Book Review: "Martial Power" by Steven J. Pearlman

I just finished reading “The Book of Martial Power” by the aforementioned author, published this year. A synopsis of this book, located on the back binder, states:

“Different styles of martial arts offer contradictory information, philosophies, and techniques for the body in combat. A practitioner of Judo might advocate grappling. reasoning that most fights converge into close range after a short time, while an advocate of Tae Kwon Do might argue that one should strive to maintain one’s distance in an encounter that would allow one to use the legs, the most powerful weapon on the human body.

A lifelong student and teacher of multiple styles of martial arts, Steven Pearlman has sought to distill from these disciplines not a fusion of techniques, but rather a compilation of fundamental principles that can guide the individual martial artist to the ideal action. Through his exploration of a set of basic principles that range from the physical (spinal alignment, the triangular guard, breathing) to the spiritual (the void, the body-mind, the character, Pearlman arrives at a system open to all martial artists without bastardizing the techniques of the original disciplines.”

Some thought-provoking topics covered in this book include:

breathing, posture;
the triangle guard;
the centerline;
the primary gate;
spinal alignment;
axis;
minor axes;
structure;
heaviness;
relaxation;
wave energy;
convergence;
triangulation point;
centrifugal force;
centripetal force;
live energy;
dead energy;
natural and unnatural motion;
weak link and many other martial topics.

The author has done considerable thinking on these topics and a terrific job explaining the concepts.

This book does not tout any particular martial style/system. But the author explores what makes martial techniques effective. Nice graphics accompanying the text enable the reader to comprehend the principles which apply to Filipino Martial Arts.

Stay tuned for additional book reviews!