http://www.catchwrestle.com/laohinfo.htmThe Lost art of hooking DVD-Rs are on sale directly from Tony Cecchine for $100. You also get forum access and the double trouble video series and a seminar CD-ROM. It's "The Silver Package" in the store.The Double trouble series is of special interest, because it's a set he made with BJJ brown belt Shawn Chitwood about adapting catch to BJJ with the gi. I haven't seen it but I've read good reviews.That's a good deal. On the negative side, these are DVD-Rs and they are made from VHS copies, not the master. Also WMA's come in rectangular full color DVD cases, 2 DVDs per case, and have chapters and a menu. I don't know the quality of production of the ones direct from Cecchine. The content is the same as far as I know.
I have the ones from WMA. I've only watched volumes 1-4 so far, and they are excellent.
Tony always explains why the details he shows make a difference, and he explains a lot of
principles. The pace is also very good, not too fast and not too slow. Especially the
ground domination volumes have a lot of great material on pinning that is helpful to anyone.
I would say at least 85% of the stuff is applicable to standard no-gi grappling and wouldn't be
illegal. He also shows some terrific pointers for holding mount and punching from mount, and
believe it or not, some good details for the omoplata from guard.
Since catch is fairly different from BJJ, he shows a lot of moves and principles that you probably haven't seen before, which is always a good thing.
Mainly the only things that wouldn't be legal in no-gi grappling are the 'rips', which are
various gouges and pokes and things like that, to make the opponent uncomfortable and get him
to move. I don't really care for those very much, but it's not a big deal, you can take what
you like from them. A few of them done with the chin or with the elbows I wouldn't consider
uncool and I might try them sometime. I would never grab someone's flesh with my hands
though; that just seems gross to me.
Maybe a full review later when I get around to watching them all.
Double Trouble is all about the ankle lock. Teaching how to do an ankle lock more efficiently and getting it from multiple positions. Plus Shawn is wearing a Gi when he demontrates the techs, so it is all BJJ friendly.
He also shows a few counters and guard passes when your opponent goes for a scissor sweep.
Great instuctional on these specific topics.
thanks for the info. That is a pretty fair price...
andrew, does he cover guard work (when the opponenet is in Tony's guard?)
matoki,
not alot of stuff from the guard is covered. He does cover the arm drag and a few moves to get off your back and to your opponent's back.
Great set for neck cranks and leg locks. Def. will help you top control game as well.
thanks for the info!
Right, there is very little stuff on what to do from the bottom, and nothing as far as escapes from the bottom.
Watched up to Vol 7 now, good stuff. On the first neck manipulations volume, he shows a front choke variation that looks similar to some descriptions of the elusive ten finger guillotine.
Andrew,
Do you think it's up to par with modern BJJ technique, eg, Garcia and others? I am interested in Tony's Catch, but am concerned that it might show solid old-school stuff that worked in the past, but doesn't work as well as the current set-ups and details.
Have any of his students done well in competition? What do advanced (eg purple and above) BJJ guys think of his technique?
Alex
I think you have posted about the techniques possibly being out-dated and "old school" before Alex. The techniques shown on these work and will help you better apply the submissions you thought you knew. Andrew, the front choke he shows is a big part of my game. He shows it in great detail and it does sound alot like the ten-finger as described on this forum.
Alex, I have both the Marcello and Checcine series and you can't compare the two. Marcello's tapes were his game during abudhabi. Checcine's is a overview or a syllabus of Catchwrestling, more in line with a Kukuk series. Don't get these tapes to learn a personal strategy or "competition" techniques. These are the mechanics and key principles of catchwrestling shown in detail.
I dug out one (of two) Nyc seminar tapes from my basement and re-wateched it. TREMENDOUS STUFF
Tony Cecchine did/does seminars in NYC???
Which seminars? I have been at all of them going back to Chau's with Jerron. Those are probably some of the only ones I do not have. And then there is the missing tape from the first NJ seminar that was supposedly taped over?
He still does seminars in NYC? I heard there is a catch wrestling club in NYC aswell.
btw - Tony's tapes are great for pins! however he does seem to diss jiujitsu guys a lot which sucks ;(
Alex,
In my opinion, generally grappling techniques and theory do not get outdated. As time goes on, new moves and setups are created, but that doesn't mean the old ones don't work anymore.
If you look at the Rorion-Royce instructionals from 10 years ago, they are still quite good(except for the please-triangle-me guard pass). People don't like them mainly because of the outrageous price. Ryron and Rener Gracie are very successful today using moves that are mostly the same as those from that set. Yes, they have some new moves of course, but they still do use the basic old ones a lot.
Also, because catch is so different from BJJ, even though the moves are old, it's very new to you, and it's new to the people you roll with.
For the moment Tony has only been doing seminars open to ICWA members. They have been held in New Jersey.
There are some guys in the area that train toether from time to time, but I do not think there is an NYC club. If there was I would know about it.
The NYC seminars/videos took place in April '99 and I believe July '99. They were run by Jerron and held at a wing chun school in manhattan
I would love to get copies of those if we could arrange it. I am sure I was there.