AWARDS

FINALIST—2022, Sports, Best Books Award American Bookfest

The Art and Science of Self Defense Training provides you with a condensed system of distilled self-defense skills and techniques, each carefully selected for its reliability in a high stress environment.

Topics include situational awareness, avoidance, and how to take action should you need to physically defend yourself.

Martial arts, combat sports, and self-defense are different realms; although interconnected they are not entirely the same. — This book can help bridge that gap.

This curriculum is streamlined and divided into nine logical stages of training that allows both martial artists and those with no formal fighting experience to quickly and methodically learn and develop reliable skills for self-defense.

While training in the martial arts or competitive combat sports can aid you in a self-defense situation, it does not prepare you for those aspects that are unique to actual self-defense.

The book begins with the basics, upon which everything else relies – awareness, avoidance, and anticipation skills – before moving on to building a reliable arsenal of self-defense techniques. You will progress through a series of carefully selected actions for high stress situations.

The aim of this curriculum is to improve confidence and skills in a structured and logical way.

Topics include

• Awareness skills including situational, spatial, and environmental
• Avoidance skills to deal with fear, escape, and de-escalation
• Anticipation skills for being approached, posturing, and reading body language
• Action arsenal including targeting, striking, yelling, evading, and countering
• Advanced arsenals for dealing with ground fighting, weapons, and multiple attackers

Whether you are just starting out, or have been practicing martial arts for years, there are important self-defense skills for everyone in this book.

"The Art and Science of Self Defense provides you with a condensed system of distilled skills and techniques, each carefully selected for its reliability in a high stress environment. Martial arts, combat sports, and self-defense are different realms, and while interconnected, they are not the same. This book helps bridge the gap. While training in the martial arts or competitive combat sports can aid you in a self-defense situation, it does not prepare you on how to take action should you need to physically defend yourself. Topics include awareness skills, including situational, spatial, and environmental; avoidance skills to deal with fear, escape, and de-escalation; anticipation skills for being approached, posturing, and reading body language; action arsenal including targeting, striking, yelling, evading, and countering; and advanced arsenals for dealing with ground fighting, weapons, and multiple attackers. Whether you are just starting out, or have been practicing martial arts for years, there are important self-defense skills for everyone in this book"--

“Like his previous books, The Art and Science of Stick Fighting and The Art and Science of Staff Fighting, Joe Varady’s latest work is extremely well-organized and provides a systematic instructional guide to self-defense. The Art and Science of Self-Defense tackles this multifaceted subject in a logical and practical manner, providing overriding principles of safety and self-defense as well as instructional activities and simple physical techniques. It is a terrific addition to any self-defense library. This is a guide that contains not only material to be studied but also activities and techniques to be practiced. This combination of study and practice will provide the reader the knowledge, skills, and confidence to hopefully avoid but also, if necessary, to better face potentially dangerous situations. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to increase their understanding of self-defense to be better prepared to live safely in our modern world.”

—Alain Burrese, fifth dan hapkido, former Army sniper, author of Survive a Shooting, 101 Safety Tips series, and Tough Guy Wisdom vols. 1-3

 

"What is most intriguing about this particular work is how both a novice and an accomplished martial artist can read through the text and learn from this greatly accomplished master’s perspective. The Art and Science of Self-Defense walks you through the legal aspects of defending yourself, awareness, and assessing and recognizing threats in addition to delving into defensive tactics at all levels.

This book does not disappoint and absolutely everyone who reads it will walk away with something they will greatly benefit from.”

—Michael Gallagher, USA Taekwondo National Weapons Champion; owner/operator/instructor, Generations Taekwondo

 

"The Art and Science of Self-Defense is a great resource for both teachers and students as the organization of the material is logical and each chapter builds on basic principles in an easy-to-understand format of concepts, explanatory photos and illustrations, and personal stories and insights to support the ideas presented.

I appreciate the chapter ‘Self-Defense and the Law,’ as that is something that is so important to understand—how situations can develop that could become litigious, even if you are just trying to defend yourself."

—Allyson Appen, master-level shichidan (seventh-dan), Cuong Nhu martial arts

 

"I have over forty years of training and self-defense experience, and I believe this book distills a myriad of concepts into an easy-to-follow set of instructions. I would recommend this guide to those wishing to learn self-defense, combined with carrying out the physical drills recommended by the author.”

—Master Michael A. Ponzio, shichidan (seventh dan), Cuong Nhu martial arts, author of the Ancestry novels

 

"The Art and Science of Self-Defense is perfect for anyone who would like to gain in-depth insight into self-defense and the encounters that may be faced in the real world. The techniques in the book are broken down into steps and have descriptions under the illustrations ensuring that anyone can follow along and learn the techniques. Master Varady provides various levels of topics and instruction that build an understanding of self-defense."

—Ramon Santiago Jr., Grandmaster, seventh dan, Universal Systems of Martial Arts (board member)