at all." Drink Deeply my brethren! Drink deeply and get this book. I await the advanced volume with an expectant heart. Thank You Sifu Starr.

Clear, easy to understand, direct, and peppered with little stories Martial Mechanics: Maximum Results with Minimum Effort in the Practice of the Martial Arts, is a difference maker.

Open this book and soon other students in the school will be wondering what you are doing, what is making you so much better, so much stronger than them. You will smile and just refer to your highlighted, dog eared, and food stained copy of Sifu Starr's Martial Mechanics.

....yeah, it's that good.

Kris Wilder
Author; The Way of Sanchin
Co-Author; The Way of Kata

This book really gets down to the nuts and bolts of how our bodies move, and how to apply those movements to martial arts. It doesn't matter what style you train in, this book will apply to you.

It's easy to read and down to earth, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to improve their martial arts skills.

If you are at all familiar with any of my reviews, you will know that I try to be as informative and as detailed as possible in order to help inform others about the contents of the books or DVD's that I am reviewing and that they may be interested in purchasing. With this in mind, a lot of my reviews tend to be a bit lengthy in an attempt to do just that.

However, there are some of my reviews, like this one, which tend to be rather short and to the point because trying to explain just how worthwhile and beneficial a particular books or DVD is seems rather pointless and a waste of time. This is definitely the case with this book!

"Principles and Concepts" are the focal point of this book and the author does an outstanding job explaining both to the reader in a very easy to understand and thoroughly engrossing way. There are very few books out there whose appeal is so broad based that they would be of benefit to anyone practicing any style of martial art anywhere in the world, and this book happens to fall into that category.

I highly recommend that you purchase this book and study it in-depth and you will be amazed at the insight and improvement that you will see in your own martial arts ability.

Here are three other books that I also highly recommend that you purchase and study in-depth.

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence

Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Creator of numerous books and DVD's.

This book provides a very accessible, no-nonsense introduction to the body mechanics of internal (and external) martial arts. What's more, it manages to do this in a way that is not really specific to any system. For these reasons it's a very useful resource.

I didn't give it 5 stars because I found some of the explanations to be a bit dodgy. In some cases the physics seemed a little fuzzy, and in one or two cases the anatomical explanation wasn't convincing to me. This is a relatively minor quibble because, from a purely practical perspective, believing the right thing for the wrong reason is more helpful than believing the wrong thing for the right reason.

Read it, think carefully about the content, and improve.