Company: Paladin Press
Tape Name: 6 Seconds of Controlled Insanity
Tape Cost: $59.95
Length of Tape/Time: 1 hour 26 Minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: Numerous
Return Policy: Money Back Guarantee (just started in 2005)
Instructor: Joseph Simonet
Company Address: P.O. Box 1307 Boulder CO 80306
Company Phone Number: 303-443-7250
Web Page:
http://www.paladin-press.com
E-Mail:
sales@paladin-press.com
Primary Grading Criteria:
1. Production Quality: 80
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 100
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 80
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 80
5. Score on Delivery Vs Hype: 70
6. Degree to which you would recommend this product: 80
7. Wasted time (The Higher the number, the less “Fluff “/repetition):70
8. Playback score/watching it over and over again: 70
9. Would I purchase more of this company’s products: 80
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 80
Grand Total: 79% (Good)
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Good
3. Advanced benefit: Good
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None
Written Summary:
Joseph Simonet is a Tracy Kenpo 8th Dan, and a highly skilled one I might add, who it seems has pursued other styles to expand his martial arts knowledge and skill. One of these styles we keep seeing him do on videos is Silat. This video in particular felt like a mix of JKD, Wing Chun, Silat, and a little Kenpo. In fact, on many conceptual and technical levels I saw alot of similarities between this tape and Vunak's R.A.T. I wonder if Simonet and Vunak have ever spent any time together, or watched each others videos?
The purpose of Simonet's video is to give us a "complete fighting system" a person can functionally and realistically use, with as few tools-to-remember as possible. I think he achieved that goal, although I have a few minor issues with a couple of his techniques.
If you've ever been curious about the use of "Trapping" in a fight, you might want to check out this video. I felt as if Simonet moves people away from "theory", could possibly remove the "doubt" many feel with regard to trapping working in-the-street, especially through the examples he shows. But if you saw Simonet's size and telephone pole biceps, combined with near invisible hand speed, and lightning quick flow into other techniques, I think the million dollar question becomes: "Definitely looks like it works for Simonet, but how long before anyone else would become that fast and that skilled?" However, I felt that question might've been somewhat answered by watching Simonet's much-smaller assistant Addy Hernandez, who seems to be fairly skilled herself. You can check-her-out under "More Profiles" at Simonet's website! Like I've said in the past: "I'm not really impressed by how good an instructor is. I'm 1000x more impressed with how quickly he can teach ANYONE ELSE to be good at something, along with a large number of students he's successfully done that with!". Anyone can become great if they lock themselves in a room, doing nothing but lets say sidekicks, for 24 hrs a day over the next 20 yrs!!! Furthermore, any instructor can claim to have "made" that person great who was willing to do that!
Oh well, let's jump to the content and sections that are broken-down:
Section 1: A Myriad of Functional Movements
1. Maximum Impact Potential
2. Once you make contact, you're moving forward
3. I'm protecting and attacking centerline simultaneously
4. Conceptrual analysis, practical application
5. One tool for dozens of jobs
6. Now I just shred his arm
7. If the range is cut in half, I'm going to cut my tools in half
8. It's creating impact by manipulating his body
9. I'm catapulting myself right through him
10. Trust the Machine
11. This is just our entry
12. I'm just going to keep moving him
13. Because he can't find a place to go
Section 2: A Few Tools, A Multitude of Jobs
1. The Entry
2. Wrapping the Arm
3. The Knee
4. The Takedown
5. The Mount
6. Kicking Out the Leg
7. Deflecting Punches
8. Adding an Elbow to the Straight Punches
9. Hitting with the Forearm
10. The Supported Strike
11. Variations
Basically, Simonet shows you should do your "Entry" with a Pak Sao trap that with the other hand is either simultaneously doing a Palm Heel to their chin or Vertical Fist to their face - while doing all that you can throw in a simultaneous foot-rotated-outward push into someones knee. You can have 3 things going on at once for your "Entry", which it seems stands a good chance of overwhelming an attackers response. Meaning, a Trap, a head strike, and taking out their knee, all at once. After that, its elbow, knees, wrapping their arm for control or takedown, chokes, neck cranks, another cool type of takedown, the mount, kicking out the legs, deflecting punches, etc.
Between the 2 main halves/sections, I personally found Section 2 to be my favorite on this video. Section 1 kind of went slow for me and dragged on, there was just too much wooden dummy training for me!
Likes: In this fighting system of Simonet's he covered and made a smooth transition to each of the fighting ranges in this video. You get long-range, mid-range, close range, and the ground. The "Catapult" was a pretty good technique if your back is ever against the wall, or something else. I noticed during that, Simonet's people wear T-Shirts saying: "You will fight the way you train". Doesn't someone else we like in our reviews say something similar? I also liked Simonet's quote: "In a real fight its knees, elbows, blades and attitude". Simonet had a nice "Entry" technique: a Pak Sao trap with a simultaneous Palm Heel or Vertical fist with the other hand. "Wrapping the Arm" around a persons arm for a takedown was a nice move. I also like a quick transitioning wrap around a persons neck with your arm, for either a guillotine choke, neck crank, or neck break, all of which Simonet showed. "The Takedown" and Simonet's easy-walk-thru way of arriving at it is probably one of the most valuable tools on the whole dvd, and one many would likely want in their arsenal. "Kicking out the legs" was done in a rather unique way too. All-in-all, the last half of this dvd had the most value for me. Simonet seems to move along at a much faster pace in it, puts all the pieces together, and we're shown alot more techniques. Compare it to Section 1 being a "drama movie" (but a good one) and Section 2 being an "action movie" (a great one). Simonet really opens up his bag-of-tricks in Section 2! No matter what style a person comes from, I think there were many techniques shown in Section 2 that would have alot of value for almost anyone! Also, I liked the "Technique Menu" that you could optionally go through from the "Main Menu" on this dvd, that lets you specifically jump to a certain section/technique. All instructional dvds need to consider doing that!
Dislikes: Section 1 was half the dvd and that section kind of dragged on for me! Too much time was spent on the Pak Sao with the simultaneous Palm Heel or optional Vertical fist! Simonet kept rehashing that and going back to it again-and-again during the first 45 minutes. I got it the first time! Last, we once again get the "Straight Blast" and Muay Thai elbow-covering-your-head block, both of which I discussed my technical concerns about in recent reviews. In case you missed the main reason, both are head high techniques, leaving your torso exposed, and if someone bends halfway over while your doing either, and hook punches you in the ribs with a real powershot, uppercuts or cup-slaps you in the groin, or does a solar plexus shot, you might be in trouble! I didn't really care for Simonet's "Supported Strike". Picture it like you're throwing a punch, and having your other hand wrapping around the striking hands wrist, for reinforment and to assist in pushing more power and speed into the striking hands blow.
Assessment: Someone whose a huge JKD fan or Wing Chun fan would likely love this dvd. If you're another type of martial artist that isn't really into the trapping, the rolling-speedbag type "Straight Blast", or the Muay Thai head cover-up that opens up your torso, then this dvd may have less value to you. There could however be some value for anyone, even if you throw out the Straight Blast and Muay Thai block, if you didn't like either, and use a ton of the other stuff shown. In many ways, its like Simonet has picked-up where Vunak left off with his R.A.T. and Street Safe # 1. I think a person could take: Street Safe # 1, R.A.T., and this dvd, mix it all up, throw out the stuff that you may technically disagree with, and have a pretty good down-and-dirty fighting system!
Recommendation: JKD, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, or Silat fans would likely love this dvd and might consider it "Very Good" or "Excellent". On the other hand, I have issue from a technical standpoint with the Straight Blast and Muay Thai head block. Both are somewhat recommended, but I didn't feel as critical of a key component to Simonet's system here, as say Vunak made of those same techniques with his R.A.T. system we just reviewed. Thus I felt there was a little more latitude to explore other options, should you have issue with those techniques, and still make Simonet's fighting system work for you. This latitude made me feel this system of Simonet's had a little more value. Yet, the 1st half of the dvd bored me a bit due to being slow, and the $60 price tag compared to that boredom, might bother some people. That I had to factor into my grade! Other than all that, and the 2 techniques I had issue with, Simonet did show some really great stuff in Section 2 that put this one right on the fence for me, between Good-and-Very Good. Lets call it the high side of "Good" (3.75 Stars/79%) and move on.....
EM
