Chokes and Strangles

by Geoff Thompson

Ground fighting is one of the most underestimated yet devastatingly ferocious of all the Martial Arts. Ninety-nine per cent of all street fights that are not finished within the first three seconds end up on the floor. The books in the "Ground Fighting" series prepare you with the very best of wrestling, ju-jitsu, judo etc., covering ground control, bars, locks, chokes, strangles, cranks, butts, reintroducing many of the illegal and banned techniques from the beginning of the century.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2001

About the author

Geoff Thompson is a BAFTA-winning writer, filmmaker, spiritual teacher, and martial artist with a prolific career spanning multiple disciplines. He has authored books on self-help, spirituality, self-defense, and martial arts, while also writing for film and stage.
Beginning as a martial artist, Thompson specialized in reality-based self-defense, drawing from his experiences as a nightclub doorman. He co-founded the British Combat Association and taught seminars internationally, including for Chuck Norris. His self-defense innovations include "The Wall" and "The Fence," practical techniques for real-world confrontations.
His transition into filmmaking brought critical acclaim. His short film Bouncer (2002), starring Ray Winstone, earned a BAFTA nomination, and Brown Paper Bag (2003), inspired by his brother’s struggles with alcoholism, won the BAFTA for Best Short Film. He later wrote the feature Clubbed (2008), based on his autobiography Watch My Back, as well as The Pyramid Texts (2015) and Romans (2017), starring Orlando Bloom.
Beyond martial arts and filmmaking, Thompson has established himself as a spiritual teacher and self-help author. His works, including The Divine CEO and Live Your Dreams, focus on personal transformation and overcoming fear. He has delivered a TED Talk on conquering fear and hosted a popular podcast on spiritual growth.
In 2020, he released his autobiography Notes from a Factory Floor, chronicling his journey from factory worker to internationally recognized author and teacher. Through his writing, coaching, and filmmaking, Thompson continues to inspire others in the pursuit of self-improvement and personal mastery.

Reviews

[Anders · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only 96 pages, but the font is large with extra spacing between the lines and there's a lot of repetition. The instructions are not very detailed and some things are just wrong, like the last two techniques where you're stretching out your arms trying to strangle an opponent while sitting in his guard. I got the feeling that the publisher (or author) desperately tried to make a 40-50 page book into 96 pages.

The author seems very pragmatic and I don't doubt he has really a lot to say about stand up fighting, and I will look into that, but that doesn't help this particular book.