Customer Reviews

Street Karate: A Complete Course in Self-Defense

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I have studied many fighting systems, such as the martial arts, wrestling, and boxing. I've also spent quite a bit of time reading books that cover such subjects. Overall, I must say that this is the best self-defense book I have ever read. I've read other books, such as U.S. Marines Close-Quarters Combat Manual, Guge Gongji : 7 Primary Targets to Take Anyone Out of a Fight by Hei Long, and Dynamic Aikido. The problem with those books is that there are still too many useless techniques involved. John McSweeney's Street Karate gets to the point in terms of basic combat applications. He points out what part of the body is vulnerable to certain strikes. He also offer alternatives to his suggestions. Keep in mind that these techniques are all based on 35 actual cases of physical confrontations! If these people were able to defend themselves effectively with these techniques, then rest assure that you can too. In this book, you will not learn how to artistically execute a jump-spin-and-hook kick. You will not be taught to block a kick with a fancy and ineffective downward block. Nor will you be taught to stand in over-exaggerated stances, such as the white crane-stance or the cat-stance. Instead, Kempo Karate, the system that most of these techniques are based on, along with this book, teaches very simple and realistic combat strategies. What you will learn is what to do if, while you are walking home from work or school one day, somebody grabs you by the shirt and pulls you into an alley. The victim in one of McSweeney's case studies leopard-palm striked the attacker as he was pulling the victim towards him. The movement of the attacker's pull caused the victim's strike to become even more powerful than it might have been. What do you do when a man grabs you by the front of your shirt? A school bully accosted a boy in one of McSweeney's case studies in this manner. The victim's solution: he rapidly palm striked the aggressor on his forehead on the location right between the attacker's eyes. The result: The aggressor released the victim and was dazed by the victim's blows. As you can see, the techniques taught in this book are very simple to execute indeed. For artistic demonstrations of the martial arts you should buy any karate or kung-fu book you desire. However, for true self-defense applications, John McSweeney's Street Karate is the one to buy. Buy this book and see for yourself why Kempo Karate is so widely practiced. I also recommend The Best Defense : True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves With a Firearm, for those of you pragmatist (like myself) who like to blend practical martial arts with a formidable self-defense accompaniment.

Street Karate is a collection of case studies of actual self-defense situations. Each case describes the situation, then re-enacts the defense using photographs. Its value is in demonstrating how the techniques worked in real life. The general lesson: Keep it simple. Use hand techniques at vulnerable spots: temple, side of neck, under jaw, throat, solar plexus, etc. If you've ever asked, "What works?" this book will provide answers.

I like this book very much, primarily because it was based on actual studies of violent confrontations, and showed the techniques that were used effectively. However, the basic moves were not shown by themselves anywhere in the book, and I believe that someone with no formal training in a striking art might have some problems with that. However, for those who do have training, this book shows the applications of most familiar techniques in a real-life setting. Also, "Kamakaze Fighting," by Michael Vassolo, does show the basic techniques by themselves, and these two books complement each other well (the authors of these two books are apparently longtime associates, who use the same style). "Street Karate" is mostly a case-study book, and the lessons in it are valuable to any practitioner of Karate/Kenpo/TKD who wants to see how effective his techniques are on the street. Those with no martial arts experience can find value in it, but I'd recommend picking up "Kamakaze Fighting" if you're not familiar with karate-style strikes.

I like this book alot. It is different from other books on self defense/martial arts that I have read. It teaches you through real life cases. Where average people defended their selves against thugs, rapists and drunks. It teaches some simple karate strikes to vital parts of the body. At the end of the book it also teaches some excersises called Tiger Moves to strengthen the body. It is a little on the short side. But in this case believe me less is more.

John McSweeney is a master and an original thinker. I have personally trained with him, at seminars, and always found him to be an excellent instructor. This book explores real life, fairly common situations, and evaluates how the attack occurred and more importantly, how it was ended. As a bonus, Mr. McSweeney also includes his Tiger Moves in the appendix.

I have had the honor to have read and reviewed hundreds of books, most of them on some aspects of the martial arts. The old saying, "Good things often come in small packages" certainly applies to this very interesting and informative book. It is the unique way the information is put together that makes this 87 page manual so valuable. I have often wondered how many times the karate techniques I learned were actually used in real self-defense situations on the street. The thirty five incidents related in this book are all true examples of how various karate techniques were actually used for street self-defense. Unlike some books that attempt to explain an incident with the use of words alone, each case study includes photographs demonstrating the actual techniques used in the incident. Some of the self-defense scenarios include: Defense against a two-hand grab attack, round house punch defense, boxer's punch defense, purse grab defense, overhead club defense, head lock defense, choke defense and numerous other attack defenses using karate. The end of the book has the author's own Tiger Moves Exercise System that he recommends be done daily. In conclusion, this is a book for all martial artists and anyone else interested in practical karate self-defense techniques.

Rating: 5 stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Shotokan Karate Self-Defense Techniques: Practical Combat Karate for the street).

This is probally the only book other than his Battle Axe book, where that you can find real case studies on what strikes and techniques work under real attacks. He details the various blows that were used sucessfully: Leopard-palm blows,half fist,ax hands,eagle claws,eye attacks to name a few. He also tells where the stikes landed and whatthe skels reaction was. His system is one based on simplicity,power and 100% ATTITUDE. He also includes his famous Tiger movement exercises, which if practiced will build tremendous tendon and ligiment strength. Get whatever reading or video material you can on this man for he is without a doubt a true SOB that you can learn valuable info that is not available elsewhere.Where others talk theory he talks reality.I am not and have never studied Kempo but feel that this books should get the recognition that it deserves. You will not find any fancy,flashy ballet type moves. They more or less resemble the WW2 Combatives of the old school that were true and time tested,(Fairbairn,Applegate,O'Neil,Styers).So the next time some pseudo tough guy claims that those chops and leopard paw strike would never work, you'll know other wise and smile inside.Unfortunately you wont find any Dim Mak, Pressure points, or no touch chi knock outs.Just hardcore,bone crunching workable blows.
" To be kind to you ememy is to be crule to yourself "