This is not the pdf or the reprint sold elsewhere online.

This is the actual 1965 edition.

Excellent condition.  See photos. See photos. 

Beautiful collector’s item.  

"Self Defense and Physical Fitness" has a color photograph on the cover (see customer image) showing the author (a world champion wrestler) being flipped over the shoulder of "one of New York's top fashion models." He's got to weigh at least twice as much as she does.

The whole book is filled with photographs of Antonino Rocca performing exercises such as the Straddle Hop, the Rocca Walk, and the Squat Jump. Toward book's end, the author demonstrates "basic self-defense for men and women and advanced techniques to improve the skill of the expert," accompanied by the fashion model or another woman, where Rocca poses as the attacker, or by one or two men, who attack Rocca. The men are wearing suits and the women skirts or dresses, giving the photographs a very formal appearance.

Each set of photographs is accompanied by text that explains how the exercise or self-defense technique is accomplished. For instance, the "Rocca Special Grand-dad Exercise" is introduced as follows:

"...I call it Grand-dad because I feel it is the most difficult movement for that body that has ever been devised. Not one man in a hundred can do it the first time he tries, so don't be discouraged if the Grand-dad seems impossible at first."

In the four photographs demonstrating the Grand-dad, Rocca starts on his hands and knees, sticks his back end into the air, lowers his head to his hands, then resumes his initial pose. If you have a little kid, you've probably seen her do the Grand-dad a hundred times a day, but it is much harder for adults!

The first basic defense technique has Rocca embracing the fashion model, who proceeds to stick her thumbs in his eyes. Evidently this was not enough to discourage him, so she grabs his upper lip, pinches hard and pulls. He says "this inflicts terrible pain and in many cases can give you complete control of the attacker." A similar technique, which is not illustrated for reasons which will shortly become clear, has the attacked person shoving a finger into each of the attacker's nostrils, squeezing hard and pulling up. I am still waiting for an opportunity to perform this maneuver, as my husband refuses to let me practice it on him.

Other self-defense techniques demonstrate how to repulse someone who puts a choke-hold on you from behind, tries to kick you in the crotch, puts you into a bear-hug, attacks from the front, side, or rear, tries to hit you with a chair, bottle, or other dangerous object, points a gun at you, and so forth. Regarding knife- and gun-attackers, Rocca warns that you should use his techniques only as a last resort. Your safest option is to run away and if that is impossible, comply with the attacker's requests.

According to the author, fifteen minutes a day with the Rocca Exercise Program "will help everyone sleep better, eat more wisely, and resist disease. It will open the lungs, strengthen and steady the heartbeat, tighten the skin, and improve over-all appearance." All of this is accomplished with no special equipment, except for a partner who is willing to help you with the self-defense exercises.

When I first began to follow the spectacle that is professional wrestling in the early 60s, one of the most popular "performers" was Antonino Rocca. Just how popular was Rocca? Well aside from being one of the top box-office draws from that era, he also appeared on the cover and in a story from Superman No.155 (Aug.1962). Rocca was an incredible physical specimen. At his peak he stood an even 6 feet tall and weighed 226 pounds with a 51-inch chest and 32-inch waist. This book features exercises that Rocca used to build his Tarzanic physique. Exercises much like the ones used by the legendary Charles Atlas to change himself from a 97lb. weakling into the "world's most perfectly developed man". The rest of this book is devoted to basic self-defense techniques demonstrated by Rocca and a group of models (both male and female).As a matter of fact the cover illustration is a photo by Alfred Gescheidt of fashion model Heather Hewitt flipping Rocca with the ippon sonage. I was glad to have found this book to add to my collection of books on self-defense.