138 of 138 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best book on basic martial arts on the market, May 16, 2008
This review is from: The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior's Way (Hardcover)
This is, in short, the best book on the basics of martial arts I have ever come across. It is inspirational, well set up and the routines will work wonders for anyone, if they follow through with the books premise, which is to work with it every single day for 28 days. Continue with the program after the 28 days and the book may change your whole life.
Surprisingly, it seems quite a few people are giving this book very negative reviews - claiming that the excercises within are too basic and too simple ... that you can learn them in any martial arts class. I very much disagree with this.
I have over fifteen years of experience in the martial arts, and have taught several styles at various dojos throughout Scandinavia, Scotland, Japan and the US. During my career, I have trained with some of Japan's elite MMA fighters, British and European karate champions, fought and defeated grappling champions and have had the priviledge of studying under some of the most learned figures in martial arts today.
This of course does not mean I am automatically right about whatever I say on this topic - all it means is I have some experience to draw on and have been down a lot of roads that were dead ends. And it is from experience that I believe this is a very, very useful book.
This book teaches the reader basics and basics only. Some may find this annoying, but I cannot stress enough just how important those basics are and how well they must be perfected for a student to advance. One of the books winning points is how well this book stresses the beauty and grace of basics, instead of just treating them as some sort of initiation ritual that must be completed before the student can move on to the `real stuff'. I have seen so-called beginners, who trained their basics and basics only solidly and with utter dedication, absolutely floor much higher ranking students in contests, higher ranking students who just learnt the basics and then immediately moved on to all that stuff most of us find so cool: flashy forms, complex moves and the like.
Flashy forms are icing on the cake, nothing more, nothing less. If you want to move like a character out of a martial arts flick - do the basics slowly, properly and with utter dedication, and you will be moving in ways you never believed possible. If you can perfect the moves in this book, learning a form - any form - will be a snap for you, because you have already learnt every aspect of the body's mechanics ... and that is in essence what forms really are: a reshuffling of body mechanics you ought already know. Train with real dedication and this book will make you a more lethal martial artist than 90% of the enthusiasts I have ever met.
It is not easy and it takes a lot of work, but nothing worth having comes without a price.
So, after all the praise, why only four stars and not five? Because the stretches and moves, while wonderful, are in my opinion taught without regard to safety and may likely lead to injury if not performed with care. The author thrusts an attitude of reckless abandon on the reader, which is the only right attitude to have when learning something new, but regardless of this, safety ought always be a factor - especially for beginners, who through no fault of their own do not yet have proper knowledge of safety and the body's limits. If you are injured, you can't train and may even make the very natural mistake of thinking something worthwhile is actually not for you.
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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much Appreciated, June 8, 2006
This review is from: The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior's Way (Hardcover)
Amituofo,
For years I've self studied Yoga and Chan Quan (Kung Fu) from various books and dvd's, so I'm not the authority on either subject. To have a Sifu such as Shi Yan Ming is but a dream to someone like me. Where I'm from you're lucky if you can even find a gym to exercise in. I can't thank Shi Yan Ming and everyone else who worked on this book enough. Receiving even the smallest amount of training on Kung Fu and Chan Buddism for me is a gift of a life time. However, I don't consider the knowledge gained from this book to be small. If you seriously put this book into action and master all the sessions, its my opinion that you will not only transform your body and soul, but gain speed, power, and focus that you lacked before. I haven't made it all the way through, but the moves that look easy are hard and the moves that look hard are very hard. And I'm no slouch. I would say to anyone who is thinking of buying this book to not only read it and try a few stretches, but put it into action and master it before judging it. Shi Yan Ming is in his early fortys and has studied Shaolin Kung Fu every day since he was five. If you take advice about Kung Fu from knowone else, take it from Shi Yan Ming. Not only is he a Master of Shaolin Kung Fu, but a Master of himself...
Amituofo,
John Talley
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent , practical quotes., June 13, 2006
This review is from: The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior's Way (Hardcover)
Other than the book being filled by the author's pics, I think the book is still of value to anyone who wants to experience something different.I really liked the stretching exercises, which are a shift from the western method of stretching.In particular there was a hamstring stretch that had you stretch these muscles from a different angle.This is very admirable, in the sense that I clearly saw how these exercises would promote stability and strength.
The stretches are 3 dimensional in character-I couldn't help but to love them to death!
He has some motivational words peppered throughout the book, and they got my attention:
-You can't break bricks with just your mind, or just your hand.
-Confidence is the key to success.
-Paradise is inside you.
These words have a life, and they complimented my biblical studies.You don't have to be an aetheist, budhist or follower of any particular faith to find this book valuable.
Last but not least the Kung Fu moves really help in relaxation, I felt like some webs had been removed from my mind.
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