Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars
By tim bon January 1, 2012
Format: DVD|Verified Purchase
This very affordable 2 DVDR self-defense package was released in 2002 by Paladin Press and Alain Burrese (pronounced: Alan Burr-ee-se.) At that time Alain had been a Martial Artist for 18 years. Korean Hapkido, a Martial Art with emphasis on Self-Defense, is what Alain references for this set.
Alain served in the U.S. Military, and has performed security and bodyguard work since leaving the military. Besides producing several videos, he is also an author, and e-book author. Alain authored the hard-to-find book Hard Won Wisdom, and recently an e-book or [..] traditional print [..] series called Tough Guy Wisdom. He also produced the videos Hapkido Hoshinsul, Hapkido Cane and the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series.
This set was designed for the person that doesn’t want to study a Martial Art for years. Period. Alain distills his Hapkido art down to the essentials necessary to help you learn self-defense for use on the street, and it will also will help the dedicated Martial Artist cross-over to learn real Self-Defense versus what he or she may practice in the dojo.
Alain has done a great job of presenting a lot of material that is easily learned, easy to understand, and likely to save your bacon when the heat gets turned up.
DVD1:
In Chapter ONE Alain introduces a very important principle that is your best defense against in any situation – awareness. We are all way too caught up in our cell phones and other personal electronic devices and we tend to lose track of what else is going on all around us. That leaves us vulnerable to attack. The first thing you’ll learn here is to become more aware of what’s going on around you, at all times. Failing to do so will present someone else with the opportunity to relieve you of your belongings, simple as that.
Chapter TWO teaches you proper stance and footwork. Alain explains stance and how to move your feet to maintain balance and proper positioning. The moves and principles are again easily acquired. Alain goes on to demonstrate some simple scenarios of how to implement these movements in relation to facing a potential aggressor.
In Chapter THREE is Alain describes over a dozen strikes that can be used on the upper-body of an aggressor. Alain demonstrates a strike and then an upper-body target and explains why the particular strike/target will work.
Chapter FOUR is about lower-body strikes/targets. Again, Alain presents suitable strikes and targets.
DVD 2:
This dvd starts with some common grabs and chokes that you may fall victim to. These techniques may also be used against larger and/or stronger aggressors, which makes them very useful.
Chapter TWO is dedicated to break-falls – learning how to fall properly, and safely. Alain demonstrates a few ways to ease yourself into these techniques. Learning how to fall and recover will be very important in your overall study.
In Chapter THREE is a brief study about being or ending up on the ground, while being attacked by an aggressor. You don’t want to end up there! Alain shows you a few very effective strikes that will fend off an attacker and perhaps present you with the opportunity to regain your feet.
Chapter FOUR ties it all together. Alain demonstrates a few combinations and encourages you to create and practice your own. All attacks are different, and how you choose to defend against them will never be the same twice. In some other systems, these are known as flow-drills.
This is a great DVD set that will help most anyone – students, martial artists, security personnel, healthcare professionals, and anyone that wants to have more confidence when facing a threat. Alain’s style is very easy to watch and learn from, the audio and video are topnotch, and there’s a lot of great material here. Being a healthcare professional I found many techniques that I will recommend that our institution consider in our training regimen. Do yourself a favor and buy this very affordable set – you’re sure to learn something new, useful, and most of all – effective!
© Copyright 2012, tim boehlert