Kicking ass and taking notes-what it's like to be a woman in the ring. Alison Dean teaches English literature. She also punches people. Hard. But despite several amateur fights under her belt, she knows she will never be taken as seriously as a male boxer. "You punch like a girl" still isn't a compliment - women aren't supposed to choose to participate in violence. Her unique perspective as a 30-something university lecturer turned amateur fighter allows Dean to articulately and with great insight delve into the ways martial arts can change a person's - and particularly a woman's - relationship to their body and to the world around them, and at the same time considers the ways in which women might change martial arts. Combining historical research, anecdotal experience, and interviews with coaches and fighters, Seconds Out explores our culture's relationship with violence, and particularly with violence practiced by women. "An important addition to women's martial arts scholarship, Dean provides personal insight into the radical space women occupy in sport fighting. Seconds Out is a must-read for all fighters looking for mentors in the complicated world of martial arts." -L.A. Jennings, author of Mixed Martial Arts: A History from Ancient Fighting Sports to the UFC "Dean brings a fresh new female voice to the topic of combat sports." -Trevor Wittman, renowned MMA trainer, UFC analyst, and founder of ONX Sports "Trained in the discipline and art of both fighting and literature, Dean combines both with style. She honors the fighters, writers, and historians who have come before her and definitively ends the idea of women fighters as a novelty. Seconds Out is a must-read for anyone who feels the call of the bell and reverence for a good fight." -Sue Jaye Johnson

There's more to winning battles than fists and feetFor world-renowned professional fighter Georges St-Pierre, the greatest asset is not physical strength or athleticism--it's a sense of purpose. From his beginnings as a small, mercilessly bullied child first discovering karate to his years as a struggling garbage collector who spent all his free time in the gym, his hard-fought rise in the sport of mixed martial arts, and his long, painful recovery from a career-threatening injury, Georges never lost sight of his ambition to become the greatest martial artist of all time. In The Way of the Fight, Georges for the first time reveals what propelled him not only to become a champion but to embrace obstacles as opportunities to build character.Georges's story is interwoven with fascinating insights from those who know him best: his mother, who tells of his drive to master new skills, even as a child. His mentor Kristof Midoux, who describes a young fighter with an extraordinary sense of discipline. His Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teacher John Danaher, who witnessed the development of an indomitable work ethic. His coach Firas Zahabi, who worked alongside the champion through a potentially career-ending injury. And his longtime friend, training partner and manager, Rodolphe Beaulieu, who may understand this intensely focused athlete more than anyone.The Way of the Fight is an inspirational look into the mindset of a master. To Georges, all life is competition, and there's no more perfect metaphor for competition than the life of a fighter. He explains the value of discipline, risk and even fear, with the wisdom of one who knows that nothing is assured--his next fight could always be his last. Drawing inspiration from fighting legends, Eastern philosophy and a trusted inner circle, The Way of the Fight is a powerful, life-changing guide to living with purpose and finding the way to accomplish your loftiest goals.

Irish travellers live in a closed community. What we think we know about them is based on hearsay, rumour and stereotype. But not any more. Knuckle is the true story of James Quinn McDonagh - clan head and champion bare-knuckle fighter. It's a journey from his grandfather's horse-drawn caravan at the side of the road to the country lanes of Ireland where he stood, fists bloodied and bandaged, fighting a clan war that he never asked for. Two men, two neutral referees, a country lane. No gloves, no biting, no rests. The last man standing wins, takes home the money, and more importantly, the bragging rights. Caught in a brutal cycle of violence that has left men dead, houses burned and lives destroyed, James tells a story that opens up a hidden world - revealing why history repeats itself, and why he can never go home...

At the intersection of sport, entertainment and performance, wrestling occupies a unique position in British popular culture. This is the first book to offer a detailed historical and cultural analysis of British professional wrestling, exploring the shifting popularity of the sport as well as its wider social significance. Arguing that the history of professional wrestling can help us understand key themes in sport, culture and performance that span the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it addresses topics such as: attitudes towards violence, representations of masculinity, the media and celebrity culture, consumerism and globalisation. By drawing on a variety of intellectual traditions and disciplines, the book explores the role of power in the development of popular cultural forms, the ways in which history structures the present, and the manner in which audiences construct identity and meaning through sport. Wrestling in Britain: Sporting Entertainments, Celebrity and Audiences is fascinating reading for all students and researchers with an interest in media and cultural studies, histories and sociologies of sport, or performance studies.

HEALTH / MARTIAL ARTS The techniques of Chi Nei Tsang evolved in Asia during an era when few physicians were available and people had to know how to heal themselves. Many people today have symptoms that modern medicine is not able to cure because a physical source for the problem is not easily found. The energies of negative emotions, stress, and tension--all common in modern life--and the weight of past illnesses accumulate in the abdominal center, causing energy blockages and congestion. When this occurs, all vital functions stagnate and myriad problems arise. By practicing the techniques of Chi Nei Tsang, this stagnation is removed and the vital organs surrounding the navel center are detoxified and rejuvenated. Master Chia teaches readers how to take full charge of their health using the self-healing techniques of Chi Nei Tsang. He offers fully illustrated exercises that show how to detoxify the internal organs and clear the energy (chi) channels throughout the body. He also presents methods for balancing emotions, managing stress, and observing the body in order to recognize, ameliorate, and prevent maladies before they become a problem. A student of several Taoist masters, MANTAK CHIA founded the Universal Healing Tao System in 1979 and has taught and certified tens of thousands of students and instructors from all over the world. He is the director of the Tao Garden Integrative Medicine Health Spa and Resort training center in northern Thailand and is the author of twenty-six books, including the bestselling The Multi-Orgasmic Man.

Neil Leifer is the best-known sports photographer of the past half century. Beginning in 1960, his pictures have regularly appeared in every major national magazine, including the Saturday Evening Post, Look, LIFE, Newsweek, and, most often, Sports Illustrated and Time, and his photographs have run on over two hundred Sports Illustrated, Time, and People covers. Leifer has photographed sixteen Olympic Games, fifteen Kentucky Derbies, countless World Series, the first twelve Super Bowls, four FIFA World Cups, and every important heavyweight title fight since Ingemar Johansson beat Floyd Patterson in 1959. He has photographed his favorite subject, Muhammad Ali, at thirty-five of his fights, including all the big ones. Now, in Relentless, Leifer takes us behind the scenes of some fifty of his most iconic pictures. Starting with his shot of Baltimore Colt Alan Ameche scoring the game-winning touchdown against the New York Giants during sudden death overtime in the 1958 NFL Championship game at Yankee Stadium-taken on Leifer's sixteenth birthday-he tells enthralling, often hilarious stories of getting to the right place at the right time to capture many of the legendary athletes of the twentieth century, including Mickey Mantle, Arthur Ashe, Willie Mays, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Namath, and Arnold Palmer, as well as shooting presidential and celebrity portraits and covering a variety of subjects for Time. Recapping both an incredibly successful career and the transformation of photojournalism since the era of the great photo magazines, Relentless effectively chronicles fifty years of American popular culture..

As well as looking at the training environment Kandhola focuses on three established figures in boxing: Julius Francis, a four-times British Heavyweight and Commonwealth champion, who Kandhola first photographed in 2000 just before his fight with Mike Tyson; Robert McCracken, who won the British Light Middleweight title in 1994 and the Commonwealth title in 1995 - currently McCracken is Performance Director for the British Olympic team, and personal coach to Carl Froch; and Howard 'Clakka' Clarke who fought at Madison Square Garden for the IBF Light Middleweight Title - he lost, after which his career took a significant nose-dive with him winning only one fight out of his next seventy. He retired in 2007.

Former World Heavyweight champion Smokin' Joe Frazier and William Dettloff, senior writer for The Ring magazine, present a complete guide to the fight game - from the history of the sport to how to throw a crushing uppercut and take a punch without flinching.

Drawing from the experiences of one of the masters of the sport, "Box Like the Pros" is a must-have for anyone pursuing boxing as a hobby or who is interested in training to become a professional boxer. Frazier, with longtime boxing writer William Dettloff, presents a complete introduction to the sport, including the game's history, rules of the ring, how fights are scored, how to spar, the basics of defence and offence, the fighter's workout, a directory of boxing gyms, and much more. "Box Like the Pros" is an instruction manual, a historical reference tool and an insider's guide to the world's most controversial sport.

The official illustrated guide from the US Army on the best ways to fight and win when you are reduced to going toe to toe with an enemy: fundamentals, vulnerable points., holds, and escapes, and more. This manual was created to teach American solider hand-to-hand fighting techniques. It describes blows, holds, footwork, armwork, and other maneuvers that can be used to disable or kill an enemy. It explains how to us all available objects as weapons, and stresses aggressive tactics. You can subdue an opponent only through offensive measures. What will you do if you are attached by an enemy with a knife? What are your vulnerable points? How will you disarm him? United States soldiers have been involved in those kinds of fights for centuries. This is what they've learned. This is how to fight. This is how to win.

Beast. Monster. Savage. Psycho. The glowering menace of Mike Tyson has spooked us for almost two decades. And still we remain fascinated. Why? Ellis Cashmore's answer is disturbing: white society has created Tyson as vengeance for the loss of privilege produced by civil rights.

Cashmore's eviscerating analysis of Tyson's life and the culture in which he grew up, rose to prominence and descended into disgrace provokes the reader into re-thinking the role of one of the most controversial and infamous figures of recent history. Told as an odyssey-style homeward journey to Tyson's multi-pathological origins in the racially-explosive ghettos of the 1960s, Tyson's story is part biography, part tragedy and part exposition. His associations with people like Al Sharpton, Don King and Tupac Shakur shaped his life; and events, such as the O J Simpson trial and the Rodney King riots, formed a turbulent background for the Tyson psychodrama.

Over the course of an epic boxing career, Tyson was transformed from the most celebrated athlete on earth to a primal, malevolent hate-figure. Yet, even after being condemned as a brute, Tyson retained a power - a power to captivate. Cashmore reveals that the sources of that power lie as much in us as in Tyson himself.

This absorbing book unravels the reasons for the enduring respect and reverence that Muhammad Ali commands long after the end of his athletic career. It will appeal to those teaching and studying cultural studies, social theory, sports studies, and sociology, as well as to general readers interested in Muhammad Ali.
A probing account of Muhammad Ali's life, which also examines the man's celebrity and his importance in global history.
The first book to unravel the reasons for the enduring respect and reverence that Muhammad Ali commands long after the end of his athletic career.
Traces the key controversies and significant events, from Ali's first announcement of his membership in the Nation of Islam, through his courageous refusal to fight in Vietnam, to his spiritual calm in the face of crippling disease.
Offers an original and compelling theory of the celebrity in postmodern society.

In "Atlas", Teddy recounts his incredible life, from juvenile delinquent, to his induction into the legendary Cus D'Amato's Boxing Camp and his first major challenge - training 14-year-old Mike Tyson. An amateur boxer trained by D'Amato, Atlas captured the Adirondack Golden Gloves title at 139 pounds in 1976. Forced out of competition because of injury, Teddy turned his talents to training fighters, including Mike Tyson, Barry McGuigan, Tracy Patterson, Joey Gamache, Simon Brown and Donny Lalonde. In 1994, in a memorable performance as trainer and corner man, Teddy inspired Michael Moorer to beat Evander Holyfield for the world heavyweight championship. Teddy has also employed his talents outside of the ring appearing in 2 films and choreographing fight scenes for the television series "Against the Law". "Atlas" is the remarkable story of all of these achievements, told in Atlas' completely inimitable voice. As you'd expect from a boxing memoir, it pulls no punches.

Qigong is an aspect of traditional Chinese medicine that involves coordinating breathing patterns with physical postures to maintain health and well-being. Yi Jin Jing/ Tendon-Muscle Strengthening Exercises is an accessible, fully-illustrated guide to a particular qigong exercise that focuses on turning and flexing the spine. Based on the twelve traditional routines of Yi Jin Jing, the exercises covered in the book feature soft, extended, even movements that invigorate the limbs and internal organs. In particular, practice of the Yi Jin Jing exercises improves flexibility, balance and muscular strength, and has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system. Each routine is described step-by-step and is illustrated with photographs and key points. The authors also point out common mistakes and offer advice on how to correct these. Complemented by an appendix of acupuncture points and accompanied by online material, this book will be of interest to Qigong and Tai Chi practitioners at all levels, students of martial arts and anyone interested in Chinese culture.

Completed in 1482, Johannes Leckuchner's Art of Combat with the "Langes Messer" (Messerfechtkunst) is among the most important documents on the combat arts of the Middle Ages. The Messer was a single-edged, one-handed utility sword peculiar to central Europe, but Leckuchner's techniques apply to cut-and-thrust swords in general: not only is this treatise the single most substantial work on the use of one-handed swords to survive from this period, but it is the most detailed explanation of the two-handed sword techniques of the German "Liechtenauer" school dating back to the 1300s. Leckuchner's lavish manuscript consists of over four hundred illustrations with explanatory text, in which the author, a parish priest, rings the changes on bladework, deceits, and grappling, with techniques ranging from life-or-death escapes from an armed assailant to slapstick moves designed to please the crowd in public fencing matches. This translation, complete with all illustrations from the manuscript, makes the treatise accessible for the first time since the author's untimely death less than a year after its completion left his major work to be lost for generations. An extensive introduction, notes, and glossary analyze and contextualize the work and clarify its technical content. JEFFREY L. FORGENG is curator of Arms and Armor and Medieval Art at the Worcester Art Museum, and teaches as Adjunct Professor of History at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Winner - Prix Bushido French Book Award Qigong training can improve your health, cure illness, and help you overcome the stress of daily living. Qigong is the study of Qi, or vital energy, that circulates in the human body, and it has been practiced by the Chinese for thousands of years. Qigong is a unique and comprehensive approach to health and longevity, and can be trained by anyone. Get the most from your practice by understanding the principles and foundation of this ancient science. Dr. Yang teaches sitting and standing meditation, demonstrates massage techniques, and explores the Qi pathways in your body. He explains correct breathing methods, shares secrets for quieting the mind, and discusses how to increase your body's Qi supply. In addition, he also explains important concepts such as the Three Treasures and regulating the body, breath, and mind. Whatever style you practice, you'll find the keys to successful training in the Root of Chinese Qigong. * Improve your health with Qi (vital energy) training.* Relieve stress with simple breathing techniques.* Learn the secrets that will advance your practice.* Discover the foundations of Chinese medicine.* Eliminate tension with soothing relaxation exercises.* Includes more than sixty detailed photos and illustrations.

Some survival guides explain the basics of how to make primitive tools. But do you know how to actually successful hunt with spear, throwing stick, bola, or primitive bow? Making tools that you do not know how to hunt with will not get you to meat. If you're hunting with primitive weapons, especially crude survival weapons you've made in the field under actual survival conditions, you must adapt your strategy to the weapons available or go hungry. Author James M. Ayres grew up in the Midwest hunting squirrels, rabbits, and other small game with bows, spears, atlatls, and bolas he made myself. He has hunted with bow, spear, net, and other primitive weapons with the Lacandon in Yucatan, the Igorots in the Philippines, the K'iche' in Guatemala, the Sasak in Indonesia, and others. In Survival Knives, he shares his knowledge so you, too, can survive using such tools and weapons. It's not enough to have a knife and know how to make basic hunting weapons. That's craftsmanship-not survival. Nor is it enough simply to have a knife when trapped in an emergency situation, like a collapsed building. You need to know how to conserve your knife and use it properly to escape so that it will not break and you are not injured. Learn how to use survival knives, and how to use the tools and weapons you can make with the knife-not only in wilderness, but also in urban areas, foreign countries, and disaster zones such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and civil insurrections.

'Sonny Umpad's Eskrima' provides insight on Santiago 'Sonny' Umpad's life, philosophy, and teaching methods, as well as the structural underpinnings of his system. Born with the soul of a warrior, the intellect of a scholar, and a zealot's devotion to his art, Sonny Umpad forged an enduring contribution to the rich and colourful history of Filipino martial culture.