Company: Iron Warrior Federation / Marco Lala
Tape Name: Advanced Concepts
and Conditioning Secrets
Tape Cost: $ 39.95 (special : 4 for 99.97 ) + $6.50 ship.
1ST Tape ,3.25 ea.add.
Length of Tape/Time: 58 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques:
Too Many Too Count, with lots of variations
Return Policy: 30 day money back guarantee
Experiences
in dealing with this company: Excellent
The Instructor: Marco Lala
Company's
Address: PO Box 979 ,Yonkers ,NY , 10704
Company's Phone Number: 1-800-573-7655
Web
Page: http://www.fightingsecrets.com
E-Mail:
marcolala@fightingsecrets.com
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: 10
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 10
6. Degree to which we'd
recommend this product: 10
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition):
10
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 9
9. Would I purchase
more of this company's products: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value:
10
Grand Total: 97 %
1. 80%-100% = 97 %
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent
= Excellent
3. 0-5 stars = 4.25 stars
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1.
Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Excellent
3. Advanced benefit:
Excellent
4. Time to benefit: The more you practice, the better you get
5.
The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: none
Written Summary:
Marco Lala
does it again. I'd be surprised if Mr. Lala has as yet had even one unhappy customer.
Off course this means that the 30 day money back guarantee is just so much false
advertising. Knowing full well that no-one ever has, nor is very likely to, send
a video back , it is easy enough for Mr. Lala to make such promises! Jokes aside
, it becomes difficult to write a decent review beyond just giving the basic facts
as to the content of a specific tape, since they are all of a consistently high standard
and all make sense in and of themselves and yet also make sense as part of the larger
totality of Mr. Lala's system. I have seen every one of his videos bar one and have
yet to be disappointed. O well, there's always that last one! What criticism there
is , is minimal and relatively unimportant . For instance, his basic concepts and
conditioning video was nearly two hours long, this one is one hour long. It is complete
and has more substance than several videos of certain other companies put together.
But this reviewer just gets the feeling that some of the first Lala videos
out were perhaps a little overgenerous. Someone tapped Mr. Lala on the shoulder and
said : "Hey, buddy, you're loosing money here " ,and subsequently, a few
of the videos were split up into Volume 1 and Volume 2. However, one cannot fault
Mr. Lala for improving his business sense and,as stated , they still provide more
info than many similar productions from other companies.
As to the contents
of this video: It is advertised as a sequel to the basics tape and this is and is
not correct. It is correct in so far as Mr . Lala shows us movements,exercises and
drills which will further enhance the skills built up in the basics tape. It is perhaps
a little inaccurate in so far as the first tape was more Mr. Lala's condensation
of what he had found relevant in Western wrestling, whilst this tape does the same
kind of thing for Judo.
The tape starts out with ground enhancement skills,
such as the shrimp crawls and various other movements. Whilst Mr. Lala is not the
only one showing such ground movement exercises ,he is one of the few video instructors
who does. Many tapes, such as for instance the ones put out by some of the Gracies,
do not adress this at all, and one wonders why. The primary reason why stand-up fighters
fare so badly on the floor,in the opinion of this reviewer, is that movement on the
floor is utterly different from standing movement. Different muscles are used and
they are linked together in different ways. Without grappling fitness, such movement
is difficult if not impossible. Without movement,you cannot obtain the inside position,
take the initiative, or acquire superior position. Without position, ie without controlling
the opponent's body, no submissions. These days this is not exactely considered to
be " advanced rocket science", it is rather seen as basic Brazilian Jiu
Jutsu Theory, but it makes one wonder how people put out so-called basic BJJ tapes,
knowing full well that the techniques shown could not be fully used without the prerequisite
basic skill training . Surely it could not be, that such tapes were put out to make
some money out of the sudden popularity of BJJ, but put together in such a way that
real skill would have been difficult if not impossible to acquire. Surely not !
Anyway,
the tape continues with turn -over drills/ sweeps,sit-outs and rolls and solo ground-enhancement
skills. Throughout the tape, the more difficult movements or drills are shown from
different angles, often the application is shown after the movement itself. After
the first half an hour ,the second part of the tape then shows Mr. Lala competing
in various Judo competitions and uses this footage to illustrate some of the points
he is making.
Mr. Lala also explains his martial arts philosophy, ie that
you sometimes have to test yourself to become more proficient and that one of his
objectives is,that he or his students should be able to walk into any (martial arts
) scenario and be able to give a good account of themselves. Judging by what one
sees on these tapes I would say to Mr. Lala : " Objective achieved ! "
E.P.
