Ultimate Krav Maga 5 DVD Box Set (Beginner to Intermediate) - Combatives, Self Defense, Fighting and Weapons (2010) [NTSC]

The "Ultimate Krav Maga" 5 disc self-defense instructional DVD set provides a comprehensive program of self-defense based on the Israeli self-defense art of Krav Maga. It is an exceptionally well produced and informative program that covers a wide spectrum of self-defense principles and skills. For the person who does not have access to an instructor in person, or for the person who wants supplementary material to study at home, these five DVDs offer much to study and learn from.

Before I get into the actual instruction on the DVDs, I want to comment on the production values. They are top notch! The packaging is professionally done with good graphics and information on the box and on the disc faces. The actual filming was done with high quality equipment, interesting editing of inside and outside scenes, clear sound, text on screen to illustrate certain points, good angles, and so on. The DVDs have good menus and simply put, the production values are fantastic.

However, we all know that all flash and no bang doesn't give you much. I've seen some instructional DVDs that were well produced with a lot of flash that didn't teach anything worth watching. I've also seen some simply produced instructional programs that provide excellent instruction. This DVD set actually does both. Production values are high, and the material taught is solid and well done. I may do some things a bit differently and teach some things a bit different, but overall this is a really good solid program for self-defense and Krav Maga. The one thing I did not like as much was the length of the pauses when the text points were on the screen. Maybe it is because I read fast, but I thought those broke the flow of the program at times, but that's just me. The information was good for sure. Let's look at what the program covers.

Disc One is titled Your First Defense and the instruction is by Duncan Robert Pattle. He is the host of the program and teaches basics and fighting. After a short introduction to the program, the DVD goes into teaching about awareness, shielding objects, common objects to be used in self-defense, basic movement and stances, shadowboxing and movement, and then to some of the basic self-defense tools a person uses such as straight punches and palm strikes, front and roundhouse kicks, hammer fist strikes, hook punches, uppercuts, stomping kicks, and finally elbow and knee strikes. The instruction is good and basic. This DVD was designed for the person new to self-defense training and Krav Maga. The DVD ends with an example of pressure drills. It is approximately 81 minutes long. I was really glad they started out with the segment on awareness, because that is so important.

Disc Two is titled Your Natural Response to Danger and features John Whitman as the instructor. There is an introduction where you learn a bit about Whitman, and then the program goes into showing defenses against various attacks/holds. The attacks are: choke from the front, choke from the front with push, choke from the side, choke from behind, choke from behind with push, headlock bar arm, carotid choke from behind, sleeper hold, guillotine choke, headlock from the side, headlock from the side with roll, various bear hugs and there is also a section on preemptive strikes where Whitman teaches drills to hit first when you know a fight is unavoidable. The DVD concludes with a pressure drill. It is approximately 86 minutes long. I was familiar with the techniques taught by Whitman and he does a good job of teaching them. A few things I would teach a bit differently, but that's me. It was good instruction for those attacks/holds.

Disc Three is titled On The Street You Can't Tap Out and features Duncan Robert Pattle as the main instructor again but it also features instruction by Amnon Darsa. Areas covered: 360 outside defense, inside defenses, live side vs dead side, inside defenses with forearm, reflexive hand drills, stop kicks, scooping, defending high roundhouse, defending hook punch, fighting drills, an intro into ground fighting, defenses against tackling/shooting, backward breakfalls, forward breakfalls, forward rolls, getting up from the ground, defensive position on the ground, combatives on the ground, forward breakfalls with counter, defending punches when pushed to ground, defending soccer style kick on the ground, inside/outside defense on the ground, inside/outside defense against a stomping kick, bridging, front choke with push to ground, rear choke on the ground, headlock from the side on the ground, headlock from a seated position, and finally it concludes with another pressure drill. That's a lot of material and the disc is approximately 112 minutes long. The segments taught by Darsa were not as engaging due to Darsa's accent and he's not as articulate a speaker as Pattle and Whitman. This does not take away from the fact that he provides some very valuable teaching to this program. Again, I teach some things differently (like the breakfalls), but I recognize that there are more than one way to do some things.

Disc Four is titled Surviving Deadly Weapons and its focus is on just what the title says, weapon attacks. The instructor that teaches the defenses against gun, stick and knife attacks is Eyal Yanilov. He has an impressive background in Krav Maga and does a good job teaching the defenses on this DVD. They include: defense against upward and downward knife attacks, using common objects to defend knife, finishing modes for downward knife attack, finishing modes for upward knife attacks, defense against straight stab, defense against knife slash, defense against knife on the ground, defense against overhead stick attack, defense against two handed overhead stick attack, defense against baseball bat swing, defenes against handgun from the front, defense against handgun from the front with push, defense against handgun from the side, defense against long gun, and finally a pressure drill. The disc is approximately 76 minutes long. Yanilov is good at what he does, and he teaches well. However, I don't think I'll replace the gun defense techniques I teach and prefer with the ones he teaches on this program. Again, I understand differences, I just didn't care for some of these as well as I do other techniques I've studied and practiced.

The final disc, five, is only about 18 minutes long and is titled Injury Prevention. It features Dr. Vladislav Shut who covers warm ups and stretching along with Ian A. Novotny. Static and dynamic stretching are looked at and explained and an emphasis is put on dynamic stretching as being better for warming up and static stretching for cooling down. This is definitely not a full resource on stretching and flexibility, but it is definitely a good addition to this program because it is important for anyone who trains in any combative type art or program.

If the above were not enough, I'll also point out that the first four discs also have special features that add to this already voluminous program. I think one of the main benefits of Krav Maga is that they teach basics at high intensity. Both are valuable for realistic defense. If you learn and practice everything taught in this program, you will have a very good foundation. There is a lot here to learn and practice. This is a valuable resource for any self-defense and/or Krav Maga library.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the DVD set Streetfighting Essentials.

Well I guess I should start this review off from the beginning with my experiences concerning this DVD set long before I actually received it. So without further ado, let's get started...

I had pre-ordered this DVD set in October of 2009 directly from the producers and was initially told that it would be available by Christmas. Christmas came and went and still I hadn't received it. I then received notification that there had been a delay in the post production work and that the release date had been changed. This happened on three separate occasions. Now I know you are wondering what this really has to do with the contents of this DVD set and believe me it does, although not directly.

Finally in March of 2009 I received my copy as I had been one of the first ones to pre-order it, and let me tell you all the delays were definitely worth it, not only because of the fantastic amount of quality information that it contained, but also because of the outstanding customer service that I received throughout the entire time I pre-ordered this DVD set until I actually received it. Not only is the actual quality of the content top notch, but so is the producers of this DVD. And for that they deserve some recognition for their outstanding service, as well as, the outstanding product that they have produced.

This DVD set has to be one of the best packaged multiple disc sets I have ever purchased and this includes Hollywood boxed sets of movies and TV series. I don't know how many times I have had loose discs or damaged discs in multiple disc boxed sets. You won't have that problem here! My set came with every disc well seated in their respective places and foam sheets between each disc and the next. There is absolutely no rattling of discs and the discs are in pristine condition, which is quite the accomplishment especially when shipping by our wonderful mailing system. (Okay, slight amount of sarcasm.)

Now I am not going to go overboard on describing exactly what each disc contains, although I will emphatically state the following...

"As the owner of numerous DVD's on Krav Maga, self-defense, and other related subjects, you would be VERY hard pressed to find a more QUALITY and CONTENT driven set of DVD's on Krav Maga or any other reality based self-defense subject anywhere at this particular time and at this price."

Here is a basic overall look at what to expect on each disc and should be self-explanatory.

DISC ONE (approximate running time 81 minutes)

This disc is instructed by Duncan Robert Pattle and is entitled; "Your First Defense: Awareness, Movement, Common Objects & Combatives Training." And as the title of this section implies, the first thing discussed is awareness, which as you should already know is arguably the best defensive tactic to know, with the possible exception of avoidance, which as some of us know goes hand in hand with awareness. Next on the agenda is a discussion of various everyday objects that can be used in a self-defense situation. This is followed by instruction in some basic techniques such as; punches, palm heel strikes, hammer fist strikes, elbows, etc. Also included in this segment are stomp kicks, front kicks, and roundhouse kicks. Although please keep in mind that this section makes the assumption that the viewer has no or very little previous training.

DISC TWO (approximate running time 86 minutes)

This disc is also includes guest instructor John Whitman and is entitled; "Your Natural Response to Danger: Defenses Against Holds and Grabs." After a brief section about the instructor, this section instructs you in how to defend yourself against a variety of different attacks and holds. Although one should remember that the best way to get out of a hold is to not get put into one in the first place. This is where awareness comes in. However, if you are caught in a hold these techniques shown are very good and will get you free, although certain ones could stand a little tweaking of sorts, but that all depends upon the individual and their own particular skill level and experience. A very welcome and I think underrated section is on preemptive striking, which means striking as soon as you know an attack is imminent and before your attacker can launch his attack. As the old saying goes, "He who lands the first blow usually comes out the victor."

DISC THREE (approximate running time 112 minutes)

This disc is instructed by Duncan Robert Pattle and guest instructor Amnon Darsa and is entitled; "On the Street You Can't Tap Out: Surviving Street Fights Standing and On the Ground." This section instructs you in quite a few different techniques including various defenses, break falls, blocks, how to defend oneself while on the ground, of which quite a few defenses are shown against a wide variety of attacks, definitely worth the price alone for this section. And more importantly, how to get back up onto your feet immediately rather than resorting to ground fighting techniques, which as you should know are not conducive to good health in an actual self-defense situation. Also discussed in this section is terminology that often times is rather unique to Krav Maga, I am referring to the terms live side and dead side, which directly translate to the inside and outside of the body. I personally use both definitions in my teaching and interchange them frequently in order for the students to know exactly what I mean when teaching a particular technique. Think of it as the English version.

DISC FOUR (approximate running time 76 minutes)

This disc is also includes guest instructor Eyal Yanilov and is entitled; "Surviving Deadly Weapons: Defenses Against Handguns, Long Guns, Knives & Clubbing Weapons." This section instructs you in various defenses against an attack by an attacker armed with a variety of weapons including: knives, handguns, sticks, and even long guns (rifles). Against a knife attack this video instructs not only the initial defense, but also how to finish the attacker off by following through the initial counterattack with a variety of different techniques. This same format is also used when demonstrating defenses against a stick. If one looks closely, there are a lot of similarities between the knife defenses and the stick defenses, although not exactly the same. When it comes to the defenses against the handgun and long gun, there are a lot of good things that I seen and a few things that I would have changed just a bit. Overall though this disc, like the other discs is loaded with lots of good quality information.

DISC FIVE (approximate running time 17 minutes)

This disc is also includes guest instructors Vladislav Shut and Ian A. Novotny and is entitled; "Injury Prevention: Dynamic and Static Stretching." This is a very brief look at the dynamics involved in stretching before and after a workout and which stretching methods are preferred over others depending upon when you are stretching.

This set also includes some special features including; Hostage Gun/Knife techniques, aggression drills and/or pressure drills, and two interviews about Krav Maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld by Eyal Yanilov and John Whitman.

I can not recommend this DVD set highly enough and would strongly encourage anyone interested in Krav Maga or any other form of self-defense and/or martial art to purchase it immediately and study it continuously in order to get out of it everything that it has to offer, which is quite a considerable amount of quality information.

Here are a few other Krav Maga items that I also highly recommend.

BOOKS

Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault

Krav Maga - Use of the Human Body as a Weapon Philosophy and Application of Hand to Hand Fighting Training System

Krav Maga: An Essential Guide to the Renowned Method--for Fitness and Self-Defense

Advanced Krav Maga: The Next Level of Fitness and Self-Defense

DVDs

Ultimate Krav Maga: Advanced Series 1

Street Krav Maga Combat Essentials for Real-World Self-Defense with Branimir Tudjan

Shawn Kovacich
Creator of numerous books and DVD's.

I've been training Krav Maga for years now. Since in the beginning we had no trainings-facilities around here, we had to learn from DVDs and seminars only. For that reason I have a real great collection of almost all Krav Maga DVDs available.
The "Ultimate Krav Maga" DVDs are much different to the DVDs I saw before:
1. The technics are shown very exactly by some of the best and most experienced trainers you can get.
2. Each technic is shown in its stages, in slow motion and from different views.
3. Besides of the basic combatives and the specific defences, you learn a lot about physical and psycological training by exercices and drills. We could absorbe lots of these drills in our regular training. And we make great progress! They show the big importance of preparation of the body and the mind for the worst case of an aggression in the streets etc. Simply learning combatives is surely not enough.

So, for whose who want to learn Krav Maga as a realistic self defence, to protect your health, your life or the lifes of your familiy, in my opinion, these DVDs are the best choice!