Complete Kickboxing: The Fighter's Ultimate Guide to Techniques, Concepts and Strategy for Sparring and Competition Hardcover – June 1, 2004

I'm a long time martial arts fans. I have watched alot of m.a movies and events most of my life. So I decided to practice a little something for self-defense and for the workout which I enjoy. So out of all the styles I decided on kickboxing to get a rookie like me to learn the basics on boxing and kicking and to hopefully put it together for my advantage. Well all I have to say is thank you Martina Sprague and Mr. Levinston. This book is not only teaching me the basics. But has also alot of advanced techniques and stratigies. So when you finish learning the basics you have some advanced stuff all in one book. I was even surprised when it covered muy thai techniques as in elbows and knees and other stuff. I thought American kickboxing didn't use that in the ring. I'm glad they included it in though. Now I don't have to buy a muy thai book. They put everything you would need in any type of kickboxing ring.So it was made for more than ring fighting. Lots of pages, pretty good pictures. Also teaches good kicking like tae kwon do. Glad my first book is this good.

I have read through the entirety of this book and have started implementing some of the suggestions and exercises contained within. I have to honestly say that this is the most complete book on this subject I have ever read. Both of the authors are experienced competitors and trainers and they do not attempt to blow up their own abilities, but admit their failings and lessons learned and try to pass this onto the reader. Both are honest in their advice and their own self assessments. I am not only left with a much deeper knowledge of kickboxing but also feel an immense amount of respect for the authors. I cannot give this book enough praise. If either of the authors takes the time to read this review I want to thank you for the effort that you have both put into this book. If you bother to purchase any other book on Kickboxing then you are wasting your time and money. The videos (sold separately) are a must to accompany the book.

I can't say I own all the books on stand up fighting, but I have a few. since this is about kickboxing (the ring sport), I can say it's full of tips, drills, and insights. it's like having an experienced coach, I guess.most other books I have on the subject merley describe the tools, but there's usually very few elements on strategy, mindset etc.well this book is full of it! ( I mean strategy and mindset stuff, and they're excellent.)either you train in a similar sport or you want to be an enlightened spectator, this book is the most interesting I found.

They really didnt leave out to much in "COMPLETE KICKBOXING". Now anyone serious about competing or even learning knows that you can not learn how to kickbox from a book, but this one gets you close... supplementing this book with an exsperienced trainer would be a nice refinement to anyone's game no matter what the level... It is full of information and well worth the money

Very useful and full of information. This is a great resource and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about kickboxing.

exellent condition.

Excellent book, would highly recommend for the novice - advanced student. Have loaned it out to friends to read and use.

excellent book

awesome book too bad it's not in print anymore cause it would sell many more copies

Nach langem Suchen, habe ich ein Buch für Atemi-Waza (Kicken und Treten) gefunden, dass nicht nur auf Standarts begrenzt ist. Es werden auch Schläge mit Knie und Ellbogen vorgezeigt. Wie auch die richtige und falsche Körperhaltung oder Technikdurchführung.Daher, sehr zu empfehlen auch für die jenigen die nicht so gut englisch können.

I was pretty disapointed by this book - and it has been a drag to read it - several times I have allmost given up and put it away halfread.On the posistive side the book contains a lot of information and some of it pretty good. It shines through that the authours know what they are talking about.But there are a lot of flaws and annoying issues:- the struture - its a bloody mess - instead of showing us all the basic techniques first and then discuss their applications and the tactics for them - the authours jump right into it and after presenting the jab - starts lenghty discussions on how and when to use it. Later when subjects like long range and short range fighting comes up again - we start all over with the jab and its many uses. A good editor could have saved us for this and cut the book with a least a 1/3.- More struture - the auhtours leave kicks and punches - before they have covered them all - and turn to concepts like short and long range fighting - and then in later chapters - return to the more sophisticated/rare kicks and punches - wich - makes up for repetition and a lot of going back and forth + a complete loss of overview.- Even More structure - the authour(s) tries to structure the book like a university textbook with sumaries and questions at the end of each chapter - which make up for even more bloody repetition. Again if this had been stopped by the editor - the book would have been shorter and more to the point. The combination of these 3 structure issues took away any reading pleasure I could have had from this book.- the overall subject - like the other reviewer points out - its a bit unclear what this book is about - the title says "Kickboxing" - but as lowkicks are included we are more in a K1 rule setting than in what is normally labelled as kickboxing. The authours mention Muay Thai and also included knee and elbow strikes - but as elbows only is described in a single page - the book is extremely lacking for anybody who want to learn thai boxing. Its still a good book about fighting in the respect that it offers a lot of information that can be used in many martial arts - but the authours indecision about subject and rules is a bit annoying too.- writing style - as I understand it Martina Sprague have written the majorty of the text while Livinston afterwards have put in bits here and there. As he often repeats (or contradicts!) what MS have allready written it bores you with even more repetition. Also Keith Livinston sometimes chooses to "talk directly to the readers" in a kind of folksy wisdom style - that probably is meant as a kind of coach talking to you - but often is really annoying - as it also often repeats what you have just read. Do they think the readers are stupid?- the pictures, they are small and not very good or clear and they don't allways relate too well to the stuff presented in the text.Overall I can't recommend this book. While it provides a lot of good knowlegde and techniques - the total lack of structure makes it a boring and frustrating read.It also makes it bloody hard to go back and find a specific technique or tactic.had the structure been better and had the endless repetition beeen cut short - and had it had larger full colour pictures - the knowlegde presented would have been great.Now its just one of those "dead" books on the shelves - the kind you'll never return to.

I was disappointed that there is too much words than pictures. Since this is martial arts, techniques could have been better appreciated with more pictures.