Books Will Make You Better (at the Martial Arts)

Books and martial arts. Some obsessions never end.

I grew up outside a small Indiana town. My house was surrounded by soy, mint and corn fields. If you close your eyes, you’ve seen this place.

You also know it leaves your mind ripe for any outside stimulus, which came in the form of discount books, for me. My mother and I used to hit up a store called Richard’s. Among the assortment of windchimes, clothing, tools, gloves – and knives – it had lots of books. Paperbacks for a dime.

To this day, I collect books. No, not just for having them. I read them – no, I absorb them. I inhale them.

The majority of my martial arts books are from online used booksellers like Thriftbooks and Abebooks, but nothing quite beats weaving between the shelves of a brick and mortar bookstore.

One of my favorite haunts here in Kansas City is Half Price Books. This discount bookstore chain has provided me with a bevy of options for arnis, kali and escrima.

At Kindred Protective Arts, we study a lot of different influences in our arnis, including material from the Presas Brothers, GMs Ernesto and Remy. In a strange coincidence, Half Price happened to have a few books from the brothers, including two rare ones from Ernesto Presas. One is knife techniques and the other is police combatives. Having thumbed through these books, I recognize certain techniques outright. 

Score!

Guros Kevin and Jackie Bradbury often share the stories behind where certain techniques came from when they teach a technique, but I learn a lot faster having seen the techniques in the book. I am not saying I learned the technique from the book, but it introduced me to the concept. You still have to cross hands to get a feel for how it actually works – this is why we have flesh and blood instructors.

Reading about a technique after learning it in class may help fill in a gap. I snapped up a Guro Dan Anderson book that helped me figure out why my finger locks were failing. Just one detailed photo solved my frustration.

Would I always have been stuck on this? No, but one book cut down the time I would have needed to figure out where I was going wrong. 

Filipino martial arts are vast, which means there are a ton of books out there, but you don’t always have to pay top dollar for them. Next time you see a used bookstore, pop in and you might be surprised at what you find.

And what you find may be a better martial artist.

Come join us (and get some really great book recommendations) at Kindred Protective Arts. Schedule a free trial class HERE.