Company: SDS/ JEET KUNE DO
Tape Name: Jeet Kune Do Chi Sao Training Drills
Tape Cost: $49.95
Length of Tape/Time: Approximately 60 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: Training Drill Tape
Return Policy: Don't Know
Experiences in dealing with this company: Don't Know
The Instructor: Gary Dill
Company's Address: P.O. Box 3396, Bartlesville, OK 74006
Company's Phone Number:
Web Page: http://www.jkd-garydill.com/
E-Mail: sales@jkd-garydill.com

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Main Grading Criteria

Production/Tape Quality: 8
Instructors demonstrated skill level: 8
Comprehension Score: 9
Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 8
Degree to which we would recommend this product: 8
Score on delivery vs hype: 8
Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less " fluff "):9
Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again): 8
Would I purchase more of this company's products: 8
Overall grade based on cost vs value: 8

Grand Total: 81% ( Poor = 0. 25 Stars )

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Secondary Grading Criteria

Beginners: Poor
Intermediate: Poor
Advanced: Poor
Time to benefit: Don't know ( or care ).
The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

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Written Summary:

According to Mr. Gary Dill, the material on this video is from the Oakland school of Jeet Kune Do that existed when Bruce Lee was alive. The term chi sao means " energy hands " and refers to the energy that an opponent will give to you during the course of a fight. According to Mr. Dill, " " Very few people know about it. Very few JKD practitioners know about it ". So if Bruce Lee invented it, why do so few JKD practitioners know about it ?? I suppose Mr. Dill is selling one of those never ending " martial arts secrets " with which we are all so familiar. I have asked several JKD'ers that I know about this chi sao that Mr. Dill talks about. Mr. Dill is quite correct because they know nothing about it. Most have never heard of Gary Dill either so it does make me wonder. To put it bluntly, 90% of the material is an absolute waste of valuable training time. At least that is my take on this volume. The quality of this video is borderline home video although I have seen worse productions.

The entire tape is a series of training drills that consist of two people touching their hands together and doing slow motion attacks while the other person " feels " the energy and responds with a technique. The responses involve basic strikes, locks, and some very impractical trapping techniques that appear to have been lifted from wing chun kung fu. Some of the trapping moves are absurdly complicated and would be impossible to use in a real fight. I became very bored watching, ostensibly because I could not " feel " the energy radiating from the tv screen.

Don't get me wrong because I feel there is a definite place for using sensitivity training. Drills such as hubud ( from the filipino arts ) make use of this " energy " but with one big difference. Hubud makes use of energy in an alive, dynamic state. The drills on this video are static, and very non alive. Anyone who has seen the Matt Thornton tape( "Aliveness") will recognize instantly that what Mr. Dill is teaching is strictly non combative, dead, and non functional for learning how to fight. But that does sum up what is on this video. Two guys, touching wrists and arms together, playing patty cake and pretending to learn how to fight.

So what do we have here? We have training drills, supposedly invented by Bruce Lee, which very few JKD practitioners know about. I am naturally very suspect over the origin of drills that claim to be known by very few. We have training drills that, in my opinion, are totally static and non alive and have little to nothing to do with improving fighting skills. I can see how it might be easy to convince rookie martial artists that this stuff is good for " learning to feel your opponent's energy ". Mr. Dill may be selling but we're not buying.

There is only one way to learn how to fight ( other than actually getting into fights ). You must train by learning concepts and you must use realistic and effective drills. You must put on gear and spar. Or do Panic Attacks. Or fight with sticks, padded or otherwise. But you must do something real. The stuff here is none of the above and certainly is not real. Sorry if you folks out there disagree but I am telling it like it is. This video, like so many other martial art mumbo jumbo videos, is not recommended.

CJ