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American Freestyle Karate: A Guide to Sparring
by Dan Anderson
Softcover(1981) ISBN 0-86568-021-3

I just received a shipment of 20 books
and I have them available for order
@ $20.00 per copy.

Click here to send me any technical questions

August 7, 2006 - It pains me to give notice the this book is now out of print. I have not been able to regain the rights to this book so that I can publish it on my own. I will keep this site updated if any progress is made in the matter.

Yours,
Dan Anderson

Possibly The Greatest Sparring Book Available - Kenneth Herfurth
"This book is a must for anyone who wants to take sparring seriously. This book is not a standard "primer" on martial arts movements, but instead, is a masterpiece in giving the karateka tools, both mentally and physically, to enhance their sparring abilities."

Outstanding - Loren W. Christensen, author of Speed Training and many other martial arts books.
"As a collector of over 300 books on the martial arts, Anderson's book is the best I have seen on sparring. A top tournament competitor in the '60s, '70s and '80s, Anderson has crammed his book with tons of information gathered from his vast experience sparring countless fighters nationally and internationally. American Freestyle Karate is an encyclopedia of techniques and concepts proven in the ring over many years of tough, competetive experience. I highly recommend this book."

Best Book On Sparring I Have Ever Read
"I have been involved in the martial arts for over nine years and I have never come across a better manual for sparring than this!! Mr. Anderson goes beyond the typical martial arts primer found in most martial arts books to explain strategy, angles of attack, different attacking modes. This is an excellent book for the experienced martial artist as it doesn't spend much time on basics. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving their sparring. This book is geared to competition but with a small amount of imagination the reader can apply it to street fighting!!! A wonderful book!!!

A Good Book
"I like the part in the book where Dan teaches you blocks and evading techniques. I used some of them in sparring and it works. His book gives detailed instruction on the basics and uses plain English. I recommend this book just to see what else is out there."

Burton Maben, 5th Dan Isshinryu Karate-Do
"I read this book until it was tattered and then I bought a new copy. I "borrowed" concepts, reworked them and then reworked them again. A book cannot teach how to do kumite (sparring), but his book will teach you how to be better at it - comprehensive and well written."

Eric R. Shellenbarger
American FreeStyle Karate by Dan Anderson
Dan Anderson has won over 60 grand championships in tournament competition. He knows sparring inside and out. His book is possibly the best sparring manual ever made. A must for the serious martial artist.

following three reviews from Amazon.com Reader Reviews
Great primer; teaches lost art of footwork. Sifu Dan was a top competitor during the golden age of American point karate, and everything taught has been "field-tested".Dan does not merely teach standard karate techniques, but also throws, hooks, uppercuts, knees and elbows.He organizes his conceptual material into a logical gradient learning system. His applications of Bruce Lee's five ways of attack and his appropriation of Ali's footwork are presented in a conceptually coherent manner. Most martial arts book deal with individual styles and specific techniques. Sifu gives you information that cuts across various styles and emphasizes principles as well as mere technique. His description of angle footwork is alone worth the price of the book, and so is his method of using the obscure "angle hammer" or inside hammerfist strike. Overall, he teaches you how to use footwork to keep yourself safe and to set up your opponent, in the best tradition of Bruce Lee and Joe "The Jaguar" Lewis.

Great Book - Not For The Beginner. I have been involved in martial arts for 4 years (about to test for my black belt in American Karate). No first year player should be looking to a book for sparring instructions! Any beginner in any style belongs in a studio well past one year learning basics from an instructor before picking up a book and attempting to learn something new. I picked this book up about a year ago when I got to brown belt and have used it VERY effectively in sparring (both free and point). The presentation of the critical distance range and effective monitoring range were great! This is an aspect of sparring that is not taught well or emphasized enough (at least in my school), but without mastering it you will not win.

If you are intermediate to advanced, seeking to refine, Dan's work smacks of sincere intent to TEACH GOOD SPARRING TACTICS. (Thanks for the recommend, btw) and I would recommend it too, though I probably shouldn't as I have a competition later this month and my opponent might be looking for something just like this to make our encounter more challenging on me).

Review Published In Inside Kung Fu Magazine by Emil Farkas, noted martial arts author and reviewer
"Having been a practitioner of traditional martial arts for many years, I tend to lean toward the classical styles. But to be good at anything, I've found, the secret is to be open minded and not to make premature judgements before giving something a chance. I picked up Dan Anderson's American Freestyle Karate reluctantly, but upon reading only a few pages I knew I had found a book that was not only different but had something significant to teach. Coming from a man as proficient in karate as he is, Anderson knows what he teaches, judging from his book he also knows how to teach it.

The book's main focus is on freestyle or kumite (the more traditional name for sparring). Few books tend to focus on this aspect of karate, and those that do are mostly pictorial with little insight to the instructor's mind. This is certainly not the case in Anderson's book.

He offers his knowledge liberally and covers sparring from a uniquely non-traditional approach. He borrows from anyone he respects and presents a training manual jammed packed with superb information.

He opens his book with stances, body movements, kick and punches. Even in these opening pages one can see his break with tradition. His stances are more like a boxer's than a karate man's, and his body movements incorporate straight, circular and angular moves. His kicks, though basically the same found in many styles, have the added element of a slide, hop or skip.

Where the book gets really good is when Anderson gets into "theory." Not only is he good at it, he knows how project these concepts and how they apply to karate.

Mobility, entry, straight rhythm, line and angle fighting, retreat, monitoring, offensinve and defensive approaches, combinations, indirect attack, trapping and so on, are concepts that are explained in detail and are mostly illustrated by photographs, and where necessary, by line drawings.

Many of his theories, after careful reading, make a great deal of sense regardless of style one studies - since Anderson's approach is take what you can do and learn how to do it better, not just physically but "mentally" as well.

American Freestyle Karate is a terrific teaching aid for anyone who wants to gain more knowledge about fighting in general. You will find more than your monies worth in American Freestyle Karate. Buy it, read it, you'll learn something new."