Customer Reviews

Taekwondo Grappling Techniques: Hone Your Competitive Edge for Mixed Martial Arts

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Kemerly and Snyder have put together a great book that examines how basic strikes, kicks, blocks, and movement sets from the Chang-Hon forms can be used in grappling based situations. The large full-color pictures and verbose descriptions make it easy for student and instructor alike to understand and practice the skills presented. The book is similar in vein with Staurt Anslow's "Chang Hon Taekwon-Do Hae Sul" and Simon John O'neill's "The Taegeuk Cipher" in that it covers self defense applications of the forms, in this case, the aforementioned Chang-Hon patterns taught in ITF based schools. The book also includes a DVD that shows videos of some of the content in the book. The DVD is short, but well done (not excellent, but still very good), with good lighting, clean technique, and easy to hear and understand explanations of what is being shown. The book itself is worth the money, and having the DVD with it is a great bonus, like finding a $20 bill in your coat pocket out of the blue.
Now, I will say that a few of the skills/applications shown in the book are, in my opinion, a bit of a stretch or there are better ways to pull off some of what they are showing, but only a few. There is nothing wrong with what they show per say, only perhaps a better way to perform them, but then again, this is why different styles exist and nothing says that you cannot perform things your way.
I will include some of my qualifications to review the book and make the judgments that I have, though I welcome different view points. I hold a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do (Chang Hon based) and a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do. Additionally I have 12 years of experience in high school/collegiate style wrestling, hold Kyu Rank in Japanese Jujutsu and Yoshinkan Aikido, and have done a little bit of cross training in Hapkido, Brazilian Jiujitsu, and Judo, to name a few. I own and operate a martial arts school on the east coast of the United States. I have a Bachelor's degree, am pursuing a Master's Degree (having nothing to do with martial arts, but I have been involved in upper academic work).
In conclusion, while I could hope at times for a little more content (plenty there, but I always enjoy more), it was well worth the money for the few new ways of looking at some of the forms & basics and to see some of what I have been teaching validated by others. Beginners and more experienced Tae Kwon Do practitioners can find something new, whether it be a move, or just a new way of looking at what they have been practicing for years. Even those from other striking styles can pick up some new skills based on similarities between Tae Kwon Do and other striking styles. Hope this has been helpful to you and I firmly encourage martial artists to pick up this book.

I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised to see this book in our local big chain bookstore earlier today. So much so in fact that I actually read through the vast majority of the book while still in the store.

One of the first things to really strike me about the authors and this book, was the blatant honesty that they used when describing their martial art of Tae Kwon Do and the various myths and outright lies that exist concerning this Korean martial art. Their honest reminded me of another very honest and informative book on Tae Kwon Do entitled; A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do, which is also a book that I highly recommend that every Tae Kwon Do practitioner should read.

The basic premise of this book is the authors detailed analysis of the various different striking and blocking techniques in Tae Kwon Do and there patterns that can actually be used as grappling or joint techniques when you understand there true motives. In other words, just because it looks like a block or a strike doesn't necessarily mean that it can not also be used as something else, like say an armbar, wrist lock, etc.

Some of the techniques they demonstrate in this book I have seen before and a lot of them have some merit, although not every technique. There were a few that I really questioned the validity and practicality of, while others seemed fairly sensible.

All of the techniques are shown in very clear and fairly detailed color photographs, although I must admit that I would have liked to have seen a bit more detailed text describing each technique. However, if you are already familiar with the techniques shown, then the text provided should be adequate enough for you to understand what the authors are trying to explain to you.

Shawn Kovacich
Creator of numerous books and DVD's.

I do not practice mixed martial arts, so I can't really attest to how well someone will hone their "competitive edge for mixed martial arts" but I found the book useful nonetheless for my studies of taekwon-do. I bought the book to get a better understanding of common taekwon-do techniques as well as how they may be used in self defense. Also, I bought this book to gain a deeper understanding of applications for taekwon-do patterns. I am glad that "Taekwondo Grappling Techniques" is now in my library.

The authors begin with a short introductory chapter that is worth a read. The section "How to Use This Book" challenges you think about the composition of each patterns such as "why a palm strike rather than a fist attack?" and "why all the different chambering for hand techniques?" The authors continue with a chapter on blocking techniques and a chapter on strikes and kicks, covering nearly three dozen individual techniques. As with any good martial arts instructor, the authors then built upon these individual techniques by using them in combinations. This is done by examining sequences of techniques in each of the first twelve ITF patterns (Chon-ji through Ge-Baek). For example, how can you use the high punch, double knifehand block, high punch combination found in Dan Gun to execute a choking technique or how perform a takedown using the hook blocks and reverse punch in Yul-Gok. Seeing how these familiar patterns may be used for locks, breaks, takedowns, and throws gives you a whole new perspective.

The DVD is good supplement to the book. It contains the videos of about a dozen basic techniques as well as a technique from each of the twelve patterns. My only suggestion is that they illustrate more of the book in the DVD.

High quality book, great color photos, easy to follow. The DVD alone was worth the purchase price.