Product Review: Everything you wanted to know about Side and Hook Kick DVD (part 2)

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading. Here is part 2 of the review. For part 1 go HERE

General thoughts.
Ok, where to start? First thing to be said is that some of the info presented on the DVD is available free from Paul on his youtube channel. This is a good idea for him as it is obviously advertising for his products but it also gives an you idea of the type of material you can expect from his DVD's. As I mentioned in the first part of the review, paying out $100 for 1 DVD is going to be quite an investment for some. My suggestion is to go and watch the youtube stuff and see if you like his type of exercises and the way he explains his method.

The actual footage on youtube is not the same as on the DVD, don't worry you aren't paying $100 for youtube videos. Its almost like the youtube filming was a practice run of ideas for the DVD's, while most of his youtube stuff is done in what looks like his apartment, the DVD material is filmed in a studio (no bedside tables in the background :D )

More importantly while he does touch on a few of the same concepts on youtube, he goes into a lot more detail on the DVD and there is a lot of material on the DVD that isnt on youtube. The DVD is over 2 hours long, there is a LOT of info on it. I would have to agree with his advertising claim that it is the most extensive instructional on kicking techniques ever made....well at least that I have ever seen...although I'm sure I haven't seen everything. I actually cant think of anything glaringly obvious that is missing from it, although I don't recall seeing any info relating to spinning side or hook kicks on it, maybe thats another volume for the future?

I cant just sit and watch the whole thing in one go, its just too long and has too much info. I usually watch one or two sections make notes and go from there. I've watched it now a couple of times and still pickup something new each time. I still haven't had a chance to try every drill yet.

Specific Sections of the DVD.
1. Kinesiology
The section on kinesiology goes into a lot of detail on each muscle used and its role in the side and hook kick, great for those that like that sort of thing but really most will just come away with a better understanding of how important the muscles of the supporting leg are, in particular the hamstring. I was always more focused on the muscles of the kicking leg so this was great info for me. As I mentioned previously, for $100 I thought you might get some CGI in this section but instead you get Paul with a pointer in front of a poster/chart.

2. Basic Technique
 In my days of Tae Kwon Do I was fortunate enough to have an instructor that was very technical and really broke down the kicks so you learned precisely the correct position of every stage of the kick, from the pre chamber positioning of the supporting leg through to the chambering of the kicking leg, the correct path of the kick, which part of the foot to kick with, returning the kick to the chamber and then finally to returning the kicking leg to the ground (if you weren't throwing multiple kicks). No other style I have trained in has ever gone into this much technical detail on how to throw a kick so I guess I was lucky. So while this section of the DVD wasn't as useful for me, I'm guessing that a lot of martial artists could benefit from this as he breaks down the kick and shows precisely how it is thrown.

Grrr this post is starting to drag on already, looks like I will have to extend the review to next weeks post...

Product Review: Everything you wanted to know about Side and Hook Kick DVD (part 1)

Hi Guys,

Its product review time again. This time its the Elastic Steel Everything you wanted to know about Side and Hook kick DVD. It's one of 3 DVD's in the series, the other two cover Roundhouse kicks and Front Kicks.

This is the promo video.



What you get.

At this time I only have the Side and Hook Kick DVD (both covered on the one DVD) so all my comments refer to that DVD only.

First up, its not cheap by any means. I paid just under US$100 and believe it is still going for that price. That makes it the most expensive single DVD I've ever bought. It is the most expensive of the series with the other 2 going for about US$70, but they only cover 1 kick each.

First off production quality is pretty good, although for that price I kind of expected more computer animated CGI for the anatomy sections, instead we get Paul in front of an old anatomy poster with a pointer stick.

That out of the way, the DVD does cover a lot of areas:

Kinesiology of the two kicks.
Basic Technique of the two kicks.
Specific warm up.
Endurance Training.
Focus, Precision and Control for both kicks.
Balance and Stability for both kicks.
Antagonist Training.
Strength and Power for the two kicks.
Speed and Timing for both kicks.
Height and Flexibility for both kicks.

That's a pretty thorough list of technical skills, I cant really think of more areas that could be covered.

Each of the sections is a separate chapter which can be accessed by the menu at the start of the DVD so it is easy to navigate to whichever specific exercise type for either of the kicks.

Part 2 of the review will go into what I thought of the DVD.

Think I'm back to normal

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading. Sorry I've been quiet the past 2 weeks but its just been boring rehab. The positive news is, it looks like things are pretty much back to where they should be now. I went back to training this week, lots of high kicks and while I took it a "little" easy, i was pleasantly surprised that there was no real pain in my hip during or the day after. I still have some painful trigger points on the side of my hip so I will keep doing a ball massage on them (the foam roller isnt firm enough to really get deep enough to hit them).

So with dynamic movements not appearing to aggravate the injury, time to try some static stretches. I plan to hit some light isometrics this week and see how I react. I'm going to do side stretches one day and front the next so I can more easily gauge if one type aggravates more than the other.

On another note, for anyone that is a UFC fan. I came across this video the other day. Basically its UFC stick fighting. The group is known as the Dog Brothers from California I believe. While they are absolutely insane, full contact stick fighting with virtually no protective gear! Its awesome to see guys out there pressure testing their skills.

Its a real shame the UFC decided it was too brutal to become an official offshoot as I think its much more dynamic and exciting to watch than a lot of the UFC matches today that merely end up as wrestling matches.