CompleteMartialArts.com - Wrestling for Fighting: The Natural Way
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Manufacturer: Victory Belt Publishing
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 796 EAN: 9780977731534 ISBN: 0977731537 Label: Victory Belt Publishing Manufacturer: Victory Belt Publishing Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 216 Publication Date: 2007-06-15 Publisher: Victory Belt Publishing Release Date: 2007-08-15 Studio: Victory Belt Publishing
Randy "The Natural" Couture is the most respected and celebrated MMA combatant in the history of the UFC. A UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion, and a UFC Hall of Famer, Randy Couture's reputation and fighting style are among the best in the world.
Now, with Wrestling for Fighting: The Sport of Mixed Martial Arts, Couture presents the techniques and strategies that allowed him to devastate the world s best strikers and grapplers time and time again. His unique fighting system, a mix of martial arts, wrestling, boxing and jiu-jitsu, is broken down clearly and concisely for amateurs and seasoned veterans alike. Couture also includes important information on creating fight game plans, and a variety of training tips you won t find anywhere else.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: As the title suggests..... Comment: Randy Couture has been one of the poster boys for Mixed Martial Arts competition in recent years - and a good one at that. His words are well thought out, he's articulate, hard-working and talented. A lot is made of his age, as well. However, I don't think it means a great deal except to say he's an example of what hard work and good attitude can acheive.
Erich Krauss and Glen Cordoza do a great job of getting these qualities to shine through in this publication. The book's dedication speaks of work ethic and self-reliance, as well as the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and influences. One can only say that this is as much a recipe for success as any. It's worked in Couture's case, anyway.
The book is - like most Victory Belt publications - a large format book. It's 11" x 9" and has 214 pages. It's a glossy book on high quality paper. It's also generous with photos and the photos are detailed and clearly show the techniques presented. I was critical of a couple of Victory Belt's publications in the past for proof-reading. This one does a lot better. It is very unfortunate that one of the very few errors that slipped through happened to be in a very noticeable place. Nonetheless, the writing is excellent and gets better with each publication. I'd be a real jerk if I said it took away from the book.
As seems to be the Victory Belt template, the book opens with an introduction which spends twelve pages chronicling Randy's career. Erich and Glen are getting better at this every time. It's the best written of the Victory Belt intros by far and the one I enjoyed the most, as well. Take note, though, it may be that I simply enjoyed Couture's story more than the others.
The technical portion of the book is broken up into three parts. The first talks wrestling, the second focusses on Greco-Roman wrestling and the third on adapting the wrestling game for Mixed Martial Arts. Each part is broken up into six to seven chapters concentrating on different aspects of Randy's game. As far as the techniques go, this is clearly the game of Randy Couture. The book also shares a lot of information with his earlier video series from Century. That makes this a great adjunct to the series, as well.
The wrestling section starts with a comprehensive chapter discussing wrestling basics. This is followed by a look at four basic takedowns. This is followed (quite naturally) by a chapter on finishing the single leg. Clearly this is and area Randy considers key. Following this is a long section on tie-ups. Here, you really start to make the connection between the Randy you see in the cage and the one n the book. There are two defensive chapters in the wrestling section - Sprawling and Defending the Single Leg.
The section on Greco is shorter, with a two page introduction followed by a chapter on pummelling and then basic takedowns. I enjoyed this section a lot as I picked up several of details that (as a Jiu Jitsu guy) I didn't know before. There are then chapters on armdrags and on more advanced takedowns. All are effective techniques, well photographed and captioned.
The last part of the book is called "Wrestling for Fighting" and is obviously the crux of the book as far as the authors are concerned. It starts with an introduction (as for all the book's parts) and then jumps into the relationship between strikes (especially the overhand) and the double-leg takedown. There is then a chapter on closing the distance. Following this, come the chapters on the most famous parts of Randy's game - The clinch and cage tactics.
The clinch chapter concentrates on Couture's much hallowed "Dirty Boxing" technique while the chapter on cage tactics provides invaluable pearls on how to use the fence to your advantage. I'm not sure Randy has given up all his secrets here, but the book certainly describes much of what I've seen the man do in the cage.
From here, there are chapters on ground tactics and submissions. The tactics here are simple. There is a good deal of time devoted to "Ground 'n' Pound" and two basic choke submissions. Both should be a big help for wrestlers looking to make the change.
All-in-all, I think there's something in here for everyone. Wrestlers making the jump to MMA will obviously benefit the most as it shows precisely how the wrestler's game translates. People like myself, who don't have a strong wrestling background will be able to add elements to their game they had previously not been exposed to. And, I don't think there's out there who couldn't benefit from the clinch and cage tactics chapters.
The book brings the good points of all Victory Belt's previous publications together. It's shorter, more basic and easier to navigate than the already excellent 'Book of Knowledge' from BJ Penn and more articulate and mature than 'Mastering the Rubber Guard'. This one takes pride of place on my bookshelf and will join the Best of the Best category on this site. Customer Rating: Summary: Wrestling Basics From The Best! Comment: I loved this book because it covers all the basics of freestyle,greco-roman,and mma wrestling.The basics from each individual styles that combine to make up mma is all you really need to compete.Randy charges $700.00,hr to teach private lesson and you get a couple of months worth of that for only $35.00! Customer Rating: Summary: Highly recommended! Comment: Wrestling for Fighting is an essential addition to anyone's MMA library.
The other reviews have already done a good job of describing the contents of this book but in brief:
The first section of the book covers basic wrestling.
The second section is Greco wrestling (upper body wrestling/throws).
The thrid section covers wrestling techniques used in MMA.
This is a very high quality book (as are all the books co-authored by Krauss and Cordoza). It is full of photos showing the techniques from mutliple angles. The written instruction is thorough and easy to understand.
Some things to keep in mind. As the title hints, this is a book about wrestling. What you're getting is a top notch instructional on all aspects of wrestling by one of the greatest wrestling based MMA fighters of all time. Do not buy it expecting to learn submissions (other than a few basic "wrestling" subs) or standup striking (though there is plenty of ground n' pound instruction). This of course does not detract from the book in any way. There are already excellent books that cover striking and submissions. And since wrestling is an important, if not arguably the most important aspect of MMA (deciding where the fight takes place), it deserves its own volume. Customer Rating: Summary: GREAT BOOK! Comment: This is a super book and I've really enjoyed it! It's full of some great tips & tons of awesome instructional photos. If you love Randy Couture & are a big fan of his fighting style this book will be most helpful to you. It has helped me out tremendously and has improved my ground game by leaps & bounds! Randy Couture is such a hero to so many people - HE ROCKS! BUY THIS BOOK TODAY!!!!!!!!!!! I HIGHLY recommend it! Customer Rating: Summary: Three angled photography is excellent Comment: This book is awesome. The background on Randy is great and I found the fact he didn't start college until after being in the Army very fascinating. The best part about the book is the color photographs. It looks like they had 3 cameras all synced to the same "switch" so when one button was pushed all three cameras took a picture simultaneously from front, back and side positions.
This is very helpful in letting you see all angles of each move. While the book is called wrestling for fighting the majority of the book can be applied to folk style high school and collegiate wrestling. There is only one small section at the end which covers MMA specific technique. I highly recommend this for either wrestlers or coaches or anyone getting into mma from boxing or karate diciplines.
