Ultimate Kick (Unique Literary Books of the World) [Paperback]

Bill Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Series: Unique Literary Books of the World | Publication Date: January 1987

Bill Wallace (Author) Ultimate Kick (Unique Literary Books of the World) [Paperback] 136 pages Publisher: Unique Publications; First Edition edition (January 1987) Language: English ISBN-10: 0865680884

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Unique Publications; First Edition edition (January 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865680884
• ISBN-13: 978-0865680883
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing - this book will not make you a better fighter, December 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultimate Kick (Unique Literary Books of the World) (Paperback)

The single most usefull concept is to start all your kicks the same way not to telegraph your moves. Beyond that, it all just pictures that display Wallace incredible ability to raise his knee and do lots of kicks without ever lowering it again. (You can also get those from old Black Belt Magazines).
The text refers to Wallace in third person and most likely was writen by someone else. It also repets itself all over the book.

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile read, but not for the reason you think, November 1, 2008

By 

Joseph C. McDaniel (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Kick (Unique Literary Books of the World) (Paperback)

Bill Wallace was a middleweight with only one useful leg. He competed in full contact karate (just writing this review will make my karate purist friends turn their noses up at me) and won a LOT.

The book is useful and the author is remarkable.

Some people succeed against absurd odds, because they think a lot and they don't give up. And that sort of success leaves clues, and reading about those people, and the approach they used, is inspiring and useful.

That said, I don't like high kicks. I think that generally, for self defense, they expose the groin to attack and they unbalance the kicker.

That means that I shouldn't use high kicks.

On the other hand, because Wallace had a defective leg, he always faced his opponent left side forward. So he got in twice as many repetitions as his buddies, because he COULDN'T practice his techniques on his right side.

He has also said that he only had a few techniques. So he practiced those until he was good at them, and then fought everybody he could find to find out how he could combine his limited skill set to win. And he did win.

He put his opponent into an unpleasant decision tree, because Wallace always used the same small set of techniques. And he always fought from the same stance. And he always forced his opponent to guess whether he was going to kick low, high, or middle, or backfist/jab or straight punch.

And as Wallace has said, he didn't know which one he'd use, either!

This book, of course, won't teach you to fight.

It does admirably demonstrate a particular body of choices that may be useful to you as a tournament fighter.

It is not going to teach you self defense, because it's not a self defense book. It won't teach you the syllabus of classical karate (for that, get the Best Karate series by Sensei Nakayama).

But it's inspiring to see somebody who didn't take himself seriously do well and explain how he did it. When Wallace teaches, he never pretends he was unbeatable, or that he created the world's best system, or that he did anything but try to use what he could to get a good result.

But he's a bright guy, and when you see how he used his favorite (they had to be his favorite techniques-they were all he could do!) techniques to build a very effective sparring approach, maybe you can do the same.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Near as Good as "Dynamic Kicking" or his videos, May 18, 2007

By 

K.H. - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ultimate Kick (Unique Literary Books of the World) (Paperback)

I am a huge Wallace fan. As a kid starting out in the martial arts in the mid-late 70s, I found Wallace's kicking methods to fit "me." While I'm right legged, I followed his fights, read every article in Martial Arts magazines I could get on him, and finally had the pleasure to meet him in 92 and some of my students got to meet him in 93 at Urquidez' retirement bout. I say this to show that I give this book three stars more out of regret, but it does not measure up to his "Dynamic Kicking" in detail of information or in photo quality (a big drawback in this text).

I have had this book for years and just recently revisited it and decided to review it. The book, however, does show how to use the Wallace kicks for competition and particularly point fighting; but, many of the techniques can be adapted for full contact as well. Wallace is a great personality and a hero of mine growing up. He is truly a Martial Arts Icon; but, I suggests if one really wants to go through the Wallace method for kicking and competition tips, buy his dvd/video series instead, where his personality and technical detail is more present and quite catchy.