Customer Rating:  
Summary: I Wish The Book Had Been As Good As The Abilities Of The Author
Comment: Beyond Kicking by Jean Frenette
There is absolutely no doubt that the author of this book is one of the best martial arts forms competitors to have ever competed anywhere in the world. His skills and flexibility shine like one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Now having said that, I have nothing but the highest admiration for the accomplishments and ability of the author. My only concern is the lack of detailed descriptions of the techniques shown in this book.
Even if I had written this review when this book first came out in 1991 I would still have given it a 3 star rating, which in itself is quite good since I am also the author of several books on the very same subject matter, and therefore, perhaps more critical of the content than I should be. This is not to imply that this book doesn't have some valuable information in it, because it does. However, it simply doesn't have enough of it in it, when it really should. There was plenty of room available for more detailed text alongside the photographs, but it simply wasn't there. The other major problem I had was the layout of the photographs, which at times were a bit confusing to follow.
I am going to break this review down by sections and will post my thoughts on each section as I go.
THAT CHAMPIONSHIP WORKOUT
In this section, the author emphasizes the fact that the primary focus of this book is for the tournament competitor and that the need for overall conditioning is of primary importance and that stretching if and of itself is only a small part of the entire kicking package.
WARMING UP & STAYING STRONG
This section was rather brief, but it did have some pretty basic information on stretching. I did feel that there should have been a more detailed explanation accompanying each technique featured in this section. The explanations that were provided were very short and minimally descriptive in their content.
SUPERSTRETCHING EXERCISES
This was actually a pretty interesting section and one that I would recommend only to individuals that already have attained a fair degree of flexibility and are very familiar with stretching and their bodies in general. This section mainly focuses on some very intense partner stretching and should only be done under the watchful eye of a qualified and competent martial arts instructor. These stretches can be very dangerous if done improperly and should not be attempted by the novice individual.
SUPER KICKING & JUMP KICKING DRILLS
This section starts out with a good, but rather brief section on the importance of your entire body position when kicking, not just your kicking leg. As with the other sections in this book, their simply isn't enough detailed text to go along with the accompanying photographs. The author continues this section with a demonstration of the following basic kicks.
Front Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 6)
Side Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 10)
Roundhouse Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 9)
Hook Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 7)
Back Kick (Achieving Kicking Excellence, Vol. 1)
He then goes into a short section on combination kicking followed by a really brief section on utilizing the kicking shield and kicking paddle.
WEIGHT TRAINING FOR THE MARTIAL ARTIST
This section was okay in its premise; however it could have and should have been a lot more detailed in describing the exercises and providing more information on how each exercise would improve your martial arts technique.
CONCENTRATION & VISUALIZATION
This section was almost so short that it shouldn't even have been included in the book. The information the author relayed to the reader was good, but all I felt was still hungry for more after I finished reading this section. This section really should have been at least a few more pages in length.
THE CARDIOVASCULAR PUMP-UP
This section is an identical repeat to the above section in that it was almost so short that it shouldn't even have been included in the book. The information the author relayed to the reader was good, but there just wasn't enough information in it. This section really should have been at least a few more pages in length.
THE DIET OF CHAMPIONS
"Proper diet often is the most neglected aspect of a martial artist's overall training program." This fantastic quote from the author starts off this section on diet, which is really too short to do you much good and the diet provided is that which the author himself follows, which may or may not be a good one for you. I would suggest finding a good nutrition book and using that along with the advice of a qualified and competent nutritionist to design a nutritional program that is tailor made to fit you and your individual needs.
YOUR WEEKLY TRAINING SCHEDULE
This section was so short that it left a lot to be desired. The workout schedule was not even worth looking over more than the one time that I did, although the author did include a short section showing different ways to perform the basic push-up. However, as with all of the sections, there should have been a lot more detailed explanations accompanying each technique.
Overall this book was pretty good, but it seemed to follow the tried and true layout that all kicking books seemed to follow from 10 to 20 years prior to the publication of this book, all the way up to and including most of those recently published in 2007. That is to say a lot of photographs with very little descriptive text accompanying them to better explain the execution of each technique demonstrated. I don't know if this is the fault of the authors, publishers, or a combination of both, but it really is detrimental to the overall quality of the book and the authors themselves.
Shawn Kovacich
Martial Artist/Author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: a challenging approach to developing flexibility
Comment: This book is thorough, well organized and well layed out. The verbal descriptions of the moves are clear. (Some of the photographs are a little fuzzy, however.) Besides the chapters on stretching there are chapters on kicking drills, weight training, concentration and visualization, and diet (although his recommendations to eat horse meat and avoid ice cream didn't grab me). He also provides sample weekly training schedules for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. But beginners beware: this book is not for beginners. It assumes you can do the splits, and was designed to follow Frenette's first book, entitled Jean Frenette's Complete Guide to Stretching. If you're starting out, start there.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It can greatly improve your kicking and felxibility.
Comment: This book is exellent.It shows you how to kick higher and become flexible.It has breathing exercises,warm-ups, and kicking exercises.If you are a martial artist and need to improve your kicking and flexibility greatly.
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