Boxing: The American Martial Art, a 12 Week Course (Paperback)

~ Robert M. Onello (Author) "Stretching can benefit anything you do by reducing tension and making you limber; it increases coordination by giving you flexibility with added range of motion..." (more)
Key Phrases: focus pads, incoming punch, right uppercut, Punch Thrown Punch, Pull Jab, Defense Counterpunch (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Whether you want to box for fitness or competition, Boxing: The American Martial Art is an excellent guide to getting started. Professional boxing coach and trainer R. Michael Onello has created a 12-week, step-by-step boxing course that can be followed at home or in the gym.

Begin with the thorough boxing conditioning program designed to tone and strengthen your entire body, with a special emphasis on the abs, chest and arm muscles. From Lesson One, you'll learn stance and movement, defensive tactics and a simple method of wrapping your hands to protect them during training. As you work through the twice-weekly lessons, you'll learn the jab, straight right, uppercut and hook, then practice them alone and in combinations to increase your punching speed, accuracy and power.

The step-by-step lesson format guides you through the same drills used by professional boxing trainers and includes specifics like the number of reps, the type of equipment to practice on, strategic advice and key points to pay attention to as you progress. Once you've got the basics down, get together with a sparring partner to work on the offense-defense drills, counterpunching and putting your new skills to work in sparring practice.

The lessons wrap up with advice on creating a rotating 12-week training schedule by introducing more advanced training concepts and variations on the workouts. Also included is a chapter for trainers and coaches, including sample program handouts and training advice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Turtle Press; 1 edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880336820
• ISBN-13: 978-1880336823
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #754,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Straightforward & simple approach that produces real skills, October 18, 2006

By	James J. Theberge (San Franciso, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book works. It lays down a solid foundation. The exercises and practice drills continually produce and reinforce positions that the practitioner will appreciate later on. Its subtle but it will become quite apparent IF one does exactly as the book says. A good place to start.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very poorly organized, overly basic, January 20, 2008

By	Benjamin R. Greene (Bakersfield, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Don't be fooled by the title of this book. It is not a twelve week boxing course. It is an unintelligible hodgepodge of various boxing training techniques and descriptions of basic punches thrown together in an utterly disorganized fashion. There is no "program" at all in this book. No one could learn anything useful about boxing from this. It just describes the punches and a few simple boxing workout routines in a disjointed and very cursory way. The "routines", as such, are so elementary as to be useless. Just telling the reader to practice a jab, for instance, does not make a "program". I have to believe it was self-published, because no editor would let this pass muster. It reads like a series of unconnected chapters, with one describing a jab, another a hook, etc.
I guess if you were from Mars and had never seen a boxing match or had seen a boxing gym, you would learn a little, but that's pretty much all it would be good for. They actually show you a photo of a heavy bag, in case you have no earthly idea what it is. A complete waste of fifteen bucks. It makes me wonder if the other positive reviews are legitimate.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best how to box book available, February 14, 2006

By	JayWhite - See all my reviews

The American Martial Art is the most comprehensive boxing book now available. It covers all the basic punches,and defenses. However, I enjoyed the sugggested workouts covering the heavy bag work,shadow boxxing and counterpunching. No other book I have seen covers counterpunching in any detail.This book offers several counterpunch workouts. Anyone one who puts in the time and effort and completes the 12 week course offered in The American Martial Art, will become a much better boxer. I highly recommend it.