Company: World Grappling Federation
Tape Name: Oleg Taktarov Series - Tape 5: Training Drills & Exercises
Tape Cost: $ 24.99 ( All five tapes of series
$99.95 ) + s/h $4 per tape , $ 12 max. per order
Length of Tape/Time: 45 minutes
Number
of Moves/Techniques: Not Applicable
Return Policy: Unknown
Experiences in dealing
with this company: Unknown
The Instructor: Oleg Taktarov
Company's Address:
P.O.BOX 366 ,Lakeside , CA 92040
Company's Phone Number: (619 ) 938-0611
Web
Page: ?
E-Mail: ?
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'd recommend this
product: 9
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition):
9
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 9
9. Would I purchase
more of this company's products: 9
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value:
10
Grand Total: 94 %
1. 80%-100% = 94 %
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent
= Good
3. 0-5 stars = 3.5 stars
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners
benefit:Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Good
3. Advanced benefit: Good
4.
Time to benefit: Practice makes perfect, but some of these drills should produce
results fairly quickly
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this
one: None
Written Summary:
Although this tape
does include some techniques , it mostly shows a variety of exercises and drills
which should improve most peoples grappling ability if practised seriously. There
are hip movement drills, drills for isolating and improving specific techniques,
working on weaknesses, various types of sparring, one person versus two drill and
more. I think that anyone who is not familiar with these drills would find something
useful here.
All in all, as regards the series as a whole : Yes, these are
not the best grappling videos out there. Then again, only a handful of instructional
series can be top-class , i.e. in the same league as Sperry, Carvahlo and Harris.
If you have the top-class stuff and want to see what some other people are doing,
you could do a lot worse than this series.
Mr. Taktarov's performance in NHB
matches is also, strictly speaking ,not all that relevant. It is always less important
what the teacher himself can do and more important what he can teach you to do. According
to Brazilian Jiu Jutsu theory some of what Mr. Taktarov teaches is not the best way
to go , but if you have a decent grappling foundation, what is to stop you from experimenting
a little ? When everyone is religiously operating according to one well-defined strategy,
it may sometimes be the best move to do the unexpected , the unorthodox. So having
seen all five of the tapes I am still left with an uncomfortable feeling of "
reviewer's schizophrenia ", i.e. I like some things in these tapes, respect
and like the instructor and his teaching style, but feel that the beginning grappling
student or the person buying his or her first grappling videos would be better served
elsewhere. It probably just boils down to it being a lot easier writing a review
of excellence in the form of the Matt Thornton videos or laughable crap as in the
case of Chris Clugston.
E.P.
