It should be pointed out that choke holds weren't legal in catch wrestling during that time period (quoted from plate 172, lesson 10).
Depends on the agreed upon rules. Evan "Strangler" Lewis (and subsequently Ed "Strangler" Lewis) were overlapping, if not quite contemporaries (the first earlier, the second later) of Burns.
Striking was also not allowed
Usually true, yes.
It should also be pointed out that nowhere in the manuals is a sprawl mentioned or listed as a form of defense. It's pretty much the standard defense for takedown attempts and counters in freestyle or collegiate wrestling.
True. Though the sprawl wasn't nessasarily unknown. While taking a seminar with WMA instructor and professional fight choreographer Brad Waller I noted medieval illustrations of the shot, the sprawl, and the srawl with an underhook and head-control illustrated in Kampfringen manuals (Durer, I think). Maybe it wasn't used. Maybe it was "forgotten" until recently. Maybe it was considered too elementary to include. Who knows?
Those same manuals also show body slams popular in pro wrestling today which I have yet to see performed in a fight,
You occasionally see slams in MMA and Judo.
a double wrist throw that involves pulling both of your opponents hands through their own legs then somersaulting them forward from behind (I woudl love to see someone attempt this, much less pull it off),
Yeah. That one definitely makes me curious alright.
my personal favorite (plate 140), the "leg bar lock" where he is inside a body scissors position (known today as the guard), where the drives one shoulder down so he can pass a leg underneath his opponents leg and apply a leg lock using only his arms. A student of modern judo would see that farmer burns has put himself into a sankaku jime, or Triangle choke.
Yeah. The funny thing is that it's not as if Judo and JJ were uknown. Though not yet as popular as Wrestling, the
were available. Burns himself calls it "tricky Japanese wrestling" in one of his advertising fliers and contemporaries such as Hackenschmidt recommend cross-training in the style.
It has been suggested by some that some of what Burns is doing is actually deliberate misinformation to throw off the competition for the guys he's training.
The health portion also cautions you about drinking water as more than a glass or two of ice water is bad and "will do much damage"
The specific reference is to ice water, not to water in general. This was standard advice all the way up through, well... it's still standard. You can easily find advice to drink only room temperature (or even warm) tap water and never/seldom ice water because it'll give you cramps.
That specific reference aside, Burns' health section has a lot of good stuff but also a lot of it that we now consider questionable or outright wrong (such as his advice on bathing, for instance or his advice on a mechanical vibrator machine).
The neat thing about wrestling and boxing is that they continue to evolve over the years through competition. Things that don't work get dropped or modified until they do work. Maybe those leg dives worked in traveling carnivals 100 years ago against people with no wrestling training, or looked good in worked matches. Maybe the sprawl was developed as a response to those. They won't work against anybody with any type of grappling training today, and would have a high failure rate against non trained people as well.
Who knows? It's all speculation and educated guesswork today.
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
Old catch wrestling manuals and boxing manuals are neat historical references, and do contain some wonderful wrestling techniques. However, they also contain a lot of pro wrestling bunk that only worked during wrestling exhibitions for the crowds.[/quote]
