Dennis Jones - Pre-emptive Striking DVD

a new DVD by Dennis Jones (actually his first i believe) has just been released.

available here ... http://www.samuraionthedoor.co.uk/

and for those who think that steve morris is just an mma guy with little respect to "street focused training", think again. heres what steve had to say about the DVD ...

"I've seen a copy of Dennis Jones' new DVD 'Street Defence: Pre-emptive Striking' and I highly recommend it. Dennis has been working on the door for a long time and he's had a lot of street encounters. He really knows his stuff. The information he gives on the DVD comes from a lot of experience. No bells and whistles, but good stuff. It would suit both professionals in the security field and your average person looking for survival tips for the street."

i trained with dennis a couple of years ago (a private and a seminar). he can hit like a truck and had a wealth of knowledge to share. will be interesting to see whats covered in this instructional.

I caught up with Dennis at this year's SENI show, in fact he presented me with my award as he was last year's recipient.

Dennis is highly recommended, without doubt an absolute professional.

On the subject of Steve Morris, and his endorsement of the DVD, in my opinion that speaks volumes. Anyone who thinks that Steve is 'just an MMA guy' couldn't be further off the mark, his material is simply outstanding and relevant to any arena, sport or street.

Mick

Dennis popped in to the FAST Defence stall at SENI and I had a chat with him.

'Bloody nice bloke' was the thought on my mind.

There are a lot of people with good stuff out there, but I would recommend Dennis' just on meeting him.

Great to see people getting behind his stuff.

Dik

Just ordered it. I hope it plays in my machine!

a review possible jeff?

OK.

First let me preface this by saying I am reviewing this as a consumer and NOT a practitioner of self-protection. It would be ludicrous for someone of my stature to judge or question the material produced by someone with the experience of Dennis Jones. Therefore anything I might say that is not praise is simply an opinion as to what I would have wanted out of a product as a consumer and enthusiast who is eager to learn as much about self-protection as possible.

First off, the quality of the DVD is excellent. It is well filmed and edited and clear and concise in the audio department. It has a professional production feel to it and was certainly not filmed with a handheld in someone's garage.

The entire DVD is filmed in a class-type setting with about 7 or 8 students observing as Dennis speaks and pulls random students here and there for a demo or two.

Dennis begins by giving his take on the slap. His technique is similar to serving a tennis ball as the motion has a bit of an overhand trajectory to it. Dennis favors to strike with the HEEL of the palm on the slap and cautions about striking higher for fear of damaging the wrist and fingers. The delivery is very relaxed throughout and not rigid in anyway. The jaw by the ear is his preferred target.

The next bits of the DVD are what I found most informative and that is how to properly position your assailant and NOT yourself in order to deliver the most efficient pre-emptive strike. Those of you who have seen alot of Geoff T's fence work will no doubt see some similarities.

Dennis's delivery system utilizes alot of travel and bodyweight transference. It is obvious he hits like a truck. Another gem I found in this was when Dennis compares the differences between combination striking in the street and something like boxing or the UFC and how each strike (in the street) should be delivered with full bodyweight commitment that is produced from a stable base predicated on your previous pre-emptive strike.

It is not a surprise (as someone with as much experience as he has) that he poo-poos the jab or 'set-up' techniques and says every shot should be designed to end the fight.

When it came to punching, Dennis believes ALL punches should take on a curve of sorts as he believes straight punches are not as efficient at producing KOs. Once again, his deliver for his punches (which I guess we could classify as short overhands and hooks if need be) include alot of travel and bodyweight transference using the hips and dropping of weigt into the blow.

Part 2 coming up...

OK, part 2.

While the DVD is certainly a worthy addition to anyone's library, there are a few things I would have liked to seen more of.

First off, it was too short! I felt that Dennis would no sooner get going on something and then it would end and he would move on to something else.

This leads me too his take on punching. I would have liked to have seen more of it. He goes into the slap for a little while, but spends only a little time describing his punching methods. This was disappointing because the DVD opens up with some great clips of Dennis throwing HARD shots into focus mitts in a barroom-type environment, whetting your appetite for potential things to come, yet it is never shown on the DVD. In fact, very little pad work or demos are shown. It is mostly static explanation. Some scenario work with impact drills in the bar-type environment previewed in the beginning would have been great.

While the DVD was a good one, I was left wanting more! It seemed like part 1 to a series, or a long commercial to a lengthier DVD to be released later. Dennis was very articulate, a great character, and gave a funny war story or two, but I wanted more action! Like I said, the opening clips looked great and promising, yet none of these clips were shown in the actual DVD.

His psychological take on fear and rage and his analogy on a near car accident versus someone cutting you off (fear vs. rage) is excellent and anyone who has ever driven a car could almost certainly identify with it.

All in all, I believe the DVD is worth the price of purchase for Dennis's take on impact delivery, setting up the pre-emptive strike, and the psychology of combat. And his thoughts on combinations in the 'street' were very insightful and worthwhile to those caught in the jab-cross-hook-uppercut mode found in the ring.

I hope Dennis puts out another disc that is a little more meaty with some more impact work and scenario-type drills. Like I said, his stuff is great and he has an aura about him that leaves you wanting more, so please Dennis, give us more!

I'd also like to say that when I say more I am not asking for more techniques and fancy BS. Dennis's message of keeping it basic and brutal with pre-emption being the order of the day came over loud and clear. What I would want is a bit more 'meat' and demos of the information already presented on this disc. For example, after having demo'd the slap and his take on punching, it would have been great if he took a student aside with pads and moved into a different environment, then re-enacted various 'situations' that culminated with his pre-emptive strikes on the focus pads.

I'm gonna stop at this point folks. I have to say that I only watched the DVD once (about an hour ago) so I apologize if my thoughts are a little scrambled and lack any discernible order. I plan on watching it again and perhaps adding a thing or two to this review, but all in all, the DVD is worth the buy IMO as you can pick up a gem or two from it and that should be the goal of any DVD we buy in my humble opinion.

Jeff

Great review Jeff

Thanks for sharing

Dik

thanks for the detailed review jeff.

dennis has written some interesting stuff in the past few years on effective impact delivery. so i was hoping for some demos like yourself, especially on the heavybag. maybe on vol 2?

still sounds like its a worth while purchase.

He DOES do a few strikes on the pads, but like I said, I would have loved to have seen more. His stuff was great but I guess I'm being greedy