According to MartialSkill's Facebook page, "MartialSkill.com is a team of martial arts practitioners dedicated to furthering the development of traditional martial arts by fusing them with modern-day techniques and applications, as well as the fusion of traditional and MMA techniques." Bai Yuan Tou Tao (“White Ape Steal Peach” hand form) features Mr. Sean Daily, who has 10 years of experience in Seven Star Praying Mantis kung fu. Mr. Daily trains under Mr. Wes Hardy who is an 18-year Praying Mantis practitioner with experience in Chiu Chi Man and Wong Hun Fun lineages of Praying Mantis kung fu.
Purpose
I was expecting this to be a martial arts instructional DVD similar to Sang H. Kim’s Taekwondo Taeguek Poomse #1-8. Kim’s DVD focuses mostly on the first eight World Taekwondo Federation forms and only briefly covers some practical applications from each of the eight. This is not to say that Mr. Kim’s DVD is without merit; in fact, I practically wore it out in preparation for my black belt examine. My only issue with his DVD was that by covering so many forms in a single DVD he did not have much time to delve deeper into each form’s individual martial applications.
Not so with MartialSkill’s Bai Yuan Tou Tao DVD. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the purpose, content, and general educational approach to this training DVD. In fact, before you even get into the lessons, Mr. Daily explains that this DVD is intended to be the video equivalent of a kung fu instructor. Whether he succeeds in this regard I’ll save for the end of my review. Moreover he’s careful to acknowledge that there are different styles of Praying Mantis kung fu, and that some who purchase the DVD may see variations of techniques that are different from what their instructor may teach. The bottom line: If you are using the DVD as a substitute for a kung fu instructor the stylistic differences will not matter and if you are using it as a supplement then it becomes a tool with which to broaden your martial knowledge; but, ultimately, you should defer to how your teacher is teaching his or her style of Praying Mantis kung fu.
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