The Best of Bill Wallace

This book contains 150 essays written over a 15 year period. It includes everything from training tips to his opinion of modern kickboxing. I recently had my copy signed by Bill Wallace at a seminar in Reidsville NC.He is a super nice guy!

What can I say that hasn't been said many times? Bill Wallace is a legend in American Martial Arts...and a nice guy to boot. I have seen him fight several times, trained at one of his all day seminars and got to hang with him for a few minutes that afternoon. He has been around almost from the beginning of the Martial Arts scene in this country and has many interesting opinions and insights as well as some cool personal stories to tell. I thorougly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. If you have enjoyed any of his columns in Black Belt Magazine you will enjoy this book.

Bill "Superfoot" Wallace is one of the all-time greats of American Karate. After damaging his right knee the former wrestler and Judo player decided to pick up the then almost unheard of art of Karate. Bill could only kick with his left leg, but kick he did! After earning his black belt after a mere nine months of training Superfoot (the nickname he had earned by that time) won just about every major Karate Championship in the US. Later Bill switched to the newly developing sport of full-contact Karate (a form of kickboxing in which all kicks must be placed above the belt) and became its first middleweight champion. He retired undefeated after 23 fights. Besides having acted in several movies, Bill is nowadays one of the most sought after Martial Arts teachers on the seminar circuit when he's not providing commentary at the UFC championships or playing golf. The Best of Bill Wallace consists of more than 150 short essays that he wrote over a period of 15 years for Black Belt Magazine, the first real Martial Arts Magazine in North America. Bill Wallace is a college graduate and writes like one. The book is well written with no typo's or grammar mistakes. Bill always manages to get his point across, either in competition or in writing. Moreover, his "happy go lucky" personality and typical brand of humour shine through on the 156 pages of this book. Bill provides information about switching from semi-contact to full-contact, the early days of American sports Karate, his youth, he debunks several Martial Arts myths along the way and, surprisingly for a noted competitor, provides a lot of information about avoiding street fights and how to do well in them if you can't avoid them. Bill's claim that a junk food diet lubricates your joints is good for a laugh and not much else, not all weight training coaches would agree with his advice depending on the goals of the student and his argument for allowing groin shots in UFC competitions doesn't sound very good to me for obvious reasons. Conclusion Any fan of Bill Wallace or Martial Arts enthusiast will enjoy this informative book. This is no "Authorized Biography" and I, personally, would have liked to read more about Bill's relationship with Elvis Presley (whom he worked out with). Despite this minor criticism I would like to thank Superfoot for writing (another) super book.