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Inside the Lion's Den: The Life and Submission Fighting System of Ken Shamrock
Inside the Lion's Den is the remarkable story of Ken Shamrock's ascent to the pinnacle of reality martial combat. An inspiration to thousands, Shamrock picked himself up from a troubled youth growing up in group homes to become the legendary warrior who dominated no-holds-barred martial arts competition in both America and Asia. Whether you know him as "King of Pancrase" or The Ultimate Fighting Championship's "Superfight Champion," step inside the Lion's Den for a new look at "The World's Most Dangerous Man." Here, the secrets of Shamrock's ultra-efficient submissions fighting system and his champion training regimen are revealed. With more than 150 photographs, Inside the Lion's Den will shock and amaze you."
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 4, 2018
Not bad time capsule from that early era where MMA was actually interesting. After this book was published, Shamrock went on to prove that you really shouldn't do this stuff past the age of 35.
July 25, 2015
Inside the Lion’s Den is two (thin) books in one. The first, and longer, part is an autobiography of MMA fighter Ken Shamrock, and the latter part is a guide to his approach to submission fighting.
The first fifteen chapters form the biographical portion of the book. As is common in the modern biography, it doesn’t follow a chronological format. It begins at the height of Shamrock’s UFC career in the mid-1990s and introduces Shamrock and the Lion’s Den (his dōjō in California.) The book does, however, go back in chapter 3 and pick up with Shamrock’s childhood, beginning in 1969 in Savannah, Georgia. Shamrock had a suitably turbulent childhood to merit inclusion in the book. He lived with an abusive father and then a step-father unprepared for such a handful as Shamrock, before he ended up at the ranch of Bob Shamrock who would eventually become his adoptive parent and an important member of his entourage. Ken Shamrock had a raucous and—as is constantly repeated—rage-filled youth.
As might be expected of the biography of a fighter, one trained to psych himself up and psyche opponents out, the book can read a bit narcissistic in spots. Having said that, a fair amount of space in the biographical portion is devoted to topics beyond Shamrock’s fight career. There’s some space devoted to the development of UFC, but even more devoted to Shamrock’s fighters. There’s a chapter that follows a day of tryouts to get a slot as a Lion’s Den fighter. It’s entitled “500 Squats,” reflecting the fact that individuals must first do an insane number of squats as the first round of elimination during the tryouts. Later they’ll have to engage in sparring/rolling with legs burned out as an indicator of how the individual can gut it out. The book offers insight into how an individual goes about breaking into a career in Mixed Martial Arts.
An important theme of the biographical portion of the book is how Shamrock becomes less rage-prone and grows into an adult. This is both the result of the practice of martial arts and his familial relationships--most notably his spousal relationship. This is the human interest part of the story that centers around the man’s most prominent UFC accomplishments.
Perhaps the most important question one can ask about an autobiographical account is whether it’s accurate or not. There’s obviously an incentive to paint oneself in a more favorable light than an objective account might. There’s a professional co-writer of this book, Richard Hanner. One might expect that a professional journalist co-author would lend credulity to the work as that individual has a professional interest--based on reputation--in making sure the details are accurate. Whether Hanner’s presence lends credibility is hard for me to judge (he’s not a national name), but the work does read authentically. Shamrock, unlike politicians, admits many mistakes over the course of his life, and lets the reader know what his takeaway lessons were. Of course, as a public personality, there’s a lot that he couldn’t be duplicitous about if he wanted to, e.g. his fight record and details in the ring.
The last nine chapters are Shamrock’s guide to his submission fighting method. He covers a lot of ground from nutrition to advice for the day of a professional fight. Martial artists will not find a lot of groundbreaking information in this section, but rather will have to dig for nuggets of wisdom in the details. The submission techniques will be well-known to practitioners of judō, jujutsu, and submission fighting. The “crucifix” was the only technique I hadn’t seen before, and for all I know that one may be well-known to Greco-Roman / Pankration wrestlers. The photographs in this section are helpful in communicating Shamrock’s message, but are relatively sparse and small-format compared to the typical martial arts manual.
I enjoyed this book. Shamrock came across as an intriguing multi-dimensional character, and the manual offers a good overview and some important tips on subjects including nutrition, fitness, striking, grappling, and submissions.
The first fifteen chapters form the biographical portion of the book. As is common in the modern biography, it doesn’t follow a chronological format. It begins at the height of Shamrock’s UFC career in the mid-1990s and introduces Shamrock and the Lion’s Den (his dōjō in California.) The book does, however, go back in chapter 3 and pick up with Shamrock’s childhood, beginning in 1969 in Savannah, Georgia. Shamrock had a suitably turbulent childhood to merit inclusion in the book. He lived with an abusive father and then a step-father unprepared for such a handful as Shamrock, before he ended up at the ranch of Bob Shamrock who would eventually become his adoptive parent and an important member of his entourage. Ken Shamrock had a raucous and—as is constantly repeated—rage-filled youth.
As might be expected of the biography of a fighter, one trained to psych himself up and psyche opponents out, the book can read a bit narcissistic in spots. Having said that, a fair amount of space in the biographical portion is devoted to topics beyond Shamrock’s fight career. There’s some space devoted to the development of UFC, but even more devoted to Shamrock’s fighters. There’s a chapter that follows a day of tryouts to get a slot as a Lion’s Den fighter. It’s entitled “500 Squats,” reflecting the fact that individuals must first do an insane number of squats as the first round of elimination during the tryouts. Later they’ll have to engage in sparring/rolling with legs burned out as an indicator of how the individual can gut it out. The book offers insight into how an individual goes about breaking into a career in Mixed Martial Arts.
An important theme of the biographical portion of the book is how Shamrock becomes less rage-prone and grows into an adult. This is both the result of the practice of martial arts and his familial relationships--most notably his spousal relationship. This is the human interest part of the story that centers around the man’s most prominent UFC accomplishments.
Perhaps the most important question one can ask about an autobiographical account is whether it’s accurate or not. There’s obviously an incentive to paint oneself in a more favorable light than an objective account might. There’s a professional co-writer of this book, Richard Hanner. One might expect that a professional journalist co-author would lend credulity to the work as that individual has a professional interest--based on reputation--in making sure the details are accurate. Whether Hanner’s presence lends credibility is hard for me to judge (he’s not a national name), but the work does read authentically. Shamrock, unlike politicians, admits many mistakes over the course of his life, and lets the reader know what his takeaway lessons were. Of course, as a public personality, there’s a lot that he couldn’t be duplicitous about if he wanted to, e.g. his fight record and details in the ring.
The last nine chapters are Shamrock’s guide to his submission fighting method. He covers a lot of ground from nutrition to advice for the day of a professional fight. Martial artists will not find a lot of groundbreaking information in this section, but rather will have to dig for nuggets of wisdom in the details. The submission techniques will be well-known to practitioners of judō, jujutsu, and submission fighting. The “crucifix” was the only technique I hadn’t seen before, and for all I know that one may be well-known to Greco-Roman / Pankration wrestlers. The photographs in this section are helpful in communicating Shamrock’s message, but are relatively sparse and small-format compared to the typical martial arts manual.
I enjoyed this book. Shamrock came across as an intriguing multi-dimensional character, and the manual offers a good overview and some important tips on subjects including nutrition, fitness, striking, grappling, and submissions.
November 10, 2009
A vivid flashback for UFC fans to a time when MMA really was a battle of style against style and the characters were larger than life. When it comes to characters, you don’t get much larger than the world’s most dangerous man: Ken Shamrock.
Shamrock tells of his troubled early life, the no-holds barred matches in America and Asia, and his rise to becoming the first UFC Superfight champion and the King of Pancrase.
He covers the setting up of his training gym in Northern California that produced many notable fighters including his step-brother Frank, and ends with an insight into the training methods used ‘Inside the Lion’s Den’.
Shamrock tells of his troubled early life, the no-holds barred matches in America and Asia, and his rise to becoming the first UFC Superfight champion and the King of Pancrase.
He covers the setting up of his training gym in Northern California that produced many notable fighters including his step-brother Frank, and ends with an insight into the training methods used ‘Inside the Lion’s Den’.
June 17, 2008
It was good enough to read twice. Anyone interested in MMA should read this. Ken Shamrock is an amazing person and his story is truly inspirational, and I would say that this book deserves to be republished in an expanded edition.
November 5, 2017
I read this book years ago. Very good insight into the background and mindset of the legendary fighter, Ken Shamrock. A good read for UFC / MMA fans.
March 22, 2024
essentially this is one book separated into two volumes with the first half recording a portion of Ken Shamrock’s early history (up until 1997) including his youth, family, education and early fighting years — while the second portion covers Shamrock’s specific submission fighting system and accompanying lifestyle — a lot of the techniques are outdated but provide a template for how early competitors were trying to adapt and keep up with the emerging MMA scene — overall the writing is high schoolish and fluffed / propped up by Ken’s high opinion of himself but an it’s easy read if you’re looking for a snapshot of how MMA was written about in it’s formative years
November 30, 2007
Book review
By
Jorge Yokio
I Jorge Yokio recommend the book Into The Lions Den by Ken Shamrock because it is a story that can influence people. It can help them become somebody, like Ken did even if you live in bad neighborhoods. Ken for example, had to deal with his abusive father. What I am trying to say is you can become somebody by doing what you do best. In this case fighting is what ken did best. And he won championships, even over seas. It teaches a person that no matter how tough life gets, you can be and inland somebody. If you deal with what you got
By
Jorge Yokio
I Jorge Yokio recommend the book Into The Lions Den by Ken Shamrock because it is a story that can influence people. It can help them become somebody, like Ken did even if you live in bad neighborhoods. Ken for example, had to deal with his abusive father. What I am trying to say is you can become somebody by doing what you do best. In this case fighting is what ken did best. And he won championships, even over seas. It teaches a person that no matter how tough life gets, you can be and inland somebody. If you deal with what you got
December 3, 2011
4 stars just for big Kennys comical third party quotes about himself. "who was this rugged man with the over developed chest" Thats right Ken, you're talking about yourself.
November 14, 2012
it was neat
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews