sparring 101 dvd by Rodney chico king video review

Firstly before you read the review below, be aware that if I review a product and it is rubbish I do not forward the review for posting to the guys at SFUK. This DVD is great hence the review below.

Rodney 'Chico' King is the Straight Blast Gym's Africa Director; developer of the Straight Blast Stand-up program; renowned MMA and stand up coach and also the man behind Crazy Monkey system. I know people who have sparred Rodney and they all note that he is hard to hit and that he hits like a mule, breaking you down very quickly.

Rodney covers a lot of things in this DVD and you can see a list of sections at end of this review. One of his main aims is to show you how to get beginners safely sparring. That’s the reason I was first in the queue for this DVD, as a coach getting people into sparring and more importantly keeping them sparring is a subject that greatly interests me.

I once went from a class of twenty plus students to eight in three weeks after I introduced hard sparring. It seems people like the idea of sparring but when they have to step up to the line, other interests suddenly take over, like a new found interest in flower arranging class that happens to take place on sparring night.

We live in an age of the internet and fast information and as coaches we all know what the current Pride or UFC champion does as his training routine. We know most work stand-up, clinch and ground but how do you translate that information to a guy or girl that’s only got a couple of hours a week to train. Rodney deals with these issues within this DVD, so it’s the ideal training aid for all levels from student to coach.

Rodney shows you how to stand and the simplest way to defend yourself during stand up sparring using his Crazy Monkey system (CM). Because he has a MMA back ground this includes how to make it hard for your opponent to take you down.

My first boxing coach said boxing is the art of hitting without getting hit. In some ways MMA is the art of hitting without getting hit or taken down just like old time boxing. A quick view of the second fight between Victor Belfort vs. Randy Couture in the UFC shows us that in MMA you cannot afford to get tagged too many times with those cute vale tudo gloves. The CM shown on the DVD, shows you how to cut down on the number of hits you take in sparring and acts as a platform for you to work off.

Students are more willing to spar if they are not getting their heads busted during each session and that’s the point, using Rodney’s none attribute based system, students hang around long enough to pick up the timing etc they need to get better.

This DVD will take you step by step up the mountain to full sparring and show you how to safely stay there. It’s got many tips that are priceless. The DVD shows how to use foot work and how to avoid the tit for tat sparring that is the curse of beginners. It shows how the average Joe can spar safely and most importantly learn timing etc while they are doing it.

You will learn how to ride the storm, how to hit hard and fast from a safe position and how to break your opponent down quickly like a pro fighter. Even better the material is presented in such away that you can use it in your next training session.

Drills and focus glove training are also covered, along with sparring so if you see in taught, you also see it fought. Once you have your "hands" sorted out you can add knees, kicks and take downs into the mix.

This DVD will improve anyone’s boxing, kickboxing or MMA sparring. Rodney does a good job in clearly presenting his material in an easy to follow manner, a great deal of thought has gone into the different sections and how they flow into one another. It’s a smarter way to train and he is obviously a world class coach as his students do very well in MMA and kick boxing fights.

Simply put this is the best DVD on how to train stand up I have seen and I wish I had seen it twenty years ago.

Be smart and get it because everyone else will.

Rodney’s site

http://www.streetbrawl.co.za/

Rather than give you a step by step review above of Sparring 101, I have given you an overview. The following are the chapters/contents for the Street Boxing vol 2 (Sparring 101 DVD) for your information.

Chapters:

Sparring 101 DVD KO's

Sparring 101 Introduction

Your delivery base

Defense your primary concern

Defense your primary concern (Additional Info)

Moving around your opponent

The only footwork you need

Cutting off the ring

When in doubt, jab!

Jab, corner stone of striking

Diving behind your punches

Developing power in your strikes

Ceiling Drill

Working against the jab & cross

Jab vs Jab, making it work

Putting the jab & cross together

Correct delivery of the cross

Sparring stage 1 - Base Camp

Sparring stage 2 - Making the climb

Which hand to defend with out of the Crazy Monkey

Keeping safe!

Where to look when sparring?

Pressure Drill

Evasive tactics essentials

Sparring 101 DVD recap

Rodney working "Crazy Monkey" part 1

Rodney working "Crazy Monkey" part 2

"Crazy Monkey" against a south-paw

Rodney on non-attribute based stand up

Rodney on the importance of boxing

Rodney on the importance of sparring

Rodney's reason for training

Bonus Sparring footage 1

Bonus Sparring footage 2

Bonus Sparring footage 3

Bonus footage - Sevens Drill

Bonus Footage - Power punching on the mitts

Reviewed 30 August 2004