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'More Intelect than Manuals'
Crackpot Mailbox: MRT and James Discuss Learning Combat from Books
© 2019 James LaFond
SEP/11/19
I already own "Twerps Goons and Meatshields“ and "The Punishing Art“ , the first one you posted is a bit pricy for me now , i ll probably get n. 4 though when i land my next Job (next month or so if everything works out), the name alone is worth it. One thing James , your books need drawings, it is not easy to have all the moves in the Brain , plus not all of us are native speakers. Your fighting books are more intelect than manuals.
I wanted to tell you that since before i knew you had a blog , in your book you talk about the jab , i ‘ve boxed for fun no fights whatsoever just sparred a bit in the club and i used almost exclusively the Jab and always thought that was because i suck at boxing (which i do) but more is not really neccessery like the 80/20 principle, so after reading your book i said hey i suck 20% less than i thought.
-MRT
Sir, the two fighting manuals you own, are better described as manuals for coaches and people who have enough experience in those arts to grasp enough of the material to help them work through the rest of the material.
I do not have the ability to produce an illustrated manual. I cannot draw, have no photography equipment, no models, no gym or studio to shoot in, not even a room to live in, so can only write. I have tried to do instructional videos, but most of these never get posted by the folks who made them, I guess either because they viewed them and thought I was terrible or for some other reason. Also, since I am a fighter and coach and not an instructor, I really do not have the ability to structure methodical martial arts instruction.
I can fight.
I can advise [coach]
And I can comment.
So my books need to be used as an adjunct to your training under a coach or instructor. In terms of boxing and stick I will likely know much more than your instructor, so can be used as an adjunct. I coach under such men sometimes, who have successful martial arts businesses and like to have me helping their fighters. But I'm a searcher for truth, which means I am never comfortable enough to offer a complete version of the truth in terms of a fighting system, like other men who either know all or purvey orthodoxy and theory as a system. I am neither one of those men. I simply present my findings to fighters and coaches.
Right now, the only available book I have which has how-to illustrations, is The First Boxers, which cost me hundreds of dollars to illustrate, which means I lost money on it. The illustrations in The First Boxers are only of postures and hand orientations which would really help the beginner, but there is no instruction. It is a history of how men boxed, not a manual. Even if I had the money, that artist, being a competent professional, is all booked. The three projects I lined up with amateur artists and photographers all fell through, because photographers and artists who have not become pros and thus gone beyond my ability to hire, are almost all flakes and don't show up for sessions and rarely turn in finished work. I'll never do an illustrated of step-by-step photo book.
I did write a manual for a video coach who placed photos and videos in the e-book he hired me to write. But I do not have that ability.
The first book I cited, The Violence Project, is a combination of my first two books, which were banned by amazon, banned for me to publish, but you can still get them used on Amazon for too much money. Since our Book Store just went back up, the digital version of each is available at the links below.
The Fighting Edge
The Logic of Steel
And, MRT, if you are throwing mostly jabs you are on the right boxing path. When we throw jabs we develop the ability not just to jab, but to land with our other punches by calibrating our time and measure. So keep jabbing.
Thanks for your interest.
September 10 2019
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