Company: Dillman Karate International
Tape Name: Tape I - The Development of
Chi
Tape Cost: $39.95
Length of Tape/Time: 80 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques:
Concept Tape
Return Policy: ?
Experiences in dealing with this company: Excellent
The
Instructor: George Dillman
Company's Address: 251 Mt. View Rd., Reading, PA.,
19607-9744
Company's Phone Number: (610) 777-8444
Web Page: http://www.dillman.com
E-Mail:
dillman@talon.net
Primary Grading Criteria:
1. Production/Tape
Quality: 9
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 10
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate
Understanding: 9
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist:
9
5. Score on delivery vs hype: 8
6. Degree to which we would recommend this
product: 9
7. Wasted Time ( The higher the number, the less " fluff"
/repetition ): 9
8. Playback Score/Watching if over-and-over again: 9
9. Would
I purchase more of this company's products:9
10. Overall grade based on cost vs.
Value: 9
Grand Total: 90 % ( Fair = 2.5 Stars ) Original Grade = 94%
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners
benefit: Fair
2. Intermediate benefit: Fair
3. Advanced benefit: Good
4.
Time to benefit: Immediate for some material, not immediate for some
5. The need
to buy additional tapes to understand this one: Possibly
Written Summary:
Anyone who has been
in the martial arts for any length of time has read about or heard about George Dillman.
Mr. Dillman is famous for his use of pressure points and their relationship to traditional
katas. One of the offshoots of this type of training is the use of "chi"
and that is the subject of this tape. It is very difficult to review and evaluate
a video tape that deals with internal arts such as chi development. There is so much
controversy in the martial arts world about this topic and I do not want to predispose
this review to a bias, either pro or con, toward the subject of chi. However, the
practicality of what Mr. Dillman teaches is suspect in my view.
The tape
is shot during a live seminar taught by Mr. Dillman. The viewer is treated to Mr.
Dillman demonstrating chi development techniques such as the unbendable arm, the
"spinning water wheel" ( for lack of a better term ), the modified kenpo
salutation, rooting, "running water", and using chi to make oneself lighter
and faster. Visualizaton seems to play an important role in all of these techniques
and it was positively fascinating to watch some of these techniques in action. Mr.
Dillman makes a point to relate these visualization techniques to real life self
defense situations. Although it is not possible to vouch for ( or against ) these
techniques with certainty (since the video medium provides no hands on training),
I lean toward voting " NO " as far as being practical for most martial
artists.
This video is a possible buy for advanced martial artists. If you're
a believer in chi and other such magical solutions, then this also a possible buy
for you. Personally, since I do not subscribe to the " chi theory " of
martial arts, I would not recommend this video.
CJ
