Mark Hatmaker - NHB Fighting Book Review

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1080

from mmafighting.com

from: Mike Alan

Book Review: Mark Hatmaker's "No Holds Barred Fighting" series
By Mike Alan (September 22, 2003)

Mark Hatmaker is a man on a mission to spread the effectiveness of western disciplines in no holds barred fighting. Western boxing, wrestling and empiricism make up the foundation of his Extreme Self Protection program and are quite effective in getting to the heart of successful NHB and MMA fighting. Mark has authored several books and produced training videos on all aspects of NHB fighting that are available on www.extremeselfprotection.com. He regularly holds training seminars across the United States and his innovative ESP RAW program releases a monthly video with the latest training regimen taken directly from what he is teaching his students.

Mark Hatmaker's (with Doug Werner) books No Holds Barred Fighting and More No Holds Barred Fighting: Killer Submissions are the first training books that are so good, that I have torn them apart--literally. They contain a massive amount of practical and effective NHB fighting submissions and chains with over 650 photographs per book illustrating each move in detail. These books are perfect for using right on the dojo mat, which is why I tore my copies apart and turned them into one binder contained manual.

In No Holds Barred Fighting (The Ultimate Guide to Submission Wrestling), Mark has written a comprehensive manual of takedowns, rides, submissions and escapes. Every page is filled with photos illustrating every move and what your body should be doing at each stage. Even handgrips are shown and explained which is missing in most instructional books. The fighters in the photos are in tee shirts and shorts, which allows us to see exactly where each hold's pressure points are applied. Thankfully there are no GI-s to cover up the holds, everything is clear and concise. The book is broken down in easy to digest sections that take you through all facets of NHB fighting.

- Safety
- Working terms
- Grips
- Stance/footwork
- Gear
- Moves on the mat
- Ground control
- Takedowns
- Takedown defense
- Submissions
- Escapes
- Drills

This book will bring new tools to trained fighters as well as being a wealth of knowledge to MMA non-fighting fans to help them understand the intricacies of what they are seeing in their favorite professional MMA bouts and what effect the holds have. If you enjoy watching a master submission fighter in Pride FC or UFC roll through a chain searching for the winning submission hold, then you will enjoy the layout of this book as it takes you from chain to chain along with their counters and escapes.

The sequel More No Holds Barred Fighting: Killer Submissions by Mark Hatmaker with Doug Werner picks up where the first book left off and is exhaustive in the coverage of submission chains it includes. This is submission wrestling at its finest and the depth of material covered is impressive. There are variations on submission chains that I didn't even know existed. There is even a chapter devoted entirely to the chains used most often by Kazushi Sakuraba!
It is laid out in the following easy to follow format:

- Conditioning
- Take a breather
- Take it to heart
- Killer submission chains
- Scarlet Pimpernel series
- Turn the corner series
- Double cross-face series
- Two hooks for thought and one to avoid (and why)
- Chain for Kazushi
- Reverse cross-face series
- Reverse full nelson series
- Arm drag to floating sweep series
- Squatting series
- Arm bar helpers
- Hanging leg lock series
- Back to basics
- Lullaby chain

This book is a master's course in submissions that even the most accomplished fighter is bound to find something new to try out on the mat. I recommend purchasing this book along with the first as together they are a virtual history and instruction manual of the submission ground game in an easy to understand format. Best of all, at only $12.95 each (U.S.) these books are a bargain that definitely exceeded my expectations. In fact, the quality and information is such that I have already made plans on which of Mark's training videos I will order next. Spending my money is the best recommendation I can give and Mark Hatmaker has my respect.

Please visit Mark's website at www.extremeselfprotection.com for more information about his background as a teacher and ordering his fighting products. Our thanks go to Mr. Jaime Guthals for helping arrange this review as well as an interview with Mark Hatmaker.

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1080

from jerseyshorebjj.com old forum

form a guest

hate to be so negative when posting my first review...

I have to say that neither of Mr Hatmakers books really changed my approach to rasslin. We are told on the back cover that he has 2 decades of experience in martial arts and is a highly regarded coach of amateur and professional fighters.

The reference for this book is mma( which to be fair I don't do a lot of) & sub wrestling. As a mostly gi based BJJ blue belt perhaps these book just didn't fit my context Bearing this in mind...

NHB The Ultimate guide...Is sort of a rough guide to sub/mma. Hatmaker has an extremely enthusiastic writing style and goes through a wee bit of everything: Safety, equipment, terminology, takedowns, 'rides' 'escapes' and submissions.
A lot of the stuff reminds me of material I have seen by Tony Ceccine and it is interesting to read about different names for techniques different approaches to solving problems like guard passing.

the book had the feel of a beginners guide with lots of basics but quite a lot of the submissions were fairly nasty (a calf crank and a neck crank from mount/saddle. A very precarious looking 'hangmans drop' neck crank from scarf hold) The guard passing section notably opened the guard with 'digging elbows into the femoral mass.' Generally I felt that lots of details were missed and that technique was often replaced with more of a more attribute based approach.

Overall though this book is fairly inexpensive and there are some interesting ideas which anyone can incorporate into their game.
Score 2/5

Killer Submissions I feel is a much better book.
There are good chapters on conditioning, breathing and leverage. He then goes on to describe 13 submission combos many useful and many with very very silly names: The actually very cool "scarlet pimpernel series" is a shining example (guillotine escape sequence). There is also the nasty Sakuraba Kimura sequence dedicated to the Gracie Hunter which is pretty sick.

As is always the case with Catch inspired stuff there are lots of neck cranks which probably too dangerous to roll with enuff to incorporate into your game and leglocks which work very well in instructionals but never seem to materialise in any fights I have ever seen in bjj/sub rasslin or mma.
I have had a lot of fun messing about with some of the combos and again the book is quite cheap. Lots of good photos are helpful.
Overall 3/5

For a 5 Star Sub Grappling book check amazon under Royler Gracie...

Site Admin Joined: Apr 11, 2005 Posts: 1080

from jerseyshorebjj.com old forum

from: gokuryu

I give both of these book 3out of 5 also. Like our guest said they are really basic. (which i need) But its moslty MMA/NHB stuff. Not for a sport BJJ. It might be more for Submission wrestling also.

Not bad books at all. But some of the submissions get kinda complicated and hard to follow. But the ones that are easy to understand are unqiue and look effective.

I also have his killer strikes book. I have to break that out again because i just started sparring as a workout.