Karate Training at Home, Pt. 7 – Karate Books

A book can never replace quality instruction, but this book sure does try. The best thing about this book is that it is divided by goals: a section on kicks, on footwork, on punches, on combinations, etc. Nearly anything you’re looking to work on, this book will help.

• Pro – Expert at-home Karate training advice from a man who has spent decades doing exactly that.
• Con – The photos are a bit too few, too dark, and occasionally too grainy.

Flexibility is a challenge for many fighters, especially in our sit-at-a-desk world. This book is designed to help you overcome your “tight spots” that are holding back your progress toward better kicks, smoother kata, and a more supple body overall.

• Pro – Excellent photos and stretch explanations.
• Con – Not organized by goal (Stretches for higher kicks, Stretches for tight back, etc)

This small book was an early addition to my martial library. In it, Cardillo expounds on the philosophy (and occasionally the mysticism) that imbues life, both inside and out of the dojo. The message throughout is to receive life’s challenges as would Bruce Lee, by being like water.

• Pro – Interesting and insightful anecdotes to help apply martial philosophies to daily life.
• Con – References to “the infinite” and “energy” are a bit new-agey for me.

Warrior Wisdom is a more practical text than the previous entry. In it the author discusses the meaning and application to proverbs from warrior cultures across the world. From Marcus Aurelius to George Washington, Sparta to the Incas, and beyond.

• Pro – Each maxim has only 1 or 2 pages of exploration, making this the perfect kind of book to read in pieces and meditate upon through out the day.
• Con – Any exploration of ancient, or modern, maxims would be best served by the inclusion of cultural or historical context. Sadly, that is missing from this book.

The belongs in every woman’s library. Why women? Because the real-life stories contained, while applicable to men, are more immediately useful to women. The main throughline is that when your gut is telling you something isn’t right, you must heed it and not allow your concern for “making a scene” to override your evolutionary instincts. It could cost you your life.

• Pro – Very effective in teaching you to listen to that little voice in the back of your mind when it’s warning you of danger.
• Con – Self defense advice in the back basically amounts to “take a martial arts class” in spite of the early part of the book saying that “martial arts don’t prepare you for self defense”.

“Real violence is rarely what you think it will be”, say the authors of this book. Here they aim to teach you the facts about violence in all its mutations: domestic, social, antisocial, gang, terrorism, etc. It also instructs the reader on how to properly deal with the police, create witnesses, etc.

• Pro – Consider this your “fact book” for some of the worst things that might ever happen to you.
• Con – Occasionally, evidence provided is anecdotal where statistics would have been more compelling.

This compact book contains more than 200 exercises and drills designed to help you develop speed, power, balance, and, as a byproduct, ultimate fitness. It also contains information on proper nutrition because, as we all know, “you can’t outrun the fork”.

• Pro – Exercises are divided by skill level (beginner, intermediate, and Black Belt) making it easy to start and scale up as you get fit.
• Con – The dietary advice is pretty dated (suggesting that up to 50% of your diet should come from carbohydrates, for example) and very basic.

This is a coming-of-age story line none other I’ve read. The author recounts how, as a boy growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, he came under the tutelage of a Japanese swordsman.

The real value of this books is how relatable young Lowry’s thoughts and experiences were as he underwent his training. From learning to navigate the Japanese-American cultural divide, to worrying about accidental Hara-Kiri when sheathing his sword, there were many instances where I stopped and asked myself, “What would I have done here?“. If you, or someone you love, needs some inspiration for his martial arts training then this is the book for you.

• Pro: Very interesting history of the Yagu style of swordsmanship
• Con: I wanted to know a bit about how his parents and friends felt about his “strange hobby”, but this is almost completely missing.

This masterful tome needs to be on the shelf of every martial artist, regardless of your style’s nation of origin. There are so many worthwhile nuggets of wisdom in these pages that it is worth double the price.

One thing I found especially inspiring was the attitude shift Morgan encourages you to take. Rather than thinking of yourself as a “dentist who does martial arts, think of yourself as a martial artist who is also a dentist”. It is a small shift, and it might seem silly in the beginning, but it had a big impact on my own training and I recommend you do the same.

• Pro: Powerful insights into the mindset required for effective training.
• Con: Occasionally the book comes off as dogmatic and ideological, whereas my own approach to martial arts is more holistic.