Schalk's Little Book on Fundamentals: What every combatives and martial arts practitioner should know but almost never gets taught. (Schalk's Little Book Series)

This will be a short read with long lasting benefits. The information is both detailed and practical, with excellent presentation.The title might be misleading, though. While the beginners will benefit greatly from reading the book, I feel it is the instructors who will reap greatest rewards. Even if you have a good feel for and command of your tecnical arsenal, you will now really UNDERSTAND the immutable laws of physics underneath it, which will make teaching easier and more enjoyable for both the instructor and the students.I am eagerly awaiting for the next book in the series.

I think the author articulates some ideas that are hardly ever touched upon by martial arts instructors and practictioners.He essentially lays out an entire framework with which to view your martial arts.I would say this is a must purchase for any would be martial artists, law enforcement or anyone in danger of experiencing physical violence on a regular basis.

Very concise book. The author explains many things that some people have a limited grasp of and makes it make sense to where it can be applied to various combatives. However, I did feel that the book needed some sort of conclusion to tie everything together as the topics range from center of gravity, to the fundamental s of takedowns, to striking, to striking with weapons... But the book just kind of stops there. It felt as though there were pages missing from the book, but I don't think there were any pages actually missing. I will say that I'm not 100% sure that English is the author's primary language, however he has a great grasp of said language and has no issues with actually getting his point across. He is very thorough in his explanations. Looking forward to reading his next book.

Buy this book. Period! In exchange, you will get understanding of concepts that you need to comprehend to improve your training and your performance. You will not regret your purchase.Read it through once. Then read it again, underlying key ideas. You will move your knowledge to another level

The information in this book is simple, but so often overlooked as obvious and not considered to be taught. It is all about principles for any martial art.

This book is more of a quick reference guide, but it addresses so many things that someone needs to know in combatives or martial arts. The devil is in the details, and Schalk covers the why of how things work. It's great to pick up and read a chapter or two as a refresher.

After reading some of the reviews I jopedto find something that was missed in my martial arts training. Unfortunately the concepts discussed are pretty basic stuff that any martial arts student will have picked up before reaching an advanced rank, but the book is titled Fundamentals and never claimed to offer anything more. If you are thinking of getting into martial arts this book would be a useful introduction for what you will be learning. If you've been studying for a while you should have already grasped the basic concepts within these pages and can save your money. If you are in Law enforcement this may be a good primer to prepare you for when things get crazy but it does not teach self defense techniques.

It becomes more of a minor physics lesson than a martial arts lesson. Decent basic concepts about force and structure.Not really what I was looking for.

Good to have all the fundamentals all together in one book.

Schalk's Little book On Fundamentals is exactly that. The subtitle gives insight to what the book is about "What every combatives and martial arts practictioner should know but almost never gets taught". This book will be a benefit to both newcomers and experienced martial artists. By explaining HOW a takedown works, it allows you to improvise and adapt on the spot. It is hard to believe so much solid information can be packed into 45 pages.

I really wanted to give this little book five stars - as I absolutely love the clear, concise, and compact style of describing very essential things that almost always fall through the cracks in pretty much all other reading related to martial artsHowever... sometimes over-simplifying leads to misconceptions, and that is the unfortunate part. Like, author talks about joint plane of movement, and this is brilliant - yet when describing the basics of body mechanics, it is so important to see that rag doll as something continuously moving! Unless we fight a corpse (or a steadily standing uke), inertia, momentum, continuously changing weight distribution make attempts to simplify that biomechanical landscape, fall shortYet still, Schalk absolutely got it, he talks about all the right things, and he talks about them in a very useful way! If anything, wherever his little book comes short, it absolutely works as a thought-provoking tool, helping one to just hold on for a moment and think about really important concepts we often take for grantedI definitely recommend anyone interested in the "why" of body mechanics applied to martial arts, to get this book. Excellent read

ok, brief