The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

Beyond the Martial Arts

A Book Review by Phil Elmore

Allen Graham's inspirational e-book is a brief treatise on a very important idea. Think of it as a packaged pep-talk, a common-sense guide to going beyond the doors of the dojo and becoming the best martial artist you can be. To accomplish this, Allen advocates -- among other things -- completely full-contact training when possible.

Allen is president of the International Jurate Federation, based in Western Australia. I must admit that I'd not previously heard of Jurate, developed by Allen (who earned a black belt in 1965 from the International Society of Jiu-Jitsu in Kyoto, Japan) to address common forms of assault with practical, no-nonsense techniques. (Allen also sought to develop a martial art that did not require repeated throwing, as a spinal injury prevented him from engaging in these.)

As I said, Allen's book is a brief treatise on the theory of practical self-defense. He jumps right in to discuss the psychology of self-defense, including the essentials of a successful attack (you must understand how to attack to understand best how to defend, he explains). Often his discussion appears geared to those who've already "completed a course in self defense" -- those with training in the martial arts. Allen's book, however, will be of particular benefit to those just starting out in the arts, as a lot of the common sense knowledge he relays will have experienced students nodding in agreement.

Allen cautions against fear as the biggest obstacle to self-defense. Knowledge, he explains, will eliminate fear -- for when you understand what an attacker must do to be successful, you understand what you must do to stop him.

Allen also advocates full-contact training -- an idea near and dear to me:

Build your training tempo up to the point where you're meeting FULL-ON attacks. Your training partner must be doing his very best to get through your defence. He must completely put it out of his mind that he might hurt you if he goes in too hard. HE must have as much confidence in your ability to defend yourself against him as YOU need to have...

...It's also vitally important that you don't delude yourself when it comes to the INTENSITY of the attacks you're facing in training. It's just too easy to get the idea that an attack's full-on when it's not. ...Your attacker must be giving it ALL he can! It means if his attack gets through your defence you'll be hurt. As disturbing as this may sound there's no other way to get the confidence is vital to your ability to defend yourself successfully in a real situation.

This left me wanting more. While training in this manner most certainly will develop effective, confident martial artists, how exactly is this done without crippling damage to one's students? I would be very interested to hear Allen give specific examples of how to implement the training he advocates -- especially with regard to safety precautions. How does one engage in this kind of training without becoming seriously, even permanently injured, in Allen's view? I train both near- and full-contact myself, so I have my own ideas -- but I'd love to hear Allen's. If this is a taste of the philosophy of Jurate, consider my whistle whetted. I wish Australia wasn't quite so far away, for I would love to explore this further.

Allen discusses the importance of timing, the value of visualization, and the significance of body language and decisiveness. He also ties his emphasis on decisiveness to another martial philosophy I have embraced: the importance of taking the initiative in the face of the credible threat of an attack, moving to make the "first strike" when warranted. You are, he explains, reversing the roles: you are becoming the attacker, and forcing the attacker to become the defender.

Weapons may turn some martial artists' feet to clay, Allen observes, but they shouldn't. Allen explains the basic theory behind stopping an attack that is an extension of the arm -- with the caveat that facing a gun from a "short, but inaccessible distance" leaves you pretty roundly out of luck.

One section I found particularly good was Allen's admonition not to fear making a mistake. "The fear of making a mistake is the greatest mistake of all," he writes. "It's a cancer that eats away at your confidence and grossly inhibits your ability to act as soon as you have the opportunity." This resonated with me, because it closely matches some of the first advice my teacher gave to me in facing him during sparring. He, too, told me that I must learn to release my fear in order to improve and be successful.

There's more good advice in this book, much of it available from other sources -- but all of it worth hearing. The size of your assailant, for example, is not a factor when you understand how to take down someone regardless of stature. (A sumo wrestler's groin is as vulnerable as your own, Allen points out)

Allen couples his discussion of visualization to the martial artist's self-image, emphasizing yet again the importance of confidence to martial success. He also spends some time discussing non-striking attacks and elaborates on confrontations between individuals of disparate size. There is a brief section on threats, and another on women's self-defense.

The book concludes with something for the reader to ponder: Are you learning to fight, or are you learning to defend yourself? The assault you are most likely to face, after all, is not a martial arts duel -- but a vicious attack that often comes from an experienced and cunning thug. "You live in the REAL world," Allen insists -- and I agree.

I had a few linguistic quibbles with the book. Allen tends to CAPITALIZE a lot of words for emphasis, and I found this distracting. Were I to edit the book I'd reduce the emphasized terms significantly and use italics or bold font to set them apart.

As I stated earlier, the book also left me wanting more. Allen's thoughts on training and real-world martial arts are good, but I wished he could have elaborated on full-contact training and specific training guidelines. Some anecdotes and comments from his experience teaching his Jurate students, and more on Jurate itself, would also have been welcome (though one must concede that a Jurate text is a separate writing idea).

These minor criticisms do not detract from the book's overall value, however. As a training guide and a write-up on the importance of integrating mental training with one's physical training, this is a great addition to the computer-savvy martial artist's virtual library. As an inspirational guide to the value of full-contact training and a no-frills, real-world approach to self-defense, it is even more valuable. It's also inexpensive, which never hurts.

You can find a link to purchase Beyond the Martial Arts on this page. While I chose to download and review the PDF e-book, Allen also offers a "slide book" version, an interactive text viewable through your browser. This is a neat take on the electronic book concept and you may find it worth your while. I don't know if reading Allen's book made me a lethal weapon, but I certainly enjoyed it.

So will you.