Have you got any books on Martial Arts/Calisthenics that you would reccomend?

[MattofSilat]

I'm interested in any style, as I have no idea what style I want to pursue at the moment. Since we have so little styles available where I live and can access, and that they are all purely self defense/purely sport, I am very open to almost any style, even if travel is necessary.

I know that body mechanics and techniques are difficult to learn from a book, but I'm hoping that if I asked my Sensei, he would allow me to practice using them. I hope. Or at least tell me what he thinks I should do. Here's my current list, bear in mind that some of them are very low on the priority list (That Street Defense Techniques one and the Muscle Mass one. I believe that training for muscle mass gives less strength gains than training for strength, and strength is what I want at the moment).

There may also be some speculation over the books which state that they increase speed/power, but I'm not planning to buy them all at once, so further research will be done as and when I buy the books.

-------> WISH LIST <---------

My current books for Calisthenics (All my strength based and endurance based training) : Complete Calisthenics, Convict Conditioning, Convict Conditioning 2 (I use them together to form my routine)

My Martial Arts books are: The Martial Apprentice, Solo Training: A Martial Artist's Guide to Solo Training

I'm also very interested to see what you think is the best book for Flexibility training. There's so many with good reviews, I don't know which to choose, and I think they'd all be pretty comprehensive so I wouldn't really want to mix&match.

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EDIT: Just remembered, people seem to be criticizing calisthenics a lot in my previous threads mentioning them, so I'll respond in this part so I don't have to respond later on.

Can you get down and do 1 set of 15 perfect One-Arm Push-Ups? Take two seconds to go down, pause at the bottom for one second, then take another two seconds to go up.
Can you perform the Planche for 5 seconds?
Can you perform the Stand-To-Stand Bridge?
Can you perform a set of 10 muscle-ups?
Can you perform one set of 10 Pistol squats?
Can you perform 1 set of 6 one-arm pull ups?

If you can't do all of the above, then you cannot critisice calisthenics.

 

[Chris Parker]

Matt, a word of advice&#8230; you can't dictate who you want to hear from, who can or cannot criticise anything, who is or is not able to offer opinion or comment, or anything else. I wouldn't bring it up, but this has been in at least one other post of yours (where you asked about a particular anime character, then replied to your own post dictating who was able to join the conversation&#8230; it was no wonder no-one jumped on.

With regards to recommendations, I don't have any in terms of callisthenics&#8230; the way you're using it isn't quite the way I'm familiar with the concept for one thing&#8230; I'm more familiar with a competitive form that some girls I've known have been involved with&#8230;

As far as martial arts, it really would help to know what you're looking for&#8230; the scope is wide, and the options many.

 

[qianfeng]

well if you want to learn learn from a book learn something simple.
I remember my sifu left to go do stuff in china for a couple of years i had nothing to do so i tried this. When he came back he said most of the stuff that i did not have a base in sucked very badly. The stuff i had a base in (my style at the time was (baji) i tried to learn some other stuff from different lineages and he said it didnt suck as much. On the other hand i tried to learn some jiao men (Hui/chinese muslim) long fist like cha quan he said it sucked very badly but the tan tui I taught myself was alright since it is really simple at least the first couple roads.

Tan Tui is probably the easiest for you to learn by your self.

 

[Transk53]

I know that body mechanics and techniques are difficult to learn from a book.

I'm also very interested to see what you think is the best book for Flexibility training. There's so many with good reviews, I don't know which to choose, and I think they'd all be pretty comprehensive so I wouldn't really want to mix&match.

With this thought, I tried a book on Yoga, but then found a DVD and book combo. Interactive IMHO is way better than just the book route. Doubt many instructors will allow you to alter the flow of the lesson practicing technique derived from elsewhere.

 

[elder999]

Farmer Burns' Course....

 

[dancingalone]

Warrior Cardio: The Revolutionary Metabolic Training System for Burning Fat, Building Muscle, and Getting Fit: Martin Rooney: 9780062074287: Amazon.com: Books

You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises: Mark Lauren, Joshua Clark: 9780345528582: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Bill Mattocks]

No book necessary. Get a jump rope. Use it. Do crunches, pushups, and stretches.

It's like books on dieting. The best diet is to eat less and exercise more. But no one wants to hear that, they want to believe in secrets and shortcuts.

Books on martial arts calisthenics? No. Do calisthenics. That is all.

If you're really not feeling self-motivated, my recommendation is US Marine Corps boot camp. Worked for me.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Can you get down and do 1 set of 15 perfect One-Arm Push-Ups? Take two seconds to go down, pause at the bottom for one second, then take another two seconds to go up.
Can you perform the Planche for 5 seconds?
Can you perform the Stand-To-Stand Bridge?
Can you perform a set of 10 muscle-ups?
Can you perform one set of 10 Pistol squats?
Can you perform 1 set of 6 one-arm pull ups?

I can do a power pyramid for a 1-17-1 count.

How's that?

As far as books, I don't remember the website but there used to be a site that had all of the old strongman books as free downloads. It was Eugene Sandow & the Golden Age of Iron Men IIRC. More body weight exercises than you could master in a lifetime. See if you can find something on that.

 

[elder999]

EDIT: Just remembered, people seem to be criticizing calisthenics a lot in my previous threads mentioning them, so I'll respond in this part so I don't have to respond later on.

Can you get down and do 1 set of 15 perfect One-Arm Push-Ups? Take two seconds to go down, pause at the bottom for one second, then take another two seconds to go up.
Can you perform the Planche for 5 seconds?
Can you perform the Stand-To-Stand Bridge?
Can you perform a set of 10 muscle-ups?
Can you perform one set of 10 Pistol squats?
Can you perform 1 set of 6 one-arm pull ups?

If you can't do all of the above, then you cannot critisice calisthenics.

I'd be the last one to criticize calisthenics-I've done them every day, twice a day for pretty much all of my life.

As it is, though, this a pretty arrogant statement on your part, and somewhat pointless....a lot of people here know that one of the people I count as one of my teachers-though I only knew Mr. Greenstein for a short time-was a former vaudeville strongman, and a remarkable one at that.So, I have to say:

Can you twist a standard iron horseshoe?
Bend 3/8" rebar?
Blow up a hot water bottle? (DO NOT TRY THIS)
Free climb a 1500 ft. monolithic rock face?
Run continuously for 20 hours? With 9000 ft. of altitude change?
Break standard handcuffs when cuffed?
Punch through a stack of 6 standard cement pavers?
Slap and break three pavers stood on end?
Crush an unopened beer can until it bursts?
Slice the neck off a beer bottle (or wine bottle) with a knife-hand strike?

because, if you can't do any of those things, then you cannot talk about functional strength, and if you can't do the last four, you cannot talk about it in relation to martial arts.

See what I did there? :lfao:

(And, yes, I can do and have done all of those things, some as little as two weeks ago-though if that occasion is any indication, they're all going to do nothing but get harder for me..)
Those metrics that you've posted are good goals, but they're only a means to an end-not the end in and of themselves. I mean, I do hundreds of push ups a day, but if it doesn't really relate to actually doing anything-it just keeps my muscles in good shape so that I can use them to actually do something. That pistol squat? If it doesn't translate to being able to kick like a mule, then it doesn't mean anything. Likewise, a variety of those exercises, like the pistol squat, simply cannot be done by some people because of their mechanical frame-doesn't say anything about how strong they are, or flexible, or what kind of shape they're in. The metrics that I posted, especially the last four? Some would argue that they don't mean much, martial arts wise-some might even argue, correctly that they're counterproductive for the arts that they practice.

If I've criticized anything, though, it's not the calisthenics, or even the books, but the perceived need for them-that link I posted for the Farmer Burns course? That's martial physical fitness gold-and it's free. Not too long ago, Matt Furey was charging people $25 for it-and they were buying it, when it was free all along. Look around-there's plenty of videos on youtube of good functional strength routines, and plenty of data on various webpages. Like Bill said-get a jump rope, or get a military manual (most of them are available free on line as well).

 

[EMT]

Sure. I like "Solitary Fitness" and "Tools of Titans". I wrote about them in this post