Pressure-Point Fighting: A Guide to the Secret Heart of Asian Martial Arts

This is a great book that covers a lot of information of pressure points and how it can relate to most styles. It breaks down some of the well known katas and puts them into good applications. The one thing I liked about this book was the first part that went through "Core Principles"--ie. Lateral thinking, out of the box thinking etc... One review that I read about this book seems to take a personal jab at this author. This to me is ashame because as an experienced martial artist that type of verbage is unprofessional and disrespectful to anyone.

On the cover of this book, it is printed "Simple step-by-step instructions....". Let me tell you, I have read a few "simple-step-by-step" books. These books are often leafed through in an hour, giving at best one or two useful ideas.This book has much more substance than that. The amount of knowledge contained within these 194 pages is overwhelming. Buy the book, read it, and carefully work through the techniques. You will find the work to be very rewarding.It is difficult to find good books on martial arts that you can truly learn from. This book is one of the very few.

The book starts with a VERY in depth analysis of learning and management concepts (notably Pareto's 80-20 law) and then builds on this to underline his concepts of kata analysis. Extremely well written and well researched, as can be seen from the extensive bibliography and appendices at the back of the book. I would strongly recommend this book to any martial artist, and particularly to those who have stopped completely accepting the traditional kick/punch bunkai so often spoon fed to us.

Rick Clark has taught seminars worldwide, and is in greatest demand for his knowledge of attacking kyusho, or vital points, of the human body. Though many instructors now teach, or claim to teach this information (and some of these instructor's students seems to have given this book a poor review above !), many present this information as if some magic bullet - learn vital points and there is no need for anything else. Anyone who has known Rick Clark, and studied for more than a simple seminar with Rick Clark, will have learned that his art does not rest on vital points, but utilises vital points to make it simpler, and more effective. With a broad range of martial arts experience, Sensei Clark is able to make sense of the nonsencical movements in martial arts, extracting not the differences, but the similarities.Though the title of this book perhaps implies "everything you need to know about pressure points", it would be fairer to advise the potential buyer that you are in fact buying a whole lot more. Only those students fortunate enough to train regularly with Rick Clark have been able to extract not only the techniques, but the philosophies, the mindsets, the principles and the understanding which Sensei Clark has extracted from his numerous years studying martial arts, which lead him to teach simple, brutal and effective enhancements to participants core martial art. For those students who have piqued interest in learning vital point methods, this book will do well to present a sensible framework in which these points should be used. You will not become a master of pressure points, but then any book that claims to make you so, should be avoided at all costs. The book will simply open your eyes in such a manner that you will be encouraged to seek instruction. For those martial artists however, who are tired of the hyperbole, tired of the bullish claims about vital points, knockouts, and unlocking the hidden secrets.....buy this book. Perhaps the simple, honest and pragmatic approach presented by Rick Clark will be enough to convince you that vital points, and the associated introspection of the subtleties of your own art, ARE worth further consideration, and need not require box sets of videos, giving up your old art, and studying the latest scientific method of fighting. Sensei Rick Clark has picked up a following of serious, pragmatic martial artists of the highest calibre, who question everything, and take nothing at face value. This calibre is testament to the way in which Sensei Clark teaches people; his book may just be the shove along the path that senior martial artists questioning where the road ahead goes require.

I greatly enjoyed this book and found it very informative. I found it alot better than other books on this subject because the techniques just seemed more realistic to me. It brings Bunkai into the 21st century. A couple years ago I had the honor of attending a seminar featuring Professor Clark in Hartselle,AL and was even the uki for alot of the techniques shown and I can tell you from first hand knowledge that what he teaches absolutely works and has been a great inspiration in my own development as a martial artist. Thank you Mr. Clark for all your hard work.