Rating: 
Summary: A "Must Have!"
Review: "In my over twenty years of instructing martial arts and close quarters combat to some of the world's top military special operations personnel, I have seen countless ways very dedicated fighters waste time with useless drills and questionable training methods. Few have learned the true secrets of effective fighting. In the world of hand to hand combat there very few gurus whom I would ever send any of my people to train under; Charles Staley is definitely on that short list. Charles' training methods not only rapidly accelerate your skills, dramatically increase your striking power, and keep you in incredible shape, but more importantly he'll actually cut your training time significantly while achieving these spectacular results. I found by working with Charles that my old methods of combining strength training and mat time produced limited results for the time spent. I have now cut my training time by almost 50%, yet I get more quality results using his training methods. The Science Of Martial Arts Training is a must have for today's combat fighter. Reading this book you'll see why some of the top competitive fighters train under Charles Staley. Use the straightforward principles and methods in this book and you'll see why his clients REMAIN top competitive fighters."
Rating:
Summary: A "Must Have!"
Review: "In my over twenty years of instructing martial arts and close quarters combat to some of the world's top military special operations personnel, I have seen countless ways very dedicated fighters waste time with useless drills and questionable training methods. Few have learned the true secrets of effective fighting. In the world of hand to hand combat there very few gurus whom I would ever send any of my people to train under; Charles Staley is definitely on that short list. Charles' training methods not only rapidly accelerate your skills, dramatically increase your striking power, and keep you in incredible shape, but more importantly he'll actually cut your training time significantly while achieving these spectacular results. I found by working with Charles that my old methods of combining strength training and mat time produced limited results for the time spent. I have now cut my training time by almost 50%, yet I get more quality results using his training methods. The Science Of Martial Arts Training is a must have for today's combat fighter. Reading this book you'll see why some of the top competitive fighters train under Charles Staley. Use the straightforward principles and methods in this book and you'll see why his clients REMAIN top competitive fighters."
Rating:
Summary: A book for all athletes
Review: Among the most important books on human performance... I'm partial, I'm one of Coach Staley athletes. I cannot help but rave about the principle and tennets of this book which took me from state level to qualifying for Nationals in one year of training! How could I be impartial? Myself the Director of Education for the International Sports Sciences Association, I will recommend this book as a core supplement to our intense curriculum. The key information on sport training, periodization, and assessment make it an invaluable tool to my students. This book transcends the martial arts. It is an understandable text for ANY athlete who ever wanted to be better.
Rating:
Summary: A book for all athletes
Review: Among the most important books on human performance... I'm partial, I'm one of Coach Staley athletes. I cannot help but rave about the principle and tennets of this book which took me from state level to qualifying for Nationals in one year of training! How could I be impartial? Myself the Director of Education for the International Sports Sciences Association, I will recommend this book as a core supplement to our intense curriculum. The key information on sport training, periodization, and assessment make it an invaluable tool to my students. This book transcends the martial arts. It is an understandable text for ANY athlete who ever wanted to be better.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to modern training ideas
Review: As a forty year old man who has lifted weights and trained for sports since high school, I thought that I knew how to design my own training program. This book showed me that I had been wasting my time and achieving sub-optimal results all those years. I took up karate at 37, and quickly realized that I needed to improve my conditioning to be able to safely practice the martial arts. I picked this up two years ago and found it to be a valuable resource. I am as strong or stronger today than I have ever been (including my time on a college varsity team), and feel like it as improved my ability to effectively and safely study and practice the martial arts. The negative reviewers have a point, this book does have an emphasis on strength training. That is mostly because it is the easiest thing for most people to improve, and makes the biggest difference in your performance. If you understand the principles of modern strength training, you will get less out of this book than I did. However, most weight lifting books that I have seen are focused on the bodybuilding community, and will not teach you how to train to improve your strenth while maintaining your fighting weight, or how to train to improve your speed, the way this book will. (Some of the weight training books that are focused on training for athletic performance are referenced in the book.) The discussions of endurance training, stretching, and nutrition are shorter, but were still very useful to me, and provide a good basis for designing a training program to improve your performance in your martial art. This book is definitely designed for someone who wants to be a more competitive athlete, not a body builder. I use the ideas from this book to guide my conditioning training, I use my sensei to guide my karate-specific training, and I have been very happy with my results.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware ! The description is misleading ...
Review: I bought this book expecting to find information on how to develop & build certain attributes for a martial artist. I am very disappointed, this book is mainly based on "Weight Training" sequences. You can probably find most of the training information provided here in any good book on weight training. And it will probably be more complete!
Rating:
Summary: Every Karate School Should Study This Book
Review: I wish I had this book when I started karate. I wouldn't have been injured so much from improper training. This book covers exactly what is lacking in most martial arts schools. It covers the science of the physical training needed to be your best and achieve it safely and efficiently. It won't teach you specific stances or blocks, but that's what schools and sites like combastics are for. I don't know of any other book that provides such a complete physical training regiment (not just weight training) tailored specifically for martial artists to develop strength, speed, and flexibility. Some people might find the detailed explanations of physiology too technical and above their heads as I did at first. But, I think it's better to have the information available than to not. They weren't kidding when they put "Science" in the title. If you should be wary of anything, then beware of taking fitness advice from well-meaning karate instructors not certified in personal fitness or training on your own uneducated.
Rating:
Summary: A superb addition to personal and professional collections.
Review: In The Science Of Martial Arts Training, sports science expert and accomplished martial artist Charles Staley draws upon his decades spent studying the training techniques of successful athletes and martial artists to present a competent, insightful, effective, "reader friendly" text covering such issues as strength development, flexibility, speed and quickness, tournament strategy, mental preparation, avoidance of injuries, and proper nutrition for the student of martial arts, regardless of which form or branch is being learned and practiced. The Science Of Martial Arts Training is a superb addition to any personal, dojo, or community library martial arts reference collection.
Rating:
Summary: Not very interesting...
Review: Like the reader from Walnut Creek says, this book is essentially a weight training book, and frankly, not a very interesting, thorough, or original one. I was sorely disappointed. There was really no information that hasn't already been published a hundred times before in a hundred other similar books and magazines. Nothing cutting edge or inspiring or anything that makes you stop and think, wow, now that's a good idea, I can't wait to try that. I've enjoyed some of Staley's writings in the magazines and on his website, but this was just a real let down.
Rating:
Summary: Not very interesting...
Review: Like the reader from Walnut Creek says, this book is essentially a weight training book, and frankly, not a very interesting, thorough, or original one. I was sorely disappointed. There was really no information that hasn't already been published a hundred times before in a hundred other similar books and magazines. Nothing cutting edge or inspiring or anything that makes you stop and think, wow, now that's a good idea, I can't wait to try that. I've enjoyed some of Staley's writings in the magazines and on his website, but this was just a real let down.
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