Company: Panther Productions
Name: Combat Shotokan, Self Defense Techniques
Tape Cost: listed at $49.95 in catalog
Length of Tape/Time: 56 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: 54
Return Policy: defective merchandise only
Experiences in dealing with this company: very polite and friendly
Instructor: Arthur Cohen
Company's Address: Panther Productions, 1010 Calle Negocio, San Clemente, CA. 92673
Company's Phone Number: 800-332-4442
Web Page: Century purchased Panther's entire library
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/accessories/media
E-Mail: panther@speed.net
Primary Grading Criteria:
1.
Production/Tape Quality: 10
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 9
3. Comprehension
Score/Immediate Understanding: 10
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 would recommend this product: 10
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:10
10. Overall
grade based on cost vs. Value: 9
Grand Total: 95 % ( Good = 3.75 Stars )
Original Grade = 95%
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1.
Beginners benefit: Very Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Good
3. Advanced benefit:
Good
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand
this one: None
Written Summary:
This video
was a pleasant surprise. Based on the title I expected to see a lot of hard style
karate with horse stances and kia's. What I didn't expect to see were a lot of practical
self defense techniques and advice, which is precisely what I found. In this video
there are 54 different techniques shown, and in my opinion, most had the potential
to be extremely street effective. Mr. Farkas emphasizes over and over that it is
his belief that any technique used on the street must be powerful enough to take
out an opponent of any size. Power, power, and more power is his motto. The uke Mr.
Farkas used reacted realisticly to each of the techniques demonstrated. Thereby providing
a unique and refreshing degree of realism regarding the potential effectiveness of
the techniques shown.
The video shows defenses against front and rear chokes,
various two handed grabs, single and double rear arm bars, front and rear bear hugs,
headlocks, single hand grabs, various punches and punching combinations, different
kicking attacks, and even a few weapons defenses. Something that really stood out
in this video was its demonstration of how to practically apply a spinning back kick
against a punch. Also there was some unique and great advice on pulling an opponent's
hair. A great deal of effective street fighting advice was mentioned and shown concerning
the use of surprise and misdirection to thwart an opponent's attack. In addition,
there was an excellent segment on defending against various kicking attacks. There
was a lot of great stuff, and I would almost wager that some of the techniques shown
will not have been seen by even some experienced martial artists.
The only
reason I didn't rate this video higher is because I felt some of the knife defenses
shown were EXTREMELY dangerous, and if used against an opponent that's moderately
skilled with a knife, could get a person seriously hurt. In regards to those techniques,
I would recommend that if they're the only ones you know, or see, they only be used
against a knife weilding opponent that's very slow, inexperienced, or drunk. Even
then, there may be a high degree of risk as to how effective they'll be, and whether
or not you'll be able to walk away from the situation afterwards. Note: There are
many videos on knife fighting that provide much better techniques, and I would recommend
looking to them for your knife defense. This video scored as it did due to it being
"packed" with street effective techniques, minus the knife defense portion
mentioned above, which was a small and minor portion of the tape.
We would
recommend this video for beginning to intermediate martial artists because of the
simple yet powerful techniques shown. Most should be able to improve their street
arsenal greatly by studying this video carefully.
CJ