The book is intended for a wide range of readers, mainly for young people who are just planning to take up any of the many styles of martial art, but are not able to make the right choice. Those who already practice martial arts and have managed to reach a certain level will find in the book a lot of methodological subtleties and nuances that are little known even among high-ranking instructors and athletes. Written in simple, accessible language, without special terminology, it includes a huge amount of information and living examples from the author’s more than 30 years of experience in practicing and teaching martial arts. The book differs favorably from other literature on martial arts in that it does not have a pronounced stylistic reference, but concerns general points that are equally interesting to representatives of all directions.