Furthermore, the tapes have misleading titles. Tape 7 is supposed to be part two of "Joint Locks." Panther must be smoking joints instead of locking them (this is not to imply that any drugs were used during the making of these videos, only that it would provide a reasonable explanation for things). There was not one joint lock on the tape. The 8th tape was suppose to be takedowns. Muniz shows only one half-ass takedown and then does a hip throw the rest of the tape (the hip throw was explained on an earlier tape). The only explanation I can imagine is that the Kukuk tapes came out before the Panther set was released and Panther wanted to mimic the format of the Kukuk tapes. Panther clearly knows what is on their tapes. The Panther ad for the tapes has descriptions of each tape that do reflect more accurately what is on the tapes.
For the beginner, you would be better served by other tapes. Almost all of the moves Muniz covers are on other sets of tapes. Watch closely the way he performs and explains the techniques. Most of the time he comes close to getting the explanations right. However, this is the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with your training.
Are these tapes without merit. No, there are a few techniques and the occasional explanation that is worth remembering. Are the tapes worth buying, not really. If you are looking for BJJ street self-defense techniques buy the Gracie Street Fighting Series. If you are looking for BJJ ground grappling your best bet is either Pedro’s or Kukuk series (or both). In the next week or so I will review each of the tapes in the series. Thanks for the bandwidth.
This tape opens with a short introduction by Muniz. It is quite clear that Muniz, who has acting aspirations, is very uncomfortable in front of the camera. Most of the tapes have a stock opening and stock conclusion. The conclusion is usually a "Patton" type speech about war being hell and anything goes on the streets. The picture quality is very good for all the tapes. However, the sound is troublesome. Muniz has a wireless mike that gets smothered while demonstrating the techniques. The camera work is even more distracting. There must have been two cameras rolling at the same time when the techniques were demonstrated. Muniz must not have had any indication of which camera was on at any given moment. One other thing that was somewhat annoying was the blue on blue setting. The mats where the same blue as the background. This gives the appearance of filming in a Hollywood blue screen. Maybe they were going to superimpose Muniz putting the alien mothership from Independence Day into the guard. The other problem with this setup is the lack of depth perception for the viewer.
The title of this tape, Stretching and Conditioning Workout, accurately reflects what is on this tape. This is sort of a Jane Fonda for grapplers. The tape begins with a series of warm-ups that are done standing and then moves into a series of warm-ups done while sitting. Most of these warm-ups are generic and are just your general warm-ups and stretching.
The tape ends with 8 drills that are useful to the grappler. These drills cover many of the basic movements found in many techniques. For example, one of the drills has you with your partner in the guard and you practice rotating into an armlocks. Another drill has your partner assume the turtle position and you practice rotating around him with your chest on his back. At the end of the tape he puts all these drills together.
One other thing to note is Muniz’s reference to his "Seal" training. You might miss this reference if you are not careful. I am going to go off on a limb here, but, I am willing to guess that Muniz has never trained with the Navy Seals much less the kind that balance a ball on their nose. I did however notice that Muniz was the fall guy for the techniques in Panther’s "Seal Team" tape series. I guess this might qualify as Seal training. Then again, maybe my feeding the dolphins at Sea World allows me to claim to have played with the Miami Dolphins. Then again maybe not.
This tape starts with Muniz giving some very good advice. He talks about the importance of cross training. The standup fighter should learn to fight on the ground and the grappler should learn to fight standing up.
Muniz then moves into a discussion of the guard. The one thing that Muniz brings to this discussion, that is not on other tape series, is directed towards women. I have seen many women come for BJJ training only to find out that you spend a lot of your time with someone in your guard, which is, to say the least, intimate. It is often hard to get across the fact that women, more than anyone, need to know how to fight while someone is in their guard. Muniz rightly points out that inside a women’s guard is exactly where a potential rapist is headed.
Muniz goes through a series of chokes and armlocks. As with all the tapes, the moves are explained, then shown in full speed and then every rendition is repeated in slow motion. The slow motion is good to a point. After that point, the slow motions shots clearly become time filling over kill. Moreover, if you watch closely, you will often see Muniz do a technique several different ways that were never discussed on the tape Many of these variations look suspect at best. Remember, you are getting blue belt level explanation with blue belt level execution on this set of tapes.
Muniz moves on to discuss the mounted position. Muniz explains the concept of the mount and its advantages. Muniz teaches both juji-gatame and passing the guard wrong. Despite this, he does give one good suggestion. When you are mounted on someone you can try and press your chest down on their face to suffocate your opponent. This causes your opponent to naturally push on your chest to relieve the pressure. This pushing action by your opponent sets you up nicely for entry into juji-gatame.
The tape ends with the same George Smith Patton Jr. speech, that war is hell, etc.
This tape is devoted to street fighting chokes. 13 chokes are shown on this tape. Each choke has its very own graphic announcing its arrival. Part way through this tape I started to wonder if the teamsters have moved into the more profitable video graphics area. I can see having a graphic separating the various sections of the tape (i.e. Front Chokes, Rear Chokes, etc.), but a graphic for each technique? All the tapes are like this.
This tape is divided into 4 sections: (1) Rear chokes, (2) Front chokes, (3) Chokes from the guard and (4) Chokes from the mount. The chokes are explained adequately with the occasional helpful tip. However, again, Muniz suffers from inconstancy when he does a move at full speed. Some of the explanation are overkill and things get pretty dull, even for beginners.
The strangest thing about the tape is that it claims to be teaching street fighting. This usually, in my mind, means mostly no Gi fighting. Muniz’s a partner wears a vest during the shoot which allows for all the Gi type chokes. I generally don’t hangout at Country Western bars (btw, country and western are my two least favorite types of music) and can’t rely my opponent’s wearing a leather vest. In the end this is a street fighting tape that requires your opponent to wear a Gi. This might be OK for those who plan to pick fights outside Judo tournaments. Even Marco Lala’s Judo choke tape did several no Gi chokes using an ordinary T-shirt.
In the end your money would be better spent on the Kukuk (tapes 7 and 8) or even Marco Lala’s choke tapes (volume 1 and 2).
This tape has been said to be the best tape of the set. This is probably true. The tape is divided into two sections: (1) Foot Locks and (2) Knee locks.
Muniz goes through the basics of 5 foot locks. Covered are your basic sit back and figure four the leg and the heel hook foot locks. Muniz does a fair job teaching these leg locks.
Muniz moves on to demonstrate 5 knee locks. Muniz covers your basic knee bars and locks. These moves range from not bad to down right suicidal if performed on the street. Several of the knee locks were performed in such a position that your opponent will have a field day stomping your groin to get free. Opps! Moreover, get a load of that takedown he does to get into one the knee bars. Muniz combines two takedowns. Sometimes more is not better. Most of us know the takedown where you get a hold of a person’s waist and hook a leg falling forward into the mount. Moreover, most of us would recognize, morote-gari, where you grab your opponent behind both knees and push with your head in your opponent’s stomach while pulling his legs out from him. Muniz combines the two by shooting in and grabbing his opponent behind the knees and while in this bent over position he hooks a leg. What the hell is this. This would be funny, in the same way that Three Stooge films are funny, except no one is relying on Moe and Curly to teach them techniques that might save their life (For those Stooge-fu and SAFTA practitioners I am quite aware that Moe had a wicked eye jab he used quite effectively).
Not to beat a dead horse, but this tape series is suppose to be about street self-defense. Muniz demonstrates all the leg locks on someone not wearing boots. Now, we all know how much fun it is to kick sand in the face of all the 97 pound weaklings at the beach, however, what do you do when you attempt a leg lock on a street punk who is wearing the latest in fashionable hiking boots. It is interesting to note that I don’t remember seeing a lot of leg locks from Rorion Gracie’s Street Self-defense tape series.
Don’t get me wrong, leg locks are a very good way to get a submission on your opponent in the gym. If you are interested in learning leg locks you might first take a look at Pedro Carvalho’s tape 8 which is devoted to leg locks. Also, from what little I saw on a UFC broadcast, you might look into Ken Shamrock’s explanations found on tape 3 of the Secrets of the Octagon series. I can’t comment on Oleg Taktarov’s tape yet since I have not had time to watch it. Look for this review in the future.
Tape 5 is devoted to escapes from headlocks. Anyone who has watched the Kukuk tapes knows that Kukuk devoted a tape to this subject too. You might expect me to just tell you to go and get that Kukuk tape and don’t bother with Muniz’s tape. Well, I am going to break with tradition and tell you that this tape has some good material. You just have to be careful avoid any of Muniz’s beginner mistakes.
Muniz starts the tape with a series of escapes from a standing headlock. Some of these end with arm bars and some end with you taking your opponent down to the ground. The tape then moves on to a series of headlock escapes done while on the ground. This assumes that either you took your opponent down and he retained the headlock (which is what you want) or you were grappling and your opponent thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas early by giving you a gift wrapped headlock.
Headlocks to the beginner can be very fighting position to be in. However, anyone who has watched the Kukuk tapes can’t help but walk away embarrassed for having such thoughts. Marco Ruas even makes it a strategy to allow his opponent to put him in a headlock. Right off the bat, your opponent, if he is using both arms to secure the headlock, can’t punch you. This is good. The other thing advantageous about being in a headlock is that you opponent is set up for some very spectacular takedowns. You know the kind of takedown where you can lift you opponent high and NOT slam him on the ground. Remember, resist the urge to slam your opponent, lest he actually lose the headlock on you (Not slamming your opponent is true of many BJJ takedowns, unlike like Judo throws where the striking of your opponent with the ground is and end in and off itself. The BJJ fighter fears losing control of his opponent and thus risk losing his ability to obtain a the superior position like the mount) Once on the ground, secure the half mount and then break the headlock and finish with an arm bar. Important safety tip: Do not attempt to learn juji-gatame from Muniz (or Kukuk’s and Rorion’s tapes for that matter). You need look not farther than the leg that goes over Muniz’s opponent’s head to see he is a beginner. That leg needs to drive down on your opponent’s face to control him. (See Pedro’s tapes for all the good details of juji-gatame and the Swain tapes for some basic escapes from juji-gatame).
The headlock escape variation I liked most was where Muniz reverses the headlock (while on the ground) into the back mount (where you opponent is laying on top you). I was enjoying watching this technique when he had to go and ruin it for me. Muniz gets his opponent on top of him with the back mount and then crosses his feet crushing the fleeting illusion that he knows what he is doing. Crossing your feet only gets your ankles broken. This is one of the first painful lessons that a new practitioner has to look forward to.
Despite these lapses, I would recommend watching this tape. However, the Kukuk tape and the Gracie Street Fighting tapes would be higher on the pecking order for purchasing.
In Panther’s feeble attempt to lure buyers buy imitating the Kukuk tapes, Panther has two tapes devoted to joint locks. The problem with this is the fact that tape 7 contains no joint locks and this tape only happens, by chance, to contain a few arm locks. These are quite simply not arm lock tapes. The bizarre thing is that this tape is one of the few that really lives up to the tape series name of BJJ Street fighting. These tapes are very similar to the Rorion Gracie’s Street fighting tapes, except Rorion’s tapes are just much better. Overall, this was not a bad self-defense tape.
Muniz deals with a variety of attacks like single and double lapel grabs, chokes, bear hugs and some basic counters to them. Later in the tape Muniz deals with defenses against punches and kicks. Many of these defenses end with some sort of arm lock. However, the arm lock is thrown in as representative of all the possible submissions that you might do like punching, kneeing, etc. Muniz really assumes that you already know these arm locks and does not take any time to explain them.
Most people who are interested in how BJJ handles a variety of attacks should buy Rorion’s Street fighting tapes. Rorion’s tapes do a great job dealing with what he calls "Stand-up Aggression." While Muniz does a fine job on this tape, he is simply outclassed by Rorion.
The following is an in-depth discussion of all the joint locks presented on this tape:
This should be the end of the review. I have to wonder if Panther has any idea of what is on their tapes. This tape should serve as a warning to all buyers to read the detailed descriptions in ads and ask lots of questions when ordering. THERE ARE NO JOINT LOCKS ON THIS TAPE! The question then becomes what is on this tape. I guess this tape could be called "Introduction to Thai Boxing 101." Muniz throughout the tape series states wisely that you should borrow the best techniques for various martial arts. The buyer of these tapes is trying to very likely do just that by learning something about BJJ. Instead the buyer received a tape that is neither about joint locks nor is it about BJJ. If I am not mistaken the "B" in BJJ stands for Brazilian. Brazilian, call me silly, implies having to do with Brazil. Maybe its me. Last time I checked, Brazil, because of the effects of Platetectonics, was no where near Thailand. Muniz showing moves from Capoeira, I can understand, Thai Boxing I don’t.
Muniz spends the entire tape on striking. He covers your basic jab and cross along with knee and elbow strikes. Muniz does an adequate job walking through each of these. There is no doubt that BJJ fighters must spend time developing their standup fighting skills (One need only look to Conan’s defeat in Extreme Fighting 3) Just don’t try and sell the public a kick-boxing tape as BJJ. In all fairness, this is not as bad a Nick Starks’s tapes on the non-existent art of "Pitfighting." Tank Abbot, the only known practitioner of this deadly art, has stated that this is a made-up and bogus art. I can’t wait until Starks comes out with a tape series on Shaq-fu®.
This tape is divided into three sections: (1) Takedowns, (2) Weapon defenses, and (3) Escaping the mount.
Really not much for takedowns in the takedown section. Muniz starts with a good discussion of how to stand in a "fighting stance" when confronted with aggression without looking hostile. Muniz then moves on to disuss takedowns. Muniz (when he does a takedown) does mainly morote-gari, o-goshi and ippon-seoi-nage. He does not even do them well (While I can’t hold Muniz to as high a standard, you should watch Mike Swain do these throws as a set-up for ground fighting on his tapes). Sometimes Muniz just strikes or finishes with a choke while standing. What is lacking from this tape is a good discussion on how to close the distance. If nothing has been learned for the recent NHB fights is that, for the BJJ fighter, the most dangerous area of a fight is when he is trying to close the distance. Failure to effectively close the distance between you and your opponent is an invitation to disaster. Kukuk and Pedro’s tapes go over the basics of how close the distance and cover a wide variety of takedowns that are all well explained.
Muniz moves onto the second phase of the tape and discusses defenses to knife and baseball bat attacks. Muniz starts with a discussion of the fact that you should learn to attack with a variety of weapons to better learn how to defend against them. Very true. Muniz does a series of knife series of knife and baseball bat defenses that range from OK to suicidal. Surgeon General Warning: Attempting some of these knife defenses on the street could be hazardous to our health and might cause permanent brain damage from loss of blood and even loss of life (your’s).
The tape ends with as few escapes from the mount. Muniz begins with a good discussion of what to do when someone has obtained the mount on you. He then does a good job of explaining a couple of basic escapes from the mount. If you want more through information on these escapes see the Kukuk tape 6 on escaping the mount or the Gracie Basic and Intermediate tapes. Then watch the Pedro 2 series on countering some of these escapes. It’s all human chess.
Panther Productions does a interview with the "stars" of their tapes on each of their series. These tapes are probably the least purchased tapes of each of these sets. I have seen many people’s extensive lists of the videos in their collection and invariably the only tape of a given Panther set that is missing is the interview tape.
I think the information on these tapes can be very valuable. I don’t mean to go off on a rant here, but, too many people study a martial and don’t have a clue as to the history and background of their chosen art. Moreover, when asked about the background of their art they will say that it is not important. For example, ask a Judo practitioner (pick any art you want for that matter) who founded Judo and when. Most Judo people can answer these questions readily. Now ask them what arts the founder of Judo studied and who were his teachers and what rank did the founder of Judo achieve in each of these arts. Many Judo practitioners will just stare blankly at you. U.S. history does not start with George Washington and maybe not even Columbus. Hello!
Some people may still wonder how knowing a martial art’s history will help them beat the snot out of someone. Understanding the creation and motivation behind the techniques of an art is critical to the execution of those moves. For example, I often hear people going on and on about how ineffective an art like Aikido would be in the UFC or on the street. Moreover, people criticize Aikido for its apparent unrealistic attacks that the practitioners defend against (wrist grabs or over hand strikes). When I hear things like this I get the same feeling that I do when a puppy craps on the rug. You want to spank the dog but you know the dog is so clueless that it would do no good.
A basic understanding of Aikido’s history would put the techniques in context. Aikido practitioner spend their time defending against wrist grabs and over hand strikes. Often these attacks are done by an opponent rushing rapidly in. One might ask, what kind of idiot would attack like this.
Step away from Aikido for a moment. Let’s assume that you are confronted with an attacker who has a gun and is standing 6 feet away. What do you do? You could run and hope he does not shoot you in the back. Or, you could fight. Do you play Bruce Lee and punch and kick. Not likely unless you like the taste of lead. Do you shoot-in and take the guy to ground. Maybe, if you recently had a steel plate installed in the top of your head to deflect the bullets. One of your few option is to get control of the hand that is holding the gun or that is about to draw the gun. Your attack really consists of you closing the distance as quickly as possible and grabbing that wrist. From there you can do a lot of things. All attention is on controlling the hand with the gun.
Now reverse the roles. You have a gun tucked into your pants (no, you are not just happy to see me) and you are confronted by an unarmed attacker. What will you do? The last thing you want to do is grapple with your attacker, lest he grab your gun and return your bullets to you. Really, our main concern is to keep this person away long enough so that you can get your gun out. You would also be looking to counter any attacks that might hinder you from drawing your gun, like a wrist grab. Now design an art around this situation and then redesign it so that the art is not self-defense oriented, but rather is now a way to improve yourself as a person. If you were able to do this, you would have an art very similar to Aikido.
Aikido assumes that either you are unarmed and your opponent has a sword in his scabbard or he has it fully drawn. Conversely, Aikido also assumes that you might have your sword drawn or in its scabbard and some poor fool decides to attack you. As with the gun analogy, most of the attacks by your opponent will be focused on neutralizing the sword. Very often in Aikido your opponent rushes in and grabs your wrist with both of his hands. The Aikdo practitioner will pivot out of the way and project the attacker forward thus freeing up his hand so that he can now freely draw his sword. When is the last time you saw, as much as we would like it, a person in the UFC with as sword. The Aikido is an art that is centered around a person being armed with a sword or being attacked with a sword. If this is your basic assumption underlying Aikido, it make sense that they do not worry about kicking and punching or BJJ like grappling. Try any of these things against someone armed with a sword. I would pay $19.95 to watch.
I could go on and on about how Aikido was developed from a battlefield efficient art and was changed into a way to improve yourself, etc. I think you get the point. It is vital that you know the background of your art. For no other reason than to avoid sounding like Homer Simpson.
But I digress.
Basically, I commend Panther for having the interview material. However, I don’t think this material should be on a separate tape. I think you should add it to each of the tapes or tack it on to one of the instructional tapes.
Muniz is interviewed by Joe Jennings on this tape. Muniz tells us that he started training at age 5 in BJJ and that he also started learning Judo from his dad who was a black belt. I can’t vouch for the voracity of the information on this tape. I can only repeat what he says. Muniz mentions his desire to get into ring to fight. I think I heard him mumble something about shootfighting. I now see from the new ads for Muniz new set of tapes that he is the "Brazilian Lightweight Champion" (What’s that I feel . . . is that a monkey flying out of my butt). Muniz does mention that he weighs 145 lbs, so the lightweight part is true. Muniz also talks about his "instructor," "master" Rickson Gracie and Pedro Sauer (who, as far as I can figure is his instructor). Muniz "loves him (Rickson) as a friend" and learned "responsibility" and "how to be a man" from Rickson. (Rickson was not so kind in his response to Muniz’s bogus claim to be training with Rickson). Muniz also mentions the importance of being truthful and his aspirations for being in movies. Jennings impresses with his pronunciation of Royce Gracie’s first name like that of the fancy car.