Customer Reviews

Ultimate Fitness

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4 star:		(1)
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Wow - I've never seen so many different martial arts conditioning exercises in one place. Tons of clear pictures make the exercises easy to figure out and each exercise describes how it applies to martial arts so you can figure out what ones you should be doing. Other background info about power, flexibilty, etc, is well organized without any useless fluff - to the point and easy to apply to martial arts. Great book for any style.

This book has strategies and exercises geared toward improving power, speed, perception, balance, agility, coordination, timing, endurance, accuracy, flexibility and mental strength. Also included are sections on nutrition, injury prevention and sample workouts that mix a variety of exercises from the categories previously listed. This book outlines a very direct and organized approach to the fitness aspect of martial arts training without any fluff or stylistic interpretations. Read it and immediately you will have an arsenal of good exercises for your fitness routine, at home or in a class. Highly recommended.

I practice Taekwondo, but no matter your martial art, this book is so detailed and helpful. Some exercises would be great in the Dojang, but you can do nearly all of them on you own. I believe even if you arent even a martial artist this book will whip you into excellent shape and you will have fun along the way.

Part of my daily routine. I also own his newer book on flexibility. This author has laid out a good comprehensive plan for everyone at every level, not just us who practice martial arts. Although this book was written quite a few years ago, its basic theory is still good-to-go today and it remains fresh.

I got this book about a month ago and it has been a big help for training at home. Its packed with a lot of information and is written really well...
I really like that it has sample workouts in the back that give you an idea of what you should do for each area you are trying to work on and how much to do...

I'd recommend this book to every martial artist

"Ultimate Fitness Through Martial Arts" by Sang H. Kim, Ph.D., is a great reference for any martial artist's bookshelf. Reading it, I found myself agreeing with things Kim wrote, and then incorporating other drills into my classes. It's always good to bring in new drills and make training varied, and this book provides a lot of different exercises and drills to incorporate into any martial art training, regardless of style.

I liked that Kim explained the benefits of the drills as well as how to perform them. I feel as an instructor, it is important to explain why you are having students perform certain things, and what benefit they will receive from doing what you tell them. Writing a book is no different, it's not enough to say do this, but one needs to explain why. Kim did a good job of this.

The book has a short introduction regarding the quest for ultimate physical condition, and what fitness really is. Short and simple explanation and then a brief word on how to use the book.

From there, the book is divided into chapters that each focus on one element of fitness. These include: Power, Speed, Perception, Coordination, Balance, Agility, Flexibility, Endurance, Accuracy, Timing, Mental Strength, Nutrition, Injury Prevention, and a few sample workouts at the end.

Obviously, some of these topics can be explored in much greater depth than Kim had room to cover in this single volume. In fact, Kim, himself, has other books that go into much greater detail on some of these topics, such as his large book on Flexibility. There are also books available that just focus on speed, or power, or timing, and so on. But what Kim did well here was provide in one book, all these different components of fitness, how they related to martial arts, and how you can train for them. Certainly, you may wish to purchase resources on these components of fitness to further your study and expand your training, but to have all the elements addressed in one simple volume is nice to have for a quick reference.

Each chapter begins with an explanation of the attribute the chapter focuses on, and how it applies to martial arts and how you can improve. The the chapter provides various training exercises. There ar simple explanations along with photographs to teach these to those unfamiliar with them. Kim also includes pages that have charts to track your progress. These are pretty basic and you can copy them from the book, or design your own. The important part is that it can be greatly beneficial to chart your progress and achieve goals you set for yourself. Seeing improvement is motivating, and shows that your hard work is paying off.

It's a pretty quick book to read, and it touches on the various components of fitness you should be training for as a martial artist. There are enough exercises to include with your training to keep it varied, and it just might motivate you to do further research on these topics. A very good addition to any martial artists library.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the Hapkido Cane DVD set.