Product Description

Sure, you know how to punch and kick, but how well can you fight at shorter range? Can you defend yourself when the fight turns to grappling? When both you and your opponent are rolling around and wrestling on the barroom floor, are you confident that you can win the fight? If you doubt your chances at close quarters, then you are not prepared for the reality of streetfighting. That's because, as Ned Beaumont points out here, in the real world, fights frequently begin with or turn into bouts of wrestling, and the antagonist with the greater expertise in wrestling is most often the victor. The truly tough customer is the person who thoroughly conditions himself, diligently studies and practices wrestling holds and techniques, and then makes full use of them in rough-and-tumble situations. Learn to prevail in the street by reading this book!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #895453 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

From Booklist
Wrestling means different things to different people. There is professional wrestling, which most TV viewers have run across, at least, and then there is freestyle wrestling, along with its cousin Greco-Roman wrestling, an actual Olympic sport. Beaumont is concerned with applying freestyle to tussling, brawling, and street fighting, and he offers straightforward, results-oriented instruction in physically subduing an adversary. With emphasis on conditioning and nicely illustrated explanations of basic moves (single and double leg shots, throws, chicken wings, and fireman's carries), Beaumont explores real techniques, while sections on "chokes and strangles," pile drivers, and pain holds go beyond the Olympic model to the aggressive tactics motivated readers presumably seek. This is serious instruction for serious folks. Worth noting is cover art, here as for several other Loompanics books, by Spain Rodriguez, a giant among underground comics artists for creating Trashman, Agent of the Sixth International, and also an erstwhile East Coast biker. Mike Tribby

Customer Reviews

Ned Beaumont is not the author's real name
Ned Beaumont is a great author, however, I thought you may all like to know that he is a Latin scholar and teaches high school latin at Nardin Academy in Buffalo, NY. I was his student and he is an excellent teacher...except that he is not a real boxer, so a lot of his writing may be made up.
His real name is Matthew Riley.

OK, but incomplete
I initially bought this because 1) I liked "Championship Streetfighting", also by the author, and 2) I do a lot of submission grappling, and want to learn anything useful. I was dissapointed by much of what I read. The good:I learned a little about the history of wrestling that I didn't know; I found the principles in the begging to be most useful; the author does a decent job of converting amature moves to a street scenario; this is one of the few books I've read that talks about biting and gouging, though I think Beaumont's kind of reaching to include them in this book; and lastly, the bibliography helps the reader find more, practical information about grappling in the "pavement arena". The bad: most noticably, there are rather crudely drawn pencil illustrations, and no photos; the takedowns, as presented, are not "technically sound", and I think it's because of a lack of experiance on Beaumont's part; some of the holds are taken direclty from professional wrestling's "show holds", like the Cammel Clutch and Figure-four leglock (I've wrestled a lot of guys, and I've even tried to make use of pro-wrestling holds, but I've never seen anyone put that leglock on someone with half a brain and better conditioning than a hampster). About half the info was useful to me, and I'll give props to the author for sticking to the theme of Western arts as self defence, but if you grapple for fun or sport, borrow it, and if you're looking for quick and easy self-defence, avoid it. In closing, I'd like to emphasise that this is NOT a useless book, it's just that finding the useful stuff is one of those needle-haystack things.

Ok if you're "interested," but not if you intend to apply it
Gives some good explanation of the wrestling skills you'll need (and some you won't) in a fight against an unarmed opponent, but is light on useful instruction, primarily due to the lack of photographs. There is a lot to be said for an author who will actually fill a book with words, rather than lean on photos as a crutch, but if you intend to train with a book as an aid, photos are all but necessary - and the more the better.

You'd be better off with a combination of Winning Wrestling Moves (to instruct on takedowns), combined with one or more of the following: Iverson's submissions book; The Fighter's Notebook; one of the Gracies' BJJ texts. All will give you more practical instruction, and do so with loads of pics to help you get the idea better. All are available at Amazon. You'll pay more to get the more complete education, but if genuine improvement in your grappling skills is the goal, it's worth it.