Battlefield Pankration: The Book: Lethal Personal Combat for the Street Paperback – January 1, 2011

Pankration is the first mixed marital art invented by the ancient Greeks. The earlier versions of what would later become known as Pankration is where Karate and Kung fu have most of their origins. Pankration utilizes punching, kicking, wrestling and grappling techniques which later were discovered by the Japanese who called it Jujitsu and the Chinese called it Chin-a.. Some ancient Greek soldiers went to India well over 2,000 years ago and accepted some Indian students and taught them Pankration and then it spreaded from there. Soon after some Indians traveled to China and taught Pankration to them and then they took these Greek methods and adapted them to their own body types. I know this may be hard to take for fans of Asians Martial Arts but if you research this there is no denying it. It is the opposite of what you have to told most likely. The ancient Europeans were practicing punching, kicking and wrestling methods thousands of years before Karate, Kung fu and Jujitsu ever existed. Pankration is a very complete fighting art which will make you dangerous and ready for any situation. It is not a sport but a brutal art which includes attacks to the eyes, nose, neck and groin and other weak points. This book certainly will not disappoint you if you went to learn Pankration and learn about it`s history and origins. It`s the most realistic art for defending yourself on the street that I have ever seen.

This book shows excellent techniques and fundamentals of Streetfighting along with proper form, movement and "Streetsmarts". He also gives advice on how to avoid legal trouble in a Self-defense situation without yielding (sometimes fatally!) to the Adversary. He covers all ranges of Streetfighting, including Knife, Firearm and Blunt Object Defense, including baseball bats! However, there are many illustration flaws in the Knife and Firearm Defense sections, many of which can potentially get you maimed or killed. But the KNIFE AGAINST IMPROVISED WEAPONS and DEFENSE AGAINST BLUNT OBJECTS sections are very good with only one potential "error" in each section. Having trained in Krav Maga for over 6 years including at the Black Belt Level, I was keen enough to detect these illustration flaws and correct them by hand with my pen. Now my book of BATTLEFIELD PANKRATION is "Perfect!" (Lol!) with the Weapon Defense errors corrected (There is no guarantee in any Weapon Defenses since it is a dynamic situation with many variables!). The hand to hand combat sections are excellent along with the telescopic baton Instruction against a knife. As far as hand to hand Self-defense, an individual is not risking much trading blows of punches and kicks in the Street unless you are a woman fighting a man or the individual is fighting guys like "Iron Mike" Tyson, the late "Kimbo Slice", John "Bones" Jones and Lyoto Machida who have the skill, power and accuracy to cause "GBH" and possibly Death but statistically these type of men comprise only 2% of the American population Today. The companion Instruction video to this book is even better than the manual itself and near flawless in technique Illustration. Great Grandmaster Jim Arvanitis also excluded Multiple Attackers in both the manual and video so because of this and the weapons errors I give the book BATTLEFIELD PANKRATION "four Stars". Perhaps the book can be updated to a 2nd Edition with all flaws corrected and include the Modern-day Reality of Multiple Opponents, Multiple Armed Opponents, Flash Mobs and Long-gun Threats. Buy the book for excellent Hand to Hand Instruction but for flawless empty-hand weapons Defenses illustrated in book form, refer to the works of great Martial Arts and Combatives Masters like Kelley McCann and David Kahn.

Battlefield Pankration: The Book: Lethal Personal Combat for the Street is an excellent book detailing some of the street combat tools and tactics from the modern version of the ancient art of Pankration. Well organized and presented information. There is an excellent section on self defense and the law.

This book, focuses on the hardcore personal self-defense aspects of this art, which is called "pammachon." This is the battle field art and includes only those techniques that will take an enemy out in a life and death combat situation.This is a large book 260 page volume that teaches the basics of this street combat art. It is comprehensive in length. There are three parts to this manual. Chapters 1 and 2 cover the foundation, martial arts and self-defense and the way of the warrior. This is the shortest section. easy to read and follow with many step by step photos'

This is a good book to have . Arvantis is not saying anything new on the subject of self defense but what he does give you is simplicity in approach to self defense . Arvanitis is detailed in his explanations as to why or how a technique is used and is very mindful of the law when defending yourself .

Too much Blabla. Read W E Fairbanks "all in fighting" instead for no frills, no boasting from someone who has survived supposedly 600 streetlights against armed mafia/ gang members and became special is trainer for the allies in WWII

Great book on the street version of Pankration, effective, simple techniques in a big format book with clear pictures. Simply put and demonstrated by the master, Jim Arvanitis.

the style that started jiu-jitsu and showed real techniques for fighting!!! also demonstrates striking targets like from secret art of pressure point fighting...