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Medieval German Unarmed Combat: Basic Strikes & Throws DVD
By Pete Kautz, 2005, DVD

When it comes to an unarmed struggle of life and death, very little has changed since the time of the 15th century German Masters.  They created a simple, effective method for combat which 600 years later is still just as practical.

Very good stuff - as you say, 12 simple moves, infinite application.  And a cool dummy, too!  I like that it answers once and for all "where are the strikes in HEMA?", and also shows just how readily usable the system is in a modern context.  Good stuff. Let me put it this way - other than one technique we'll need to adapt (making a volta stabile with the third wrestling instead of a compass pace), I'd like to integrate this whole cloth with our abrazare training here.
Greg Mele, Founder of the Chicago Swordplay Guild

Video and manual arrived this morning, great stuff, hope you continue with the advanced material. Put me on the list!!!!  I was intrigued to see the pictures could have been taken straight from "Get Tough" or "Kill Or Be Killed".  Effective technique remains that regardless of time and place.  Excellent work.

Phil Melhop, New Zealand

Now with our Medieval German Unarmed Combat: Basics Strikes & Throws DVD you can learn the essential techniques that form the core of unarmed combat in the Medieval German tradition.  This new fighting course was taught for the first time publicly in Munich, Germany to the Historiche Kampfkunst (historical martial arts) group Ochs with great success, and I am very excited to offer it to you now as a home training program.

The material that Pete presented flows very nicely and can be used either as a miniature 'system within the system', or it can be integrated into the canon of the rest of the more complex wrestling techniques.  I wholeheartedly endorse Pete's work and I've decided to use it in my own teaching the second I saw it.  This is the real deal, folks!
Jörg Bellinghausen, Ochs, HEMAC, SSI

The Medieval German Unarmed Combat Level I: Basic Strikes & Throws DVD teaches twelve essential Mortstoke (Murder Strikes) and Ringen (Wrestling) techniques that form the core of unarmed combat in the Medieval German tradition. If you are a historical martial arts enthusiast this course will enhance your training with the traditional weapons.  If you are interested in serious self-defense you will like how easy it is to use these twelve essential movements of the German masters to spontaneously fight for real.

I just had the chance to go through the video, and it is a fantastic training aid.  Pete is truly one of the best martial arts instructors on the planet (really!), and this video will be of great benefit of all students of Medieval martial arts.  Though I don’t study the German system, the material is just as applicable to students of Fiore.  The “Murder Strikes” are pretty much the places of pain that Fiore speak of, and the “Three Wrestlings” look pretty close to the second and third plays of Abrazare.  Great stuff, and especially helpful after taking Pete’s class at WMAW.
Keith Jennings, Rocky Mountain Historical Combat Guild

The video itself is excellent, and with the added manual, this is a core developmental system to provide basic CQC skills in a short time- either as a stand alone ystem of concepts, or as a base from which to further explore and sophisticate your movement.  This is really good work and deserves that recognition. I heartily recommend anyone interested in close-quarter combat, and the German school in particular, to pick this up and have some fun with it.

Roger Siggs, Tattershall School of Defence

The DVD also covers how to construct your own Fighting Dummy for full power practice.  These are light years better than traditional wooden-posts or heavy bags for serious practice and are a piece of cake to build (at a cost about $10 to put together).  Great for solo or partner workouts.  This section alone can save you $300 or more on an expensive freestanding heavy bag or torso dummy.  Swordsmen take note that you can strike these dummies full power with weapons, too, and they are a lot quieter than tires or posts.

I just got the video yesterday, and it is absolutely awesome. It's funny, because I theoretically knew all the moves, but the way Pete presents it, and the sequences he uses, makes this such a great training source even for people who've been working with the material already. And the training dummy looks like it'll be a fantastic aid!
Bill Grandy, Virginia

Pete Kautz draws from the works of the late medieval German masters to provide a core curriculum that is at once faithful to its antecedents and eminently useful to the modern student of self-defense...As Pete convincingly shows, a handful of basic strikes and simple takedowns comprise a small, simple and outstandingly effective martial art. While the sword, shield, poleaxe and spear are weapons of bygone days, the hand and the knife remain. What Mr. Kautz does best is identify the elements of these medieval arts that are relevant today and find inventive ways for making them living, breathing things for today’s practitioners...if you find what my friend and colleague has to offer here even half as valuable as I have, you will be very richly rewarded indeed.
Christian Henry Tobler, Order of Selohar, Author "Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship" "Fighting With the German Longsword"

Get Medieval German Unarmed Combat: Basic Strikes & Throws Now!

DVD just $49 + s / h

You can also give Lily a call here in the office Monday through Friday, 10am-6pm EST at (607) 594-2250 to order a copy if you wish.

All the very best,

Pete Kautz


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