Customer Reviews

Ultimate Warrior Workouts (Training for Warriors): Fitness Secrets of the Martial Arts

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is probably deserving of a 5 star review but for me and what I was hoping for it lacks. I'll start with the positive stuff. As you probably know Mr Rooney spent two years travelling the world to what he considered the best martial arts gyms in the world could be and have been useful in a MMA context. You have know arguments from me here. He's definitely attended most of the gyms that I dream of attending. Kodokan, Fairtex Bangplee, University of Iowa just to name a few, giving the background on each. He has photos demonstrating the conditioning exercises used at these gyms by himself and by members of the gym. All good so far. He gives information on nutrition for a fighter and information on cardio training. He also refers back to his first book a lot which I don't have problem with considering what I paid for this book I would happily buy his first. I already use his dynamic work out from the first book which i got indirectly from my old muay thai coach (who happens to have a few world titles) and highly recommend it. And to top it off he gives you a six month program to follow to get you into peak condition for MMA. Excellent stuff. Also I like the quality of the book itself. Nice glossy pages.

Now for the bad stuff. I study sport exercise so my views are based on what I was hoping for in this book. Mr Rooney does not give how the exercises he has chosen are used by the respective gyms in the context of their programs. Say for example with the muay thai section he doesn't say when yodsanklai would use the chin up variations in his program i.e. If he has separate sessions for conditioning or he does them before or after pads, reps, what a sample template for training at the gym would be etc. Another gripe he doesn't break down the science of his program. I know for someone like him he shouldn't be giving everything away but this is what I'm interested in and its highly unlikely that I'm going to be able to get his Parisi Speed School gym to do an internship with him any time soon. I live in New Zealand and can only dream. And to be honest with a bit of research I'm sure it would be possible to work this out. Also highly doubt this book is targeted at the trainer as much as the fighter. Back to supertraining for me.

All these bad point aside this an excellent resource for those interested in the fitness aspect of MMA. A six month program from Mr Rooney is worth more than the price of this book, and the extra information on the various martial arts is a bonus.

I will say right off the bat that for $20 this book is worth every penny. I have bought numerous books for 2-3 times that amount that don't contain nearly the same amount of content as this book. Right off the bat I was thoroughly impressed by the appearance of this book as soon as I opened it. The photos are incredible. Each section contains exercises specific to each martial art. Each exercise has a photo of someone demonstrating proper form, and a full description of each exercise. The workouts inside the book are appealing because they don't require a lot of equipment and each chapter has a "Warrior Challenge" along with a ranking for each challenge so you can assess your fitness level. Being an avid MMA fan and active martial artist myself I am always looking for workouts that will challenge me, but are specific to my sport. I have 2 other books by this author and once again this book does not dissapoint. I also like the fact that the author isn't just another "fitness guru". He is an active martial artist who traveled the world and trained in some of the top fight centers for each martial art. The champions he has coached and trained over the past decade is proof that his methods work. I highly recommend this book!!

i picked this up for my husband since he's always looking for new workouts, and the martial arts angle seemed like it would add a different level of both physical and mental intensity. And of course i couldn't help but look through it myself! Understanding the philosophy of the arts was an added benefit to preparing for the workouts, which are . . . wow . . . challenging. The organization of the book makes it easy to follow each workout, and color pictures of each sequence of each exercise make this very user friendly.

Overall I thought this was a pretty good book with lots of great exercises from various martial arts. However, I was heavily disappointed that Martin did not travel to China or include any exercises from the chinese martial arts. While traveling in Asia for two years studying the "fitness secrets" of the masters, he some how bypassed the biggest country of them all. China has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to training methods for martial artists and is the birthplace of many of the other martial arts systems from around the world. You could easily write a multiple books based on the training and conditioning methods that are involved in the various systems of chinese martial arts which are thousands of years old.

I found out about Martin Rooney through a video a friend posted of him going through a variety of push-ups (100 total) with a 4-minute time-limit. Found the guy entertaining and found out about this book. My understanding was that he went to different places around the globe, trained in different martial arts and this book was a showcase of the types of exercises that are from each style. This book DEFINITELY has that with many different types of exercises and accompanying pictures. My issue is with the lack of depth in the information. For each style we're given a 2 page introduction to the art and then we get right into the exercises.

I expected a lot more from Rooney with his resume (Physical therapist), exercise physiologist) that I wanted more explanations for WHY these martial arts picked these exercises and why they were beneficial for these warriors.

Overall, this will make a great coffee table book, but as somebody who's been doing martial arts for some time, and who is interested in the physiology (the why) of an exercise, this just doesn't cut it.

Martin Rooney has done a magnificent job with this one. He skillfully describes each discipline he researched for the book (e.g., Judo, Boxing, Muay Thai, etc.), and shares the best practices of each when it comes to preparing athletes to compete.

I found an exercise I had never thought of every two or three pages, and I have been in the fitness industry for fifteen years.

This is a great resource for any trainer or coach seeking new ways to challenge his or her athletes or clients. For the layperson, it will be a source of training ideas for the rest of your life.

Buy it, seriously.

As far as physical preperation for combat sports goes Martin Rooney is the bar and he continues to raise further and further every single day. I dove head first into the book and the first thing I had to say I really liked was the locations he used to film the workouts. I've been the Gracie Barra and Gordo's academy in Rio and it brought some great memories of tough training and amazing techniques. The next thing I really enjoyed the nutrition section. Not to say the last book didn't have a great nutrition section. This book however filled in some of gaps of the last book. Personally I just changed the way I ate right away and ate what was on the menu but now I know why I'm eating the things I'm eating. Besides the obvious those were the best things to me

Ok, so I saw the book in the library and thumbed through it and was immediatly impressed by the pics and sections on each martial art.

The problem is there is no specific plan for each. Yes, he has a workout at the end which uses exercises from the whole book but if you dont want to add certain exercises or are training only in a specific area you are out of luck.

For example: If I am doing stand up training how many ab exercises does he recommend? I figured that somewhere in the book he would have say a Jiu Jitsu workout or a Muay Thai training regiment since he went to Thailand and took all those good pics. But alas he seems to be more interested in his total body workout regime which is fine but I wanted something more.
So I guess if you are a fighter arleady and looking for some different exercises this is a good pick up, but if you want some more guidance then I would definatly look at it at the book store before purchasing.

Rooney is the man!!! he knows what he is talking abuot, the workouts are challenging and overall his research is sound!!! he is not a typical guy that writes a book to make $$$ or just for the sake of writing, he is well known in the MMA world and this book is evidence of it!!! love it

WOW!!! This is a GREAT book and worth the cover price. If you're looking to add some functional variety to your exercise program or you truly want to make the leap into FUNCTIONAL FITNESS (i.e. NOT CrossFit), then this book is likely a perfect fit for you.