Most people who have been involved in a series of fights have experienced the “now what” moment when a technique did not produce the desired result, or when they faced someone of outsized proportions or obviously out of their minds due to some intoxicant. . (“Now what” is probably not what you were thinking, it was more like, “Oh, and you can complete the expletive.”) I’ve always taught that nothing is 100%, and I like to see Loren W. Christensen teach the same thing. He mentions it more than once in his book “Fighting the pain resistant attacker: fighting drunkards, drug addicts, deranged and others who tolerate pain.” This book is full of tips and techniques to use against those who do not feel or react like most people to painful techniques. These are techniques for the “now what” moments. The book does not attempt to cover everything. It focuses on a collection of techniques for a specific purpose and, in that sense, it is a very good book.
The book is just over 200 pages long and is divided into ten chapters. These chapters consist of: The practicalities of not feeling pain; Back of the head, temple, mastoid and eardrum; Eyes and Nose; Brachial plexus, vargus nerve, throat and nape; Constriction of the carotid artery; Head and neck combinations; Torso; Biceps, forearms and fingers; Legs, femoral nerve, knees and peroneal nerve; and takedowns. The table of contents sums up this book pretty well. Straight forward, Christensen teaches techniques targeting those points on the body specifically for attackers who feel no pain. They are brutally effective and for the most part easy to execute, which should be self defense techniques. There are many black and white images that illustrate very well the movements that Christensen teaches.
Additionally, there are “Key Concept” and “Caution” sidebars that provide additional important information for anyone studying self defense and wanting to learn how to better defend themselves, both on the street and in the courtroom after the violence has ended. . . Christensen also adds a bit of lightness and humor to what would otherwise be a serious topic. In a sequence of images in which he attacks a female model, the caption begins: “The handsome attacker grabs your left arm.” On another occasion, after telling a story about asking a student to hit him on a level 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, he acknowledges, “It’s not that I’m a coward, I just don’t like pain.”
Overall, I really enjoyed this quick read and it reinforced some of the techniques I already teach, and I learned a couple of variations to work on my training. I also appreciated some of the medical explanations because I don’t think the person who studies martial arts or self defense, and especially those of us who teach, know too much. We must always learn and improve ourselves. This book was a very nice addition to my library of marital art and self defense and will be a nice addition to yours too!