Hapkido Self-defense Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal... Keeps Getting Better & Better...
Review: Hapkido... "The Way of Internal Power and Strength" - Hapkido is designed as a Dynamic Martial Art of utilizing/reversing the *opponent's* strength. Therefore, a smaller person can easily defeat a much larger opponent by attacking vital points, disrupting neural channels and leveraging their joints. Taught by top GrandMasters, Grandmaster Lee and Grandmaster Kim and the famed International Hapkido Demonstration Team, this is mesmerizing to watch and just as much fun to learn.

Learning Hapkido here is made especially easy since there are are only 3 things to remember during a potentially life threatening confrontation.

3 Hapkido Principles:
Harmony
Circular Motion
Coordination

Make no mistake though... Hapkido is HARDCORE and this DVD gives you *100* (Very Generous) extraordinarily painful self defense techniques you can apply virtually effortlessly by using the easy principles of re-directing an assailant's energy turning what force they try to apply to you (you already have the skills naturally, Hapkido's designed so now you're organized to react with no movement without precise purpose) and instead they wind up getting a taste of their own medicine by using natural body mechanics first to twist the assailaint into a human pretzel, throwing or flipping them instantly flying through the air since now you can set up their balance exactly the way *you* want... and when you watch them land in a state of total disorientation, you can then immobilize them further (if they're not already knocked out) using any number of arresting locks and pindowns by applying additional pressures on their vital points, neural channels, nerve centers and their branches, leveraging their joints rendering them helpless to hurt anyone but themselves if they try to resist you at any point along the way.

As a Special Forces oriented Martial Arts student and part time instructor, I can tell you that learning these advanced techinques will give you the "upper hand" either in your training environment/s or really wherever you may be confronted. Hapkido has become well known, easy to apply, extraordinarily quick and intensely painful, all making even martially trained attackers at your mercy with just the slightest chance as all the techniques are easliy applied... from the clinch to the pin. It should be noted that it is not the intent to use these techniques to break bones, dislocate limbs or joints, or permanently damage vital points, tendons, ligaments, internal organs and nerve centers or their branches, however it is pretty clear that all the techniques you'll know will or sets them up for it very easily.

This DVD is also a great resource for Law Enforcement Officers who are interested in easier restraint and control than what typical training provides.

Overall, this is worth twice as much than what is asked (for example, 1 Month's training in a school=between $80-$120 per month or more... you own this to review/practice anytime you like), and I'd recommend absolutely anything with GrandMaster Lee and GrandMaster Kim. GrandMaster Chang Soo Lee is the Chief of the International Demonstration Unit for the World Hapkido Federation and Headmaster of the reknowned Hapkido Jin Jung Kwan in Seoul, Korea. He became a Korean national Hero in 1980 when he knocked out the best Indonesian champions at his first blow. The National Defense Ministry of Indonesia attempted to invite him as a national coach. Korean government officers designated him to the Chief of the Demonstration Unit.

Rating:
Summary: Keep Looking
Review: I just finished this DVD, and I have to say that if you wont good self defense keep looking. The moves were hard to see, and did not have good explanations. Not only that but if you tried practicing any moves someone would get hurt. You don't get enough angles on what is being done. If you don't have previous training this video is worth nothing.

Rating:
Summary: Save your money! Utterly Useless!
Review: Terrible! I think this thing is really only a VCD. Its a waste of your money and time. The quality is very poor, home-made video, and the techniques are useless. You are far better off learning from a real teacher than these jokers.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: VCD? Home Video? What's that person's problem??

This =DVD= along with the rest of the series are so professionally done showing simply remarkable techniques (from the best instructors in the world) that even *I* was amazed, and I studied Hapkido for 12 YEARS while in the Military. In this DVD I saw techniques even I'd never seen before, and I am/was trained by some of the absolute best. These Grandmasters ARE the BEST of the BEST, PROVEN as such, and the whole thing is designed to make it so easy for anybody (well, any intelligent person...) to learn, that you would truly be doing yourself a dis-service by taking THAT "joker's" review to be worth anything.

Bottom Line about this =DVD=

It's design and filming are Top Rate.
The techniques are honestly amazing indeed.
They are ALL also easily achieved however you may be confronted.
The Grandmasters teach you STEP-By-STEP EXACTLY (at least 5 times each slow-motion and real time) so well that you will know them and EASILY be able defend yourself expertly by sheer instinct.

Simply the best.

Rating:
Summary: Rubbish!
Review: What a load of rubbish! This is nothing more than a sport based "fantasy art." Spinning flying kicks in a street confrontation? Only in the movies! People like this have NEVER been in a LIFE THREATENING CONFRONTATION and wouldn't know what to do if they were mugged or attacked in a bar or a train or on the street. This stuff only works against OTHER Hapkido practitioners with conditioned responses and unrealistic attacks. gSelf-defenceh is not martial arts training. Nor is it fighting. It is not simply mastering a set of physical skills (e.g. becoming a kung fu killer ninja or combat shooting expert). It is not getting in touch with your inner rage and channelling it into attacking someone. Nor is it something you can take a weekend seminar for and then forget until you need it. In short, self-defence is not a *specialised* skill that you only use in one context. There are no "grandmasters" of self-defence. I strongly advise against anyone buying these for serious self-defence skills. Martial arts for self-defence - only in the movies!