The Way to Black Belt: A Comprehensive Guide to Rapid, Rock-Solid Results

Cut to the very core of what it means to be successful in the martial arts.

Earning a black belt can be the most rewarding experience of a lifetime, but getting there takes considerable planning. Whether your interests are in the classical styles of Asia or in today's Mixed Martial Arts, this book prepares you to meet every challenge. Whatever your age, whatever your gender, you will benefit from the wisdom of master martial artists around the globe, who share more than 300 years of combined training experience. Benefit from their guidance during your development into a first-class black belt.

• Iain Abernethy
• Dan Anderson
• Loren Christensen
• Jeff Cooper
• Wim Demeere
• Aaron Fields
• Lawrence Kane
• Rory Miller
• Martina Sprague
• Phillip Starr
• Jeff Stevens
• Kris Wilder

...and many more.

Packed with actionable information, The Way to Black Belt will teach you how to set goals, find a good instructor, monitor your progress, overcome plateaus in your training, take advantage of learning opportunities, and work through the inevitable injuries that come with rigorous martial arts training.

Putting your skills to the test at each developmental stage of your training requires a certain mental 'clarity.' The authors examine what this means, how to find it, and how to make sure that when the time comes you are 100% prepared.

If you are serious about your martial arts training, The Way to Black Belt will arm you with the information you need to swiftly become a highly skilled, well-qualified black belt.

Lawrence is the best-selling author of nine books.

A founding technical consultant to University of New Mexico’s Institute of Traditional Martial Arts, he also has written numerous articles on martial arts, self-defense, and related topics for prestigious publications such as the International Ryukyu Karate-jutsu Research Society Journal, Jissen, Fighting Arts, and Traditional Karate magazine.

Since 1970, Lawrence has studied and taught traditional Asian martial arts, medieval European combat, and modern close-quarter weapon techniques. During the 26 years he worked stadium security part-time he was involved in hundreds of violent altercations, but got paid to watch football. He is currently a senior strategist at an aerospace company where he gets to play with billions of dollars of other people’s money and make really important decisions. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his son Joey and wife Julie.

Kris Wilder began his martial arts training in 1976 in the art of Tae Kwon Do, he has earned black belt-level ranks in three arts: Tae Kwon Do (2nd Degree), Kodokan Judo (1st Degree) and Goju-Ryu Karate (5th Degree), which he teaches at the West Seattle Karate Academy.

Though now retired from Judo competition, while active in the sport Kris competed on the national and international level. He has traveled to Japan and Okinawa to train in karate and has authored several books on the martial arts, including co-authoring The Way of Kata. He has also written guest chapters for other martial arts authors and has had articles published in Traditional Karate, a magazine out of the U.K. with international readership. Kris also hosts the annual Martial University, a seminar composed of multidisciplinary martial artists, and he regularly instructs at seminars.

Kris lives in Seattle, Washington with his son Jackson.