2005 North Austin Tae Kwon Do Hapkido Seminar DVD
featuring Grand Master JR West

Filmed at the North Austin Tae Kwon Do 2005 Hapkido Seminar featuring JR West, in Austin Texas This DVD contains instructional material on a variety of Hapkido Techniques with specific emphasis on choking techniques, joint locks and take downs. Additionally, this video has a special one on one session with Master West as he demonstrates the first set of Cho-Geup Sul, Joint Lock Techniques in his system where you can see the techniques executed from start to finish with no interruptions.

Grand Master West is 8th Degree Black Belt (Dae Han KidoHae Certificate #186) and President of the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation (USKMAF). Upon his last trip to Korea, Master West received an award from the President of Korea for his contribution to the Korean Martial Arts.

You can see letters of reference for Master West from Dr. He Yong Kimm, the founder of Han Mu Do, the FBI and the US Army as well as more information about Master West, the USKMAF and his semi-annual martial arts seminars held in Jackson, MS at www.hapkido.com.

Title #207282, Running time: 49 minutes, Format: DVD-R (about DVD-R compatibility...)

Disc Price:
$29.95

Reviews

Primary Grading Criteria:

1. Production Quality: 90
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 90
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 90
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 90
5. Score on Delivery Vs Hype: 90
6. Degree to which you would recommend this product: 90
7. Wasted time (The Higher the number, the less “Fluff “/repetition):90
8. Playback score/watching it over and over again: 90
9. Would I purchase more of this company’s products: 90
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 90

Grand Total: 90% (Very Good = )

Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners benefit: Very Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Very Good
3. Advanced benefit: Very Good
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

I got home after work, and like often happens, there was a package waiting for me. Packages at home have become a common occurence...lol. USPS knows me, so does UPS, FedEx, etc. So I opened it up and of course saw it was another video to review. In fact, one I'd never asked for, and from someone I'd never heard of (JR West). Hey, there are probably 10,000+ martial arts instructors in the US, so who could know them all? I was just about to put this one in my pile of stuff to review (huge pile), but at the last second didn't, and said to myself "Its been a long day and I don't feel like having the pressure or obligation of reviewing anything just walking in the door, but lets use this one too unwind, and just take a quick peek at it". Well, guess what that ultimately led too? Bottomline, once I started this dvd I couldn't stop watching it, and as a result here we have a review. ;-) It was like watching a non-stop action move, that within the first minute has you hooked, and you're not going anywhere! Normally doing a review out-of-order like this wouldn 't happen, because I try to review everything on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) review type basis. Thus my "pile" of videos. So what started out as "watching it for grins to unwind" turned out a little over 50 minutes later into sitting down and typing this one up.

This dvd of Hapkido 8th Dan JR West's focuses on joint locks (about 80% I'd say), chokes (maybe 10%), takedowns (maybe 5%), and showed a couple of Pressure Point type Knockouts (5%). It was filmed seminar style, and I must say well produced and well edited! There may have been well over 50 techniques shown, but lets call it 50 so as not to disappoint anyone.

Watching this dvd went unbelivably fast. 50 minutes literally flew by like it was 5 minutes. That's usually a good sign, regarding my perspective of not watching the clock or getting bored. I would say no more than 30 seconds to 1 minute was spent on each technnique, and then its on to the next one. Again, whoever edited this seminar down to just "the meat" of it did an excellent job from a production standpoint!

It ends up being a smorgashboard of techniques. I saw some new ways to get some positioning for wrist and elbow locks, and I'm always pleasantly surprised when that happens. There were a couple of joint locks that I personally might not use in the street, yet good for show, due to a little too much twisting-and-turning and this-then-that for my taste. But all-in-all this was a very surprising and "Very Good" dvd!

Mr. West, I'm calling it a 4.5 Star video, and with that I say "Well done". It has a fair price as compared to the 50+ techniques, it was quick paced (30 sec to 1 min per technique), well edited, had some hand positioning I hadn't seen before, and it kept me glued to the screen when I really wasn't "in the mood" to watch a video for review purposes right after work! And the final thing that in my mind gave it 4.5 Stars in my assessment, its a video that won't be collecting too much dust on my shelf, as I picture myself watching it many more times!