The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense is a comprehensive guide to the most efficient and effective strategies, training methods, and techniques for functional self defense. Most self defense and martial arts books cover only one or two aspects of violent attacks and are typically unrealistic. The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense covers every aspect of self defense, from awareness and prevention to exceptionally effective techniques. Techniques and training methods are presented as taught in private lessons, and hundreds of easy to follow photos with directional arrows and ghost imaging make learning from the book easier than ever. The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense begins with a discussion of the difference between self defense and martial arts, legal ramifications, the nature of physical violence, and then covers avoidance, awareness, and prevention in great detail. Readers will learn how to be a bad target, how to spot warning signs and pre-attack indicators, and how to prevent an attack through distance, evasion, and de-escalation. Functional self defense training methods follow, including what works and what doesn't, the pros and cons of different training methods, solo training, partner training, sparring, training in natural environments, adrenal issues, multiple opponents, and more. In the technical chapters, the most efficient and effective techniques are demonstrated in great detail, along with default responses that work against any unarmed attack and solid strategies for implementation. The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self Defense ends with chapters on environmental applications, physical and mental fitness, and frequently asked questions.
I really liked “The Ultimate Guide to Unarmed Self-Defense” by David Earth Jr. It contains solid advice on self-defense in a well organized manner. The pictures used to illustrate concepts and techniques are clear, and overall I think Earth did a very good job with his goal of providing a combination of techniques, training methods, and strategies designed to provide practitioners with highly efficient and effective self-defense skills. I also liked that in addition to physical techniques, non-physical awareness and prevention aspects were covered.
The first chapter briefly discussed self-defense vs. martial arts, and why the author created a system that he calls “Functional Self-Defense.” Brief, but he makes some good points and it sets up where he is coming from.
Chapter Two: The Truth About Violence. This chapter contains information on the nature of violence, myths of martial arts, and why acting tough is for losers. It’s a very short chapter, but worth reading and listening to.
The third chapter on awareness, avoidance and prevention is one of the most important chapters in the book. He provides some good information on these concepts.
Chapter Four: The Covered Blast. This is a fundamental concept to Earth’s system, and the way he explains is and illustrates it with photographs is well done, and it is a concept that will serve a person very well when defending him or herself. Others explain the same or similar concept with different terminology, but nonetheless, this is a good thing to learn and practice and I liked how it was presented here.
Chapters five, six, and seven get into functional self-defense training, the MMA base, and Functional Self-Defense. These chapters cover many of the basic physical aspects of Earth’s system, and he does a good job of explaining them and illustrating them with photographs. There is nothing earth shattering or really new here, as there are only so many ways to hit, kick, and grapple with another person. The book includes a lot of basics such as boxing punches, kicks, knees and elbow strikes, and so on. It also shows how to combine some of these in situations. However, just because the techniques are basic doesn’t detract from the book, because basics are what work, and the material is very well presented in a logical manner with much “fluff” often found in some systems eliminated. This book does focus on aspects for defending oneself, not for sport or competition. As the chapter denotes, Earth does use a MMA base for a lot of his techniques and training methodologies. I do believe that studying the techniques presented here, learning them, and training with them with a good training partner would provide a person with a strong self-defense base.
Chapters eight and nine are shorter and cover environmental applications and physical and mental fitness respectfully. And finally the book concludes with a series of frequently asked questions.
If you are looking for a book to learn a simple and straightforward self-defense system, this book by David Earth Jr. fits the bill. It is one of the better books on self-defense for sure, and an excellent addition to anyone’s self-defense library.