Geoff Thompson Video Review

[NPMantis]

Hi everyone,

I bought three of his videos last weekend and thought I'd review them.

I have read his book 'Watch My Back' (a very good read, well worth buying now it's on paperback), I've never bought an instructional video before so I didn't really know what to expect.

I got Real punching 1 & 3 and Animal Day 1. The punching ones were filmed in a small room, the quality is not amazing but that didn't really matter, I was after the content. All were between 45-60 mins long. It was £32 for 3 videos inc p&P.

Real punching 1 : Very good, teaches you the 4 basic boxing punches (jab, cross, hook and uppercut) though not very pretty they are all very informative and contained enough instruction for me to go away and practice the techniques. Also goes into combinations, a very good buy, probably the best of the three.

Real punching 3 : He didn't actually explain how to get any power into the knees, elbows, etc. shown but is was a good insight into standing striking, shows some good ideas though doesn't go into technique at all. For me it was worth buying.

Animal Day : I thought this was good, it doesn't actually teach you anything other than show what are effectively 'real' fights. Some good training ideas as regards realistic training and definately makes you think about your style - it's all about pressure testing and what will work against someone who is non-compliant and basically trying to knock you out.

All in all I am really pleased with all the videos, well worth the money spent. Oh, and incidentally I ordered the videos over the weekend on the internet and they arrived first thing Tuesday morning (2 working days as promised) which I was pleased about, I'm always a little suspicious of ordering over the internet since I've only used amazon before.

[Liokault]

Geoff Thompson rules but all his books/vids tend to be the same so u dont need to buy or read ALL of them to get his point.

[NPMantis]

That's exactly what I felt, there's a lot of overlap. I am not planning on buying anymore of his videos (I'm not that rich!), the ground fighting series for £96 looks interesting but I don't think that's the kind of thing you can learn from a video, but through practice.

[scotty1]

Have you read his book, er, sh!t, I can't remember what it's called, real self defense or something. Anyway, it's excellent. ****, i'll find what it's called.

[scotty1]

Dead or Alive, that's it. Got loads of stuff on emotional impact of violence etc. Pretty horrifying sh!t on serial killers though.

[bougeac]

hi, i have got a lot of geoffs stuff and i agree with you that its all very good...

a very worthwhile investment is 2 tapes from his groundfighting series : "the escapes"

this tape is AWESOME, very basic production, but more importantly he teaches basic ,very effective (and battle tested in REAL FIGHTING) escapes from headlocks, the mounted position and a whole bunch of difficult positions.

the other tape is called "fighting from your back", as the title implies it features lots of techniques from the prone position, fighting from the guard position etc.

And trust me YOU CAN LEARN AND USE WHATS ON THESE TAPES!!!!

I have used the headlock/mount escapes numerous times during HEAVY grappling practice, im not a grappler by the way, im a wing chun stylist.

Great tapes from a great martial artist and human being.

good luck with your training,

chris

[NPMantis]

Yeah I'd love them but too expensive Maybe I'll shell out £96 for the series in a bit of perhaps like you said just get the escapes.

I definately think grappling is an area which like standup work <cough> TKD, etc. <cough> is hard to find good basic techniques, a lot of it seems like a waste of time, I noted in Animal Day there were very few technique used and all were very effective.

Thanks a lot for your input mate! I'll definately look into them.

[NPMantis]

Hi bougeac,

OK I gave in and bought a couple of his groundfighting tapes (3 for prices of 2):

1. Pins
2. Escapes
3. Chokes

I might get another couple in a few months (including the fighting from your back one you mentioned).

I'll let you know what I think of them later on in the week when I get them!

Cheer mate.

Ps. I don't know if you've seen this but it may interest you if you live near London :

http://pub13.ezboard.com/fsfuksubmis...ID=12741.topic

[carly]

I'd love to hear your impressions of his tapes.

[NPMantis]

Pins (The Bedrock) - Very good video, approximately 60 minutes long, shows the basic pins and repeats them many times and what you can do in each striking/grappling-wise, interchanging between them etc. A very good video and you can learn from them! I am looking forward to sparring with a couple of my friends... It is fairly similar to BJJ basic holds, incluing things such as mount/side/rear mount/north south/etc but from the perspective of a street fighter. I'd recommend this tape highly to anyone.

Escapes - This is only about 45 minutes long, not as good as the pins tape but it is fairly important in terms of escaping some of the ground pins and again it makes you think and teaches you a few concepts of escaping even if you can't remember the escapes themselves.

Chokes - This is 60 mins long, it's quite good, shows only basic techniques but again, makes you think about a lot of the stuff that other styles don't go into such as eye gouges, fish hooks, groins and headbutts.

All these tapes are really bread and butter stuff, nothing flashy, I would have said everything on the tapes will work, there is nothing that relies on yout partner allowing you to perform the techniques (unlike many MA techniques I have seen with 6-move precision trapping combos, etc).

I am going to get 'fighting from your back' and 'fighting from your knees' next, has anyone else seen any of his other videos? I would be interested to hear what you have to say about these. I am also interested in hearing what anyone else has to say about his fence video and advanced ground fighting videos.

Thanks,

NPM.

[davethedragon]

hello lads
ive seena lot about that guy .
out of all of those reviews the punching vol1 sounds like it would suit me best. how much is it and can you get it in DVD do you know.its a good idea to do reviews like this as i am also quite hesitant about purchasing stuff on line.

[NPMantis]

Alright mate,

Vol 1 of the punching series is good to teach you the basic punches and give you a bit of motivation to practice.

You might as well get 3 videos though as it's 3 for 2, so you'd pay £16 for the punching video or £32 for 3 videos.

You may be interested in 'the fence' video if you don't know anything about it, though I haven't seen it.

As regards ordering online, I'm the same (I only trust Amazon.co.uk) but all the goods were delivered (on both occasions I ordered) within 2 days.

Take it easy,

NPM.

[LEGEND]

Mantis...Thompson is a great person but I do not recommend his ground fighting instructional video or his boxing video. His FENCE video is PERFECT though. I've just seen so many better Ground fighting/striking instructionals. Hell even www.centuryvision.com offer clips of UFC guys demo. the techs better. Buttttttttttttttttt THE FENCE video is the shiet! That is pure street fighting stragedy at it's best.

[Kinjit]

The guys responsible for clipstream should be shot....

[NPMantis]

Hi there,

Thanks for your suggestion, the videos looked ok but not really what I'm looking for. I thought Geoff's were very good, exactly what I was looking for.

Sorry, I'm too exhausted to write a proper answer, I'll be back though!