A few months ago, Loren W. Christensen and Mark Mireles released their latest collaboration: a book on self defense called “Total Defense“. It has an interesting concept (which I’ll explain in the first question) and when Loren told me about it, I asked if he wanted to do an interview. He agreed and here we are.
Also, Mark Mireles has also agreed to do an interview so you’ll get both perspectives. You can read it here: Total Defense: Interview with Mark Mireles.
Total Defense: Interview with Loren W. Christensen
Q: This book has a unique approach: two authors show techniques to solve the same problem and give totally different solutions. Doesn’t this mean you both contradict each other?
A: Not at all. The idea is that the reader sort of gets two books in one. Mark is a wrestler and jujitsu guy with decades of experience in competition and on the street as an LAPD cop. I’ve got nearly 46 years as a punch/kick fighter (a combination of karate, kung fu, muay Thai and boxing), as a grappler (jujitsu, aikido, chin-na and police defensive tactics) and in arnis. In the book, Mark does just a little hitting and I do just a little grappling. Mostly we stress our primary arts to show how each of us would, or have in the past, defended against a specific attack.
In all of my books, I stress the importance of simplicity in battle. Such is the case in Total Defense. Mark shows how easy it is to dominate an attacker with simple grappling moves and I show how easy it is to dominate using clawing, ripping, gouging, and hitting.
Q: “Total Defense” has a specific topic: defending yourself against the most common techniques used in a street fight. Can you give some examples of these? [Read more…]
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