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Customer Reviews of Self Defense Encyclopedia

Crammed but not very clear!!
This DVD is full of good ideas. Unfortunately, the ideas are presented with minimum explanation as if the DVD is a review for a long training camp. The novice will miss almost all, and the mature martial artist does not need to see this DVD. In other words, it is really a waste of money. I have seen a lot better instructions offered by the Grazie brothers or by Dan Gable. So my expectations were to see a coach drilling you in the art of execution of moves and the potential pitfalls you can make!! I found none.

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Well done
First of all; I like it. Let me make that clear. It has quality production, contains a large number of techniques and Sang H. Kim is skilled. But the major issue I want to adress in this review, is that if you REALLY want to REALISTICALLY defend yourself, then this is not were you want to start. When you are being attacked you are likely to experience chaos and fear, and it happens fast and brutally. Your mind will not be reviewing the huge catalog of techniques you have seen on video tapes (or even in the dojo) in this very stressful situation, and perfectly chose the appropriate manouver for you. It just doesn't work that way. You can really just expect the unexpected. What is needed is a handful of very basic gross motor skill techniques which have been rehearsed many times so they become almost like reflexes (called muscle memory). They must be high percentage moves, meaning they will work in a large number of scenarios. But just as important is learning some good consepts (how to move, balance ++) and training in awareness and de-escalation (extremely underrated). Paul Vunak's video "Street Safe" is a good choice for basic self-defense and Peyton Quinn's book "A Bouncer's Guide to Barroom Brawling" (a misleading title though) for awareness and common sense self-defense.

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Crammed with information
This film has two kinds of instruction: Instruction of self-defence techniques, and more general instruction on self-defence situations. The film starts with the latter part. There is some good, but somewhat basic information on awareness, avoiding dangerous situations and so on. Although the information is not very advanced or detailed, it is a very good thing it has been included in the film. Normally, in self defence films they teach you only the techniques, and not how to avoid dangerous situations altogether. In these general instruction chapters, they have used some material from other Turtle press releases.

When Kim gets to the techniques section, the techniques start with fundamental stuff, like proper stance, best target areas on human body and so on. There are basic techniques for people with little or no martial arts training, and also some advanced techniques. Some of the techniques are very simple, yet effective. The techniques are arranged in three chapters: Standing defence, ground defence and arresting locks. There are more than a dozen techniques on the first two chapters and few on the third, so you have to search manually, if you are looking for a specific technique. But that is the case with most of the martial arts instructional films I have seen, so that is not a very bad downside.

What really bothered me was that while Kim presents each of the techniques several times, he does not teach them very well. He gives vague explanations on what to do, but fails to reveal the details. You can probably spot the nuances yourself by watching the film several times, but if you have no clue what to look for, that can be too much to ask. And Kim does not tell what are the most common mistakes, either, so that you could pay special attention on those details. But then, there are dozens of techniques in the film, therefore they could not have devoted too much time for each technique.

There are several special features as bonus material on DVD, including general tactics against knife and gun attacks. Most of the special features are quite short, except for scenario training analysis, which is over 10 minutes in length. It is also quite interesting to watch, as it shows several film clips filmed on a self defence class. In the films, they show a male attacking a female, and the female trying to escape the attack. In the film, Kim analyzes every one of these attacks, pointing out mistakes.

There is a lot good stuff in the film, therefore it is a pity that Kim has not taken the time and effort to fully explain the techniques presented in the film, thus deducting one star from the rating.