Ultimate Sparring is the most comprehensive book ever written on sparring and dueling methods around the world. It contains the rules and methods of sparring for cross-training, competition, and self-defense in dozens of Eastern and Western martial arts. Ultimate Sparring also features dozens of methods of sparring for the development of skills, or for keeping training interesting and fun.

Brings readers the history and information surrounding the contemporary world of MMA.

With its intense action and the unbelievable skills of its athletes, kickboxing has gained worldwide popularity in a way that few international sports ever do. It requires perfect timing, incredible speed, and relentless power, and this guide details the techniques and methods needed to win. Author Pat O’Keeffe is a coach, trainer, and champion with three decades of experience, and his book includes dozens of techniques to prepare both body and mind for this dangerous and exciting sport. Helpful step-by-step illustrations demonstrate the techniques of defense; counter-attack; timing, distance, and mobility; sparring; speed and power; conditioning; and more. Perfect for the amateur kick boxer or the experienced fighter, Kick Boxing is a must-read resource written by one of the sport’s top experts. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is an emergent sport where competitors in a ring or cage utilize strikes (punches, kicks, elbows and knees) as well as submission techniques to defeat opponents. This book explores the carnal experience of fighting through a sensory ethnography of MMA, and how it transgresses the cultural scripts of masculinity in popular culture. Based on four years of participant observation in a local MMA club and in-depth interviews with amateur and professional MMA fighters, Spencer documents fighters' training regimes and the meanings they attach to participation in the sport. Drawing from the philosophical phenomenology of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Luc Nancy, this book develops bodies-centered ontological and epistemological grounding for this study. Guided by such a position, it places bodies at the center of analysis of MMA and elucidates the embodied experience of pain and injury, and the sense and rhythms of fighting.

Techniques and tactics for a competitive edge.

Taekwondo Kyorugi is the authority on taekwondo sparring. Written by Korean Olympic Gold Medallist Kuk Hyun Chung, WTF Deputy-Secretary General Kyung Myung Lee and renowned martial arts author Sang H Kim, it is a direct translation of the original Korean text. Learn the skills, drills, strategies and methods used by Korean coaches and competitors for years. Footwork, kicks, hand target drills, heavy bag workouts, coaching, combinations, strategy, professional training, opponent analysis, conditioning, weight control, competition tips, official Olympic rules, scientific analysis of scoring and more.

In the most comprehensive book on kickboxing ever written, Martina Sprague and Keith Livingston teach you exactly what it takes to survive and win in the kickboxing ring. Whether you want to become a professional kickboxer or just train like one, this is an invaluable reference. Begin with the basics of movement, stance, punching, kicking and defensive fundamentals. Each skill is taught scientifically: learn good mechanics, drill with specific goals in mind and then apply your skills in sparring. Once you have established solid fundamentals, the authors introduce advanced skills like knee and elbow strikes, unorthodox punches, jump kicks and sweeps. As you build your arsenal, Keith and Martina share the kind of information that only two veterans of the ring can. Learn strategies for short and long range fighting, controlling the fight, outsmarting your opponent, working the angles and gaining superiority. If your goal is competition, Complete Kickboxing can ensure you don't miss a step along the way. Learn how to mentally and physically prepare for a fight, which equipment to train on, what goes on in the locker room before a match and how the business end of the fight game works. With nearly 500 pages of instruction and over 1000 photographs, "Complete Kickboxing" is the most comprehensive reference available on the exciting sport of Kickboxing.