Today's excerpt begins on page 19.
Unarmed combat requires a very high level of physical fitness and overall body conditioning.
Especially is this true for women, who, to begin with, have less muscular strength than men.
In order to develop and maintain a sufficient level of condition to save your life, you MUST devote time regularly to an effective program of physical exercise.
Every woman who is serious about her health and about becoming physically able to ACTUALLY DO what she LEARNS FROM this book, should spend at least 30 minutes every day on the exercises outlined in this chapter.
To attempt to study unarmed combat without a corresponding program of COMBATIVE-ORIENTED fitness training is to reduce the ultimate efficiency of your skills by at least 50%.
YOU MUST EXERCISE AND CONDITION YOUR BODY FOR THE RIGORS OF ACTUAL FIGHTING, OR YOU WILL BE DEVELOPING FALSE CONFIDENCE INSTEAD OF COMBAT ABILITY WHEN YOU STUDY THE TECHNIQUES IN THIS MANUAL.
Question
What is ‘combative-oriented’ physical conditioning?
Answer
It is conditioning for the purpose of HARDENING the body, and for training the body to execute combat techniques.
Particular emphasis is given to developing . . .
a. Strength in the abdominal, leg and arm muscles.
b. Strong hands.
c. Stamina.
d. Will power and determination.
e. Body speed and flexibility.
Although not intended specifically as a 'figure control’ exercise program, the course of exercises described will-definitely help any woman to maintain a trim figure and sound health.
It will help to build graceful movement of the body, and will produce a high degree of self-confidence and poise.
Regular participation is the key to success in physical conditioning.
Exercise should be conducted in a clean, well-ventilated area.
Wear loose and comfortable clothes when you exercise.
Remove jewelry, etc.
Exercise at a convenient and regular time.
Do not hold your breath when exercise is being done; breathe normally.
Start off easily, taking a full month to ‘break into’ your exercises, until you push for serious, tough workouts.
Be extremely careful practicing the two-man type exercises with your practice partner.
Don’t let the aggressive nature of these drills get out of hand.
Don’t injure your partner!
Running is perhaps the finest conditioning exercise anyone — man or woman — can do.
It builds health, enormous stamina, endurance, and great will power.
It is the KING OF CONDITIONERS!
And it is simple, cheap and available to everybody who wants to do it.
You need nothing except your own body and space.
Just go somewhere and run.
It is best to begin a running program with jogging.
Jog for fifteen minutes a day, five days a week.
After several weeks increase the time to a good thirty-minute jogging session.
Then, gradually, begin to actually rum.
Run for at least fifteen minutes a day — and, whenever possible, for thirty or forty-five minutes.
You should run like you wanted to catch someone.
In a month’s time you'll be in the best shape of your life, if you’ve never exercised regularly before.
In physical training have no fear that you will get muscles like a man.
I have heard many women voice this really needless fear when commencing a program of exercises.
Combative exercises are designed to build solid internal health and vigorous body tone — not bulging muscles.
No. 1 Neck rotations and massage
Stand erect and slowly rotate the head in a circle — forward, side and then back.
Now do the same thing to the opposite side, completing forty repetitions in all.
When finished, vigorously knead and massage the back of your neck with either hand.
No. 2 Body circles and stomach hardening
Place hands on hips, and stand erect.
Now bend forward as far as possible, then turn to the side.
Move the torso back, and complete a full body rotation in one direction.
Reverse and do one repetition to the opposite side.
Repeat twenty repetitions on each side.
When finished, stand erect and EXHALE.
Keep stomach muscles tense, and vigorously massage the tensed stomach muscles by pounding rapidly on them with the edges of both hands.
Go easy at first!
No. 3 Knee bends
Start with feet about fourteen inches apart, hands on hips.
Keep head up and squat down until your thighs are just below parallel position with the floor.
Come erect.
Repeat, and breath freely and forcefully.
Do fifty repetitions, and work up to one hundred.
No. 4 Side bends
Stand erect with hands clasped behind the head.
Bend to the left side, KEEPING ELBOWS POINTING DIRECTLY TO THE SIDES, and then bend to the right side.
Move rapidly.
Do thirty to forty repetitions on each side.
No. 5 Twists
Stand exactly as in the previous exercise, and twist vigorously to the left, facing in that direction as you turn.
Twist HARD!
Now twist to the right.
Repeat about fifty times each way.
No. 6 Front leg limbering
Stand comfortably with one leg about six inches behind the other.
Keep the rear leg straight, and swing it up, in an arc-like sweep, as high as possible, to the front.
You should be able to bring your foot to the height of your head, with practice.
Do fifteen ‘kick’ movements in this manner on each side.
No. 7 Side leg limbering
Exactly as the previous exercise, but you turn to the side as you stretch, and you turn your kneeso that it faces ahead.
No. 8 Hand strengthening
Stand or sit.
Extend arms to the sides and open and close your hands as rapidly as possible.
Count slowly to 500 before stopping.
No. 9 Lunges
Stand erect and place hands on hips.
Now lunge forward with one leg and split low, so that you are close to the ground.
Arise, and lunge forward with the opposite leg.
Do twenty repetitions on each side.
No. 10 Sit-ups
Lie down and either anchor feet under a heavy piece of furniture, or have your partner hold your feet.
Clasp hands behind neck and sit up, touching your knees with your elbows.
Repeat 25 times, and work up to 50 sit-ups.
No. 11 Isometric push
Select any solid wall — or tree — and try to push it down.
Place both hands on the wall and push with everything you’ve got!
Really try to push it down!
Repeat a CONSTANT PUSHING ACTION for about twenty seconds.
Rest.
Repeat for about twenty seconds more.
No, 12 Isometric pull
Same idea as the previous exercise.
Tie a strong rope to a tree or to the back of a truck.
Take a firm grip with both hands and PULL.
PULL, PULL, PULL with all of your power for twenty seconds.
Rest a minute, and repeat.
No. 13 Jumping
Very simple, but very effective and an excellent over-all exercise.
Do outdoors or in a gym with a high ceiling.
Leap into the air, as high as possible.
Repeat, trying to touch the sky, for about twelve repetitions.
No. 14 Body stretch
Stand on tip-toes and try to reach up and touch the ceiling.
Really stretch hard.
Relax.
Stretch again, and repeat twenty times.
An excellent conditioner.
No. 15 Rope jumping
Buy a good ball-bearing jump rope and learn to use it, if you don’t already know!
Try to jump rope several times a week for about ten minutes.
The best results will be attained if the foregoing course is combined with RUNNING.
Tug of war:
A strong rope and a willing partner are all you need for this excellent conditioner.
Go for an all-out rough tug-of-war contest with your partner.
It is best to do this with a man, so that you really get to pit your strength against a man’s.
Push contest:
Take hold of your opponent’s shoulders and let him take hold of yours.
Now PUSH!
Try to drive your practice partner backward, then stop.
Don’t try to knock your partner to the floor!
One-leg fights:
Hold one ankle in one hand and stand on one leg.
Face your training partner as he does the same.
Now go for each other and try to knock each other over, WITHOUT letting go of your ankle.
The first one to fall loses.
Slap boxing:
Practice VERY GENTLY at first.
Simply “‘box’’ with your partner by attempting to slap him about the shoulders and face.
SLAP ONLY, don’t ever hit with a closed fist.
Block if you can, and see how sharp your reflexes can become.
‘Bear hug’ isometrics:
Have your partner get a moderately strong bear hug on you — front or rear, over your arms.
Now just force your arms OUTWARD against his encircling arms.
Maintain the effort for at least twelve seconds.
Repeat a second time.
Choke training:
Let your partner attempt to choke you — EASILY.
You will be surprised that, by having him do this regularly, your neck muscles will become quite resistant to hand and finger pressure.
As soon as the pressure is too severe, tap his wrist, and he must let go IMMEDIATELY.
Gradually increase vigor of the exercise.
Although no need exists to build the extremely hard hands of the professional karate fighter, slight toughening of the hands is desirable.
It will not result in any disfigurement or injury.
Five minutes of drumming the hand-edges on a hard surface — like a table top, will, over a period of weeks, gradually toughen the hands for a very potent strike.
Kicks can be practiced with sneakers against a tree or solid brick wall.
This is highly recommended practice, incidentally!
A pail filled with uncooked rice can be used to practice grasps.
Grab into the rice and squeeze hard.
Release your grip, and repeat.
Very effective.
An old pillow held by a friend can be your kicking ‘‘dummy.”’
It is the firm conviction of the author that PHYSICAL CONDITIONING IS AT LEAST HALF OF EFFECTIVE UNARMED COMBAT.
You must be physically fit and confident of your own body’s capability to ACT in order to be aggressive and successful in unarmed encounters.
This is brutal, dirty, and gut-level, and you need every advantage you can get in order to WIN.
This series of posts will insure that these free thinkers' works live on in living memory.
If only a few.
There is a reason these books are not taught in the modern skools.
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