No comments about Kenpo 1 - KENPO HANDS.

3 comments about The Complete System of Okinawa Kenpo.

1. This is an awesome DVD. I really learned alot. I highly recommend this video.



2. I was very happy to come across this video, as it is very hard to find videos of Odo Sensei doing kata, let alone the entire system. I am very glad that this dvd was put together as a wonderful tribute to a fantastic individual. I had many opportunities to train with Odo Sensei during my ten years in Hawai'i. The only thing that disappointed me was that it was made from a video someone made for themself of Odo Sensei doing kata both inside and outside his dojo in Agena, Okinawa sometime in the mid to late 80s. I have seen this video several times from a copy my instructor owned. Overall I am very excited for the future generations of Okinawa Kenpo (or as it is currently called Ryukyu Hon Kenpo Kobudo) students to be able to watch Odo Sensei performing kata and kobudo.



3. While nice to see Master Odo in a video performing the katas, the overall quality of the video makes the DVD difficult to watch.

5 comments about Killing Machine - Shorinji Kenpo.

1. Along with his bio films on the life of karate legend Mas Oyama, Sonny Chiba Shinichi made this film about the life of the founder of Shorinji Kempo, So Doshin. (Chiba actually holds legitimate black belt rankings in both kyokushin karate and Shorinji kempo). As other reviewers have properly pointed out, this film was terribly misnamed for English speaking audiences as ""Killing Machine," which of course Master So was no such thing. He was, however, a true defender of the weak, a man who believed that love, peace, and justice, backed up by the power to punish, is the true way in martial arts and the way to an orderly society. I own both the VHS, English dubbed version (the one I saw in the movie theatre years ago when this film was first released in the USA) and the DVD, Japanese language version with subtitles. Far and away, the latter is the best of the two. So much is lost in the English dubbed version, it is far better to read the subtitles which are much closer to what the actors are actually saying. There is some excellent footage of training at the Shorinji Kempo World HQs in this film and some of the actors are members of the hombu dojo. In my estimation, Master So Doshin, whose life is depicted wonderfully well by Chiba in this film, was a true saint. Buy this DVD and see why.



2. When i first saw this film, it totally blew me away. I ordered this film thinking I was going to get nothing but senseless karate action with a moderate story plot. But instead I received it both ways. Incredible action, incredible story. The story was very dramatical. It was almost like a true war story, even though some of the events are fiction. It tells a tale of a japenese spy who gets fed up when he finds out that his country surendered and then he begins to loose control and starts killing everyone in his sight. He is then sent to a jail only to find out by a jail forman that he wants him to escape and leave out of sight. He then escapes and opens up his own martial arts school. Where he founded his own style (kenpo). He is then confronted with challenges around him that conflicts his school. That is when he has no choice but to become a killing machine. Sonny chiba is an incredible actor. I have only seen films such as the street fighter by him. But i never seen him act so dramatically in this role.
   
   This is a great film with incredible martial arts fights and a touching story line. I highly recomended you buy this film.



3. I am a big fan of all MA styles and movies. I didn't like this one at all. I am familiar with US Shorinji Kempo and was thinking I would see some good stuff here. Other than a few wrist locks there was little to enjoy. Acting was horrible and execution was pretty poor.... Just my two cents.



4. Shorinji Kenpo is an extrapolation of what in Chinese is call Shao Lin School. It is very brave indeed for Doshin Sho to establish a dojo on Shao Lin after the war when many people in Japan still hated the Chinese. In any event, I am a fan of Sonny Chiba. As a senior instructor of a Kung Fu school and a black belt in Ju Jit Su, I can appreciate Sonny Chiba's fighting prowess. I think his martial arts sequences are excellent and realistic. There are some memorable scenes in this movie such as: (1). When Mr Chiba as a child was hit many times by his mother for a crime he didn't commit. Later, in front of her grave he said: "Mother, you taught me how to endure but I choose to fight using my own strength; (2). When Mr Chiba saved Kiku for the second time, we can see from the expression in her face how grateful she was; (3). When one of his students lost his arm in a fight and wallowed in self pity, Mr Chiba tried to instill in him a sense of self-confidence by provoking him to attack him (Mr Chiba); (4). When Mr Chiba was thrown by an advanced Judo practitioner, in the air he managed to hit his opponent. This is a feat I have never seen; (5). When Mr Chiba cannot save Kiku, he realised that love and power should be conjoined together. He made appropriate changes in his school's motto. There are many other entertaining scenes but, the above should whet your appetite. This movie has very great entertainment value for martial arts aficionados. Dr Jusuf Hariman.



5. If you are looking for a good action-packed karate film that is set in the past then this one is for you. BUT, if you want to see Sonny Chiba as a ONE MAN ARMY with great and long fighting scenes as in Soul of Chiba, Street Fighter, Executioner and Karate Warriors then this one is NOT for you!
   
   The fighting scenes in this movie were good but not spectacular and they were a little short. At least, the acting and the story were much better. This is the kind of movie that Sonny Chiba made so he could show the audience a more serious version of himself and not a ONE MAN ARMY macho man with cheesy stories.
   
   Adios.

No comments about Kenpo-Total fighting system. Learn and master Basic and Intermediate Moves.

No comments about Kenpo Karate Larry Tatum Free Style.

4 comments about Beachbody P90X Extreme Home Fitness 06 Kenpo X DVD!.

1. Another great P90X DVD. Solid workout, lots of fun. Especially helpful if you do martial arts-always great to practice.



2. I am currently on the P90X program and let me tell you, Kenpo X is pretty extreme. It's about an hour of punches, blocks, and kicks. The workout is designed to keep your heartrate up and helps you build quick muscles that are used to pull of these moves. But one very important note: you will only get what you put into this workout. I have read reviews saying that the moves barely did anything for them. However, as I have studied some martial arts, I know that following the motions and performing the actual punch, block, or kick is two totally different things. You need to actual perform these moves as if there is a target in front of you. Of course you still need to be careful that you don't hyperextend any joints, but if you've never thrown consecutive punches before, this workout should leave you sore the next day.
   
   My only gripe is that they don't really focus on the proper form that much, but keep in mind that this is an exercise video, not a Kenpo Karate lesson (The guy in the back that Tony thanks for bringing Kenpo into his life does have pretty good form, so I'm guessing he has some martial arts background).
   
   Overall, great high intensity workout. I joked to my friend that this was hard cardio in disguise.



3. I love kickboxing, and although I hadn't tried any of the videos in the P90X series, when I had the opportunity to borrow Kenpo X, I jumped at the chance. Instructor Tony Horton leads a mostly drill-based kickboxing workout that will really fry your upper body in particular (especially if you wear weighted gloves like I did!). The workout begins with a 12-minute series of yoga-like stretches. I didn't like how Tony jumped right into the stretching without warming up the muscles first, but I did enjoy the stretches, especially the hip openers.
   
   The cardio portion of the program begins with a twist and pivot move: standing in fighting stance, you'll simply twist your body from side to side without throwing any punches. In fact, Tony really emphasizes the movement in your hips and torso throughout this entire workout (I could definitely feel it in my sides the next day!). For the next 13 minutes or so, he leads you through punching drills only, from simple jabs to jab-cross-hook-uppercut combinations. There's nothing too complicated here, but working on the arms alone for so long really gets them fatigued! Tony generally does 25-30 repetitions per side, sometimes performing the final 5-10 reps at a faster speed and/or with sound effects; countdown clocks on screen show both number of reps left and total workout time left. Following the punches comes the first cardio interval (there are 4 of these 1.5 minute intervals throughout the workout). Tony does jogs, jump rope, jumping jacks, and finishes with 10 power jacks (jumping into an X position).
   
   The next 10 minutes consists mainly of kicking drills. Tony does front (ball), side, and back kicks, then combines all three. He does some kick-punch combinations and throws in some unique moves that I haven't seen in other kickboxing videos, such as a step-drag to the front, a sword/hammer move to the side, and a punch-claw move (a total time of about 3.5 minutes). There are two cardio intervals during this segment, one after the kicks only and another following the combos. The final cardio segment is a 5-minute series of blocking moves. Although I found these to be fun and enjoyable, my heart rate went down during this segment, and I couldn't follow Tony when he combined a series of blocks together. There is one more cardio interval, and then the final aerobic move in the workout is 100 vertical punches (ie, thumbs up, palms in) to the front; Tony starts these slow, eventually speeding them up and actually completely more than 100 reps.
   
   The workout ends with a 4.5 minute cool-down. Tony does about 1.5 minutes of a gentle aerobic cool-down (eg, slow jog, kicks) and then moves into 3 minutes of yoga-like stretches, including wide-legged standing forward bend, down dog, and a standing quad stretch. The entire workout time is just under an hour, or about 58.5 minutes. Overall, I found this to be a good kickboxing workout, although I wish that the intensity level had been a bit more consistent throughout. It would probably be best-suited to those who prefer kickboxing drills and simple combos to more choreographed kickboxing routines.



4. I have the entire system, but I love this one the best. It's high-cardio and a great leg workout. I have barely any coordination, but I can do this workout and am absolutely drenched in sweat by the end.

1 comments about Ed Parker Kenpo.

1. I was hesitant to buy this dvd when I realized it didn't have any reviews but I was desperate to have kenpo videos to work with at home.
   
   Poor Video and Audio Quality
   This dvd defintely wasn't shot for eye candy with its boring way of engaging the audience. As for the audio recording there is a hiss in the background the whole time.
   
   I was under the impression that I would be working with traditional teaching methods with learning kenpo techniques and forms.
   
   Formatting
   The chapters are marked with gift techniques, manipulation and striking techniques, braille techniques, techniques against weapons, and techniques against two attackers. There aren't any title markers or anything telling the audience when and what is going on in the video. The demonstrators just start out in different positions which makes the learning confusing.
   
   As he explains the techniques he doesn't present any kenpo technical information accommodating his movements, other than strike here then strike there. I see this as bad way to learning kenpo.
   
   People who want to learn kenpo the proper way please look into all the basic names/movements of the stances, strikes, kicks, forms, and techniques. Practice them throughly before moving on to more advanced moves that this dvd presents. With this you will be well on your way to learning how to master the martial art of kenpo. Yes there is a lot of movements and ideas that can be learned for practical application in this DVD but if you don't have a good foundation of the art these techniques will be poorly executed in a live situation.
   
   I'm not saying Richard Planas isn't a master of the art of kenpo but the dvd he put his and (Ed Parker's) name on needs some work.
   
   If you feel the need to work on random techniques and moves in an unorganized and a technically unexplained fashion then this dvd is for you.
   
   I find it quite humorous that the only review on this dvd is the people who produced it.
   That should have been a red flag to begin with.
   
   ---------------
   DVD REVIEW
   
   "A fantastic new DVD!" --[...]
   
   Full teachings and keep aspects to evolve in the system.
   
   As Ed Parker used to say the one who knows how he will always be a student, but the one who knows why, he will transform himself into an instructor.
   
   For Planas, Kenpo is a set of rules and principles of movements that, you should study and understand with this premise in mind.
   
   ---------------
   
   I pulled these parts of the description out to better help explain my rating for the dvd.
   
   If a product is made it should be able to financially benefit the company that made it BUT it should reach or exceed a quality standard for the consumer. Also Ed Parker's name on the dvd cover kind of gets me upset as well. Putting well known names on your product to sell it is a good marketing tactic but not living up to Ed Parker's principals for financial gain is ridiculous.
   
   Sorry if that is harsh but I'm really getting sick of people putting work out like this.
   
   I hope I don't get hunted down and judo chopped for this review but production companies need to learn that they can't put out bad quality product and sell it for $30 dollars and get away with it.

1 comments about Larry Tatum Kenpo 2 DVD Box Set.

1. I am almost a black belt from a 9th Dan dojo in Tae Kwan Do, we sometimes like to train in other MA interests when we finish our 3 years. I have talked to Grandmaster Tatum he is as personable and honest on the phone as he is on film. Hes very real extremely dedeicated, sincere (has this how can we help you attitude) that's so rare today!
   
   He teaches so excellent on the film he tells you what hes going to do and shows you in detail then usually looks right at you (camera) then tells you again and shows you a similar yet different approach what I
   really liked is he shows some footage of a dojo in Spain at a seminar it made you feel like you were there with him..great film
   
   keep up the fantastic work sir (kenpo salute)..

2 comments about Killing Machine / Shogun's Ninja (Double Feature) [Blu-ray].

1. The image quality is good on both movies. You can't expect them to look like new releases but they look very good for what they are. Soundtracks are the same as on dvd.
   
   The Amazon listing is incorrect, this is not a 2-disc set, both movies are on one disc. Same thing with the "Sister street fighter" release.
   
   As for the movies, it's the first time I watch this kind of Japanese movie. It's funny that they seemed to make them with exactly the same approach they made animation movies with: the plots are melodramatic, the acting and the music are over-the-top, etc. But all of that adds up to a lot of fun. And surprisingly, these two movies are very different from each other.
   
   "Killing maching" is a straight hard-boiled action drama. Something like a Charles Bronson movie but with a lot of sentimental scenes. The gory bits and hard-hitting attitude surprised me. At 90 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
   
   "Shogun's ninja" is a crazy action fantasy. It's full of weird touches and it's kind of hilarious. Unbelievable music, cartoony sound-effects, impossible fights... It runs closer to 2 hours but it ends up being much more entertaining to watch than the other one, if only because you're curious about what's the next crazy thing they'll throw in the movie.



2. come on you cant go wrong with a sonny chiba karate flick blood,n'guts over the top fights its really a great buy for its price

1 comments about Moving and Striking.

1. Brilliant!
   This extremely informative video from Martin Wheeler is something you will watch over and over again. Not only will you walk away with a powerful and thoughtful insight into Systema, you will gain a clear understanding of many aspects of moving and striking,awareness,and effectiveness of this wonderful Russian Martial Art.Martin Wheeler captures your attention from begining to end.My eyes have been opened to a deeper level of Systema since absorbing this very important work by Martin Wheeler.