Brutally Honest – The Masters Seminar – Cross Training for all styles

Summersdale Productions are definitely starting to put themselves firmly on the map and this is starting to show in the finer details. Their DVD box-covers continue to improve in design and now even the DVDs themselves are improving with a very new and tactile label being attached. All in all these are some of the better-produced DVDs that I’ve bought in a long while and that includes normal film DVDs.

The way Iain Abernethy presents this DVD continues to prove why he is such a leading figure in applied and practical Karate.

Assembly

None needed.

Appearance

Produced to the normal high standards that I’ve come to expect from Summersdale both the cover and the DVD cover meet my expectations ensuring that this series of DVDs is going to look good on your shelves.

Covered in the trademark racing green, yellow and white this is going to be easy to spot on your shelf and yet is surprisingly easy on the eyes.

Build Quality

Good solid colours and printing on both the cover and DVD without bleeding make this look professional.

The audio and sound quality are good and you can hear and see everything as well as you need to.

Yet again Iain’s presentation skills carry the viewer through a visual and audio treat as he continues to expand his presentation skills. The students that he uses to demonstrate the techniques are also skilled and so help greatly in the presentation of the subject matter.

Ease of Use

I never cease to be amazed at how many ways there can be to perform a pattern. Iain’s rendition of Naihanchi caused my jaw to drop it was so different to what I knew and it looked more like ‘vogueing’ than the Karate I’m used to.

Madonna references aside, once Iain started to present the actual applications he had been working on the DVD truly started to shine and I especially liked the way he was keeping the fighting nice and close and using short, sharp and to-the-point techniques on his partners.

Iain’s presentation skills are such that techniques are easy to follow and practice with a partner. I would have liked to see the techniques slowed down, either straight after the initial presentation or in a separate section of the DVD as I feel that this would certainly aid those that use these DVDs for training purposes.

Those niggles aside however, this DVD is great for those who have a love of Kata applications and there’s something for everyone on this DVD.

Price
At £24.99 Summersdale have hit the nail on the head again. Wado guys will love it for the way that Naihanchi is present, as will Madonna fans.

This DVD can be ordered from http://www.summersdale.com