Company: Iron Warrior Federation/Marco Lala
Tape Name: Jiu Jutsu Armlocks
Volume 1
Tape Cost: $ 39.95 (special : 4 for 99.97 ) + $6.50 ship. 1ST Tape,
3.25 ea.add.
Length of Tape/Time: 45 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: 9
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 10
6. Degree to which we'd
recommend this product: 9
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: 95 %
1. 80%-100% = 95
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent
= Good, almost 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,
as usual, delivers the goods. The usual highly competent instruction, no wasted time,
clear presentation and good value. Compared to his two basic concept tapes I must
however admit to being just a little disappointed. Marco Lala at less than his best
is still a few lightyears ahead of many other video instructors, but there are a
few things which were perhaps less than highly impressive. A minor point, the video
is precisely 45 minutes long and a less experienced Marco Lala would have sold armlocks
Volume 1 and Volume 2 as one tape. As I have said in a previous review though, you
cannot fault him for becoming a better businessman, aside from which there are plenty
of grappling videos out there that are significantly shorter.
Secondly, quite
a few of the armlocks demonstrated had me saying : "That's kinda cute, but if
I try that on my training partners they'll rip my arms off and hit me with them."Just
as I was thinking this for the second or third time, Mr. Lala says that some of these
locks are a little fancy, but that it is recommended to know all of these permutations.
Fair enough, that seems a valid argument, especially if one follows the idea, as
emphasised by Mr.Lala, of yielding to an opponent's movement and thus letting this
movement create your technique, so to speak.
On the one hand this is obviously
an intelligent strategy, especially for a smaller or lighter grappler, on the other
hand it often seems simpler, especially if there are few or no rules, to set an opponent
up with a strike or two and thus move him into a position where one can effect a
favorite basic technique. Whatever.
On the more positive side, Mr. Lala does
a superb job of explaining the small, but important details that are so necessary
for a technique to really work. How to position the opponent's arm in such a way
as to produce maximum pain in the shortest possible time, why your buttocks should
be as close as possible to your opponent's trunk when doing Juji-Gatame; leaving
as few gaps as possible so as to deny your opponent the ability to move and so forth.
As to the actual technical content of this video, by now most people seem to have
understood that there are three basic armlocks, i.e. the straight arm-bar and the
arm bent at a 90 degree angle, with the forearm and hand up and more or less alongside
the head or bent down, more or less parralel to the trunk. That's it, three ways
of locking the arm. Of course there are innumerable ways of getting to these armlocks,
depending on what you and your opponent are doing. Mr. Lala goes the route of working
from the various positions. He covers the scarf hold, the reverse scarf hold, the
mount, a basic Juji-Gatame series, the opponent on his hands and knees and the crossbody.
As I said, a nice variety of locks are shown, some more basic, some more advanced,
all of them well demonstrated and explained.
A good, solid introduction to
the topic, done with the care and attention to detail we have become used to from
Mr. Lala.
EP
