The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts

A comprehensive guide to the rewarding pursuit of historical martial arts, from choosing a source, study and research of historical manuals to developing and conducting a training program that serves your purpose best. Benefit from the experience of one of the most accomplished experts in the field. A must-read for beginners and advanced practitioners alike. Roland Warzecha, DIMICATOR Guy is one of the best authors writing about martial arts today. He offers a unique blend of knowledge and experience, always with an emphasis on safety. Guy really sets the standard for realizing historical training manuals, but in this book, he presents the reader with a broad based primer historical European martial arts. A great book and a good read. -- James Sanderson Though focused on historical European sword fighting this book is an excellent handbook on learning any martial art. As a four decade student of martial arts I especially appreciated his section on developing your own drills and his constant emphasis on safety. In short a guy who knows his stuff (Couldn't resist.) I purchased a pre-release copy that's how I can review a book that came out yesterday. - Rocky This is a great introduction for anyone interested in getting into learning historical martial arts. Guy has many other excellent books covering various specific historical masters or weapon systems, but this book explains the thinking and process involved in recreating any historical martial art from historical sources. Guy covers topics such as how to read and interpret historical source material, how to construct a core drill, organize a practice group or teach a class as well as principles for monitoring your own skill level and determining what to focus on to improve. -- David Tehan Once again Guy has written an excellent book on Historical Martial Arts. This one distils his 20+ years in studying historical texts and applying them using today's training methods, to provide beginners and more advanced students alike with the skills they need to take a manuscript, interpret it and develop and deliver a training course on it. I've been lucky enough to train with Guy at several workshops he's run and this book feels like I am back in one of his classes, put now I'm getting the expanded and in-depth theory as well as the practice. Well worth the read for anyone into historical martial arts or those who want to improve their training in any discipline. - SLW This is the book I wish I had when I started my journey into historical martial arts three decades ago. With the exploding popularity of the subject, we're seeing an abundance of translations and interpretations of the source material, but very few core sources on how to actually go about using them effectively. This book organizes these elements into a foundation for a personal practice, a study group, a school, or beyond. As an experienced practitioner, it's helped me reset my priorities and add depth to my practice. If you're new to the field, all I can say is start here. -- Eric Mauer