After the first "Chin Na In Depth" DVD, I had high expectations for "Chin Na In Depth Course 5-8" with Dr.
Yang, Jwing-Ming.
I was not disappointed one bit.
This is another excellent resource for any martial art library.
Sometimes I watch martial art videos to familiarize myself with a different style, and other times I actually head to the training hall to work on techniques presented and taught in the program.
Dr.
Yang's Chin Na DVDs definitely fall into the latter category.
Being a Hapkido instructor, I am familiar with many joint locking techniques from the Hapkido curriculum.
What I've really enjoyed doing is practicing Dr.
Yang's Chin Na techniques with my Hapkido techniques to compare similarities, differences, how to make them better, how to incorporate what Dr.
Yang teaches with what I do, and so on.
While a novice would not be able to do this, those that have knowledge of joint locking should be experimenting and developing themselves and their techniques.
I think the novice could still learn a lot from this DVD, however I think for me, it has definitely helped make me a better martial artist and introduced me to some variations on locks that I hadn't done yet.
The production quality of the DVD is top notch.
I've come to expect very good quality from YMAA and they deliver.
The sound, lighting, editing are all done very well and the DVD has very easy menus to navigate.
I like that Dr.
Yang includes his principles of Martial Morality at the very beginning before the menu screen because I think all of us that practice martial arts should be reminded of those principles.
The DVD also contains the standard YMAA extras that include information about YMAA, their catalog, and DVD previews of a bunch of their other titles.
The main content of this DVD is on courses 5-8.
From the menu, you can select the course and then the technique you want to learn or review, or you can just watch straight through.
Course one includes 8 techniques, Course Six contains 7 techniques with "Forced to Bow" not listed on the back of the DVD cover, Course Seven contains 8 techniques, and Course Eight contains 7.
All of them have Chinese names.
The English name is listed in the menu, but at the beginning of each segment the Chinese is shown and pronounced.
The various techniques attack fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck and head.
Dr.
Yang does a good job of demonstrating and explaining the techniques, and he give the viewer a lot of little tips to help make the techniques better.
The DVD contains close ups of certain techniques to help viewing and learning as well.
Additionally, there are English subtitles to help the viewer that may have trouble with Dr.
Yang's accent.
Personally, I did not have any trouble understanding Dr.
Yang.
Another nice instructional element of the program is when Dr.
Yang has his students do the techniques after he has taught it.
He points out things as his students perform in order to help you correct mistakes and better understand his teaching.
Having his students involved and incorporating more teaching with them added to the program.
At the end of the program Dr.
Yang cautions the viewer to practice safely.
I liked that he added this.
The mark of a good instructor is high proficiency with techniques, but also being able to teach others to do them in a safe manner and to keep techniques from being abused.
Dr.
Yang is definitely an excellent instructor.
This DVD is an extremely valuable resource for anyone who studies and practices joint locking techniques, regardless of his or her style.