Company: Sports Training Institute/Warrior Productions
Tape Name: Speed Fighting
Cost: $ 69.96
Length of Tape/Time: Approximately 1 hour
Number of Moves/Techniques: Concept Tape
Return Policy: Refund on damaged or defective tapes only
Experiences in dealing with this company: ?
The Instructor: John LaTourrette
Company's Address: 6252 Dark Hollow Way, Medford, OR 97501
Company's Phone Number: 541-535-3188
Web Page: http://www.thespeedman.com
E-Mail: sales@thespeedman.com

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Primary Grading Criteria:

1. Production/Tape Quality: 8
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 9
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: 9
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: 89% (Fair = 2.25 Stars)

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Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Fair
3. Advanced benefit: Fair
4. Time to benefit: Immediate for most
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

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Written Summary:

This is an interesting video from John LaTourrette, aka the Speed Man to readers of Black Belt Magazine. Of the videos that I have seen and/or reviewed, this is definitely the best one to date. Unlike the other tapes that I have seen by Mr. LaTourrette, this one focuses on concepts over technique. There is also a good deal of psychological training and conditioning material as well. The quality is strictly early 90's home video and for 69.0 bucks, I think one should at least get a quality production.

The video begins with Mr. LaTourrette sitting behind a desk, facing the camera. Looking very menacing ( dressed in black, black hair, black beard ), Mr. LaTourrette gives a brief introduction to the material that will be taught later in the video. He gives the usual scary statistics on why everyone needs to learn self defense and then name drops by casually linking his own work to that of Bruce Lee, Joe Lewis, and Jeff Cooper. It definitely made me want to keep watching however because Mr. LaTourrette is nothing if not sinister looking.

The material presented on the remainder of this video is fundamentally sound. However, Mr. LaTourrette attempts to cover so much material that he really only touches on each subject very briefly without any in depth discussion. Much of the material focuses on the psychological component of fighting, primarily the psychology of fear and how it affects performance. There are some very good sparring tips such as the use of broken rhythm and feinting. Footwork is addressed briefly as are attack lines, centerline targets, tactics, and economy of motion. I could find no fault with the street fighting advice offered by Mr. LaTourrette, even if some of it is self evident. Some of the advice is as follows:

1. Always attack first
2. Never duel or " fight fair "
3. Keep your techniques simple ( adrenalin adversely affects performance )
4. Use centerline targets to " stop " an opponent.
5. Your attitude must be positive.

All of this is very good advice, although like I said, it is self evident to those who have done much real fighting. The sections on the psychological component to combat were the most interesting. While there are better videos out there on this subject ( I am referring to Tony Blauer's work ), the material here was interesting nonetheless.

Strangely enough, what I saw on this video had very little to do with the title which is " Speed Fighting ". I did not see a great deal here that would help me to increase my speed at anything. Even though the material is pretty good, the title is a bit misleading.

So how do we rate this video? I would give this video a possible buy with the following caveats. The production is amateurish, especially considering the price ( 69.00 ) for this video. The material, while good, is superseded by other videos on the market ( mainly Tony Blauer's work ). And the title " Speed Fighting " is not really representative of the material on the video. It is an example of clever marketing however because everyone would like to know how to " speed fight " ( whatever that really is ). Some of you out there will probably love this video. Others will hate it. To quote Obi Wan Kenobi, " Luke, you will discover that the truths we hold sometimes depend on one's point of view ". Or something like that.

CJ