Some say
you can learn more life lessons from martial arts than from documentaries and
journalists’ reports. This book is about fighting, learning and studying
people. It’s about whether one could become a better person through sports,
based on my training in different striking and grappling disciplines for 30
years. I try to pinpoint some aspects of fighting, self-defense, and the
learning process, which can be helpful for everyone.
Why fight? What can I get from it? How much effort is it worth? How to learn
combat efficiently? Which martial arts are currently martial and which have
become just an art? How can my insecurities be related to my need to fight? Can
I become better and fulfilled through fighting? How being an adrenaline junkie
and my ego can harm me and others? Why are there so many weird guys in the
gyms? Where are the true sensei? What can meditation techniques have to do with
all this?
It’s for people looking in martial arts for something more than the primitive
pounding, who feel that they should be about something other than “ripping the
opponent's head off” and getting a shiny medal for that. Such skills are
important, but let’s hope we will never have to use them in real combat. This
book should serve as a shortcut for not wasting your time and health on some
people. Instead, I hope you will take care of sensible, methodical development,
both physically and mentally – for yourself and for others.
