Silat Concepts: Discovering the Fight Within the Form of Pentjak Silat Serak

Rating:
Summary: Functional, Effective, Entertaining & Worth Every Penny!
Review: In today's world of increasinly random and savage violence, many techniques being promoted by instructors as self defense answers are simply inadequate. I have no disrespect for Taekwondo practicioners, having earned a 2nd degree blackbelt in that art, but the classic "one-step sparring" techniques will do precious little against a motivated, and likely armed assailant. Additionally, I teach the Chinese martial arts style Baguazhang, which has a number of "defense" and "control" tactics built in to it's movement, but again, the flowery movements of many if not all Chinese martial arts systems, especially the "dance routine" that modern wushu has essentially become, will do little or nothing to save you in an attack or fight.
On the other hand, with Joseph Simonet's presentation of Serak style Silat (Silat-Kuntao), we have a much more brutal, straight forward, and to the point art which translates directly as street effectiveness and reliable self defense techniques. Gone are the flowery movements and complicated steps, having been stripped away to leave the raw, forceful techniques that while they may not be pretty, certainly are efficacious in application. Simonet takes you through the first 6 jurus of the Serak style on these 2 tapes (there are 18 total, but many are repetitive), breaking down each to reveal the hidden fighting techniques, defensive tactics as well as offensive means of ending a fight before it begins. In these 3 hours worth of video you will learn more than in a few years of classes, and as such I highly recommend them as a great addition to the library of any martial artist.