Customer Reviews

Ultimate Dim-Mak: How To Fight A Grappler And Win

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is very good...in my opinion. I only have 3 stars because I'm very picky in order for my review to be taken seriously. It's not the BEST book out there, but it definitely is not a bad one either. It shows some common basics such as punching with REAL and TREMENDOUS power...a skill often overlooked by many stand up fighters, because if they could hit harder, then all they would have to do is hit a grappler once. "When in doubt go for the neck" is one of my favorite quotes from this book. It tells of how to really take an attacker out, which is why this is such a good book. It is also very specific about how to do each technique in the book...which is good if you know nothing about this art. I train in the Japanese form of this Dim Mak, called Kyusho-Jitsu, and I have tremendous respect for the Chinese form after reading this book.

I am actually a tremendous fan of Erle Montaigue's other books, so I was very disappointed upon reading this one. Though he claims to have a background in amature and professional wrestling, he demonstrates no knowledge of even the fundamentals of grappling in this text. He even calls the sleeper hold (which to him includes the rear-naked choke, the guillotine choke, the cross-collar choke and pretty much any other choke) "new" and "exotic", despite the fact that they have existed in formal Eastern and Western fighting systems since Medieval times, and also claims that a grappler would like to be underneath Side Control position. His "grapplers" that he demonstrate on also clearly have no knowledge of grappling: they stand far too upright in general, bend at the waist instead of the knees when going for a takedown, and throw out the most ridiculous feints. I also find it laughable that he advises one not to grapple with a grappler, then proceeds to demonstrate just that. Incidentally his demonstrations of "sleeper" holds are also laughable. He gets it right when he focuses on the carotid arteries, but his actual applications are quite loose and inefficient. There's also an awful lot of text devoted to the supposed differences between NHB contests and street situations. Experience and observation has led me to believe that this difference is minimal; nobody actually pokes out their opponent's eye in a bar fight, they throw some punches, clinch, and possibly end up on the ground, not unlike an NHB match. He also claims that there were no strikers in these early events who actually knew how to strike, which simply isn't true, as you had kickboxers and boxer such as Maurice Smith, Art Jimmerson, Bas Rutten, Kevin Rosier and so on in them. It looks to me like Montaigue saw some highlight clips of Royce Gracie and suddenly decided that he knew how to beat him without actually training with any grapplers.

The book also contains things such as the small san-sau drills, explaination of how certain points work, the beneficial principle of aiming for the neck, and an interview that is interspersed throughout the text. Though these are decent additions to the book, they are a bit redundant with his other books, and don't really have anything to do with defeating a grappler. He also makes the claim that most karate and kung fu classes aren't taught in a way that prepares people for real fights; this at least I can agree with him on.

If you want to defend yourself against grappling techniques, go take a grappling class. There's really no substitute, certainly not with this book. My primary background is the striking arts, but I'm smart enough to realize that grapplers have the best defense against grapplers. Mr. Montaigue's other books are very good, and it's a shame that this one is barely useful when it comes to striking, and actually harmful when it comes to defense against grappling. I'm telling you from experience that if you try most of this stuff against a skilled grappler you'll end up on the ground.

This book is great, and I just cant overstate that enough! This book has really good training techniques that can easily be learned from unlike many other books! how to develop your "eagle vision" improve accuracy etc. also shows 5 sleeper holds that will leave them lying! definately a good companion to add to any library. like many of mr. montaigue's books this book would be a great training guide whether a novice or advanced martial artist this book would be most benificial! know how to deal with a grappler by understanding his game and defeating him with your own by beating him before he can get you to the ground! or if he is lucky enough to have gotten you there learn dim-mak points that are easily managed from the ground by merely pinching! does not show you subnission holds, or grappling possitions. but rather how to avoid the ground in the first place. sounds to good to be true, or like someone thinking "im to good to be taken to the ground!" i know submissoins, and how to grapple. i know a little dim-mak, but i also know that if you study this book, then you will never be at a loss against a good grappler agian. A MUST READ!!

Contrary to the publisher's statement, the Ultimate fighting Championships are *NOT* "no-holds barred". Practioners of San Soo and Dim Mak are restricted or entirely banned. Just ask UFC for a participant rules list. Practioners of these systems are taught to protect themselves at any cost. An attacker may try to punch your lights out and catch your eye with the tip of his/her index finger and blind you for life. He/she may slam your head against the pavement and give you brain damage or kill you. You just can't asume the attacker's character! If you get grappled in the real world, Dim Mak may be your best defense against serious injury or death. This book, and others by Montaigue, will help you get the grappler the heck off you.

Every book is a good book, but don't buy this one expecting to learn how to defend yourself from a grapler's attack. The book lacks essential details, that make all the damn difference. You can see him doing it but he gives you no real clue how it is done. You can learn much more on a single judo, wrestling or gracie jiu jitsu class. In fact, that's THE best way to learn how to deal with a grappler. Do not fool yourself.

The fourth book in Mr. Montaigue's Dim Mak series; this book provides advanced martial arts advice for ground fighting techniques. Contents include specific examples of Dim Mak strikes, which could be used in a close-quarter combat situations.

Warning- Anyone who tries any of the moves showed in this book against a person with real wrestling (not the fake stuff like WWE), Jiu-Jitsu or even judo experience, will get their butts fed to them. Being a Wrestling/Boxing/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu MMA fighter, I read the book to see if there was any new fighting styles competing with BJJ and found nothing but the teachings of a Professional (meaning that fake WWE stuff) wrestler. Watch UFC, Pride or any other real fight MMA based event and you will see the techniques illustrated in this book will not help you in a real fight with a trained grappler. The only way to become a proficient fighter is to train several fighting styles consistently. No single book is going to make you whoop up on a talented grappler especially one written by a WWE actor.

All the negative reviews of this book apear to be written by grapplers. People who have spent years of their life learning to wrestle an opponent to the ground and either brake an arm or choke them out. It's understandable that they would'nt think highly of a book that shows the weakness of their style(for example grappling is only good against one opponent any two untrained bumkins can take out a grappler, one can wrestle with him on the ground and the other can stick a knife in his ribs). DIM-MAK IS AN EXCELENT WEAPON against any style. This book just happens to show you how its used against grapplers.

I don't how anyone could come to the conclusion that this book even begins to fit its title. Out of the 365 figures showing the various "techniques to fight a grappler and win" only about 10 of them are even on the ground! The rest are mostly somebody standing up at arms distance apart! If anyone thinking of buying this book thinks that you will learn attacks on fingers, face, ect... from being on the ground, think again, this book is worthless as soon as the fighting turns to ... grappling. Save your money and buy something more informative from positions other than facing your opponent directly 3 feet apart.

How can one deny thousands of years of combat fighting knowledge such as this. A world (the battle field or street) were there is absolutely no rules. Unlike NHB or UFC smooth-ring fighting where the rules (no neck strikes, no gouging, no finger hooks and the unwritten rule of no groin strikes) are made to give grappling the advantage. Dim-Mak is clearly superior and Erle Montaigue does a good job of showing it.