Restraint and Control Strategies: State-of-the-Art Defensive Tactics for Law Enforcement and Security Professionals
with Loren W. Christensen
Video Review by Alain Burrese
2 Videos. Color, approx. 195 min. $149.95
Available
from Paladin Press, Gunbarrel Tech Center, 7077 Winchester Circle, Boulder, CO
80301; (303)443-7250; Fax (303)442-8741; to order call (800) 466-6868 or online
at http://www.paladin-press.com. ($5.00
P&H charge added to orders)
When you find someone with over thirty years of
martial art training and law enforcement experience who can actually TEACH, you
should run, walk, crawl to learn from him.
Loren Christensen is such an individual, and if you cannot learn from him
first hand, his new video set Restraint and Control Strategies:
State-of-the-Art Defensive Tactics for Law Enforcement and Security
Professionals, is the next best thing.
In this two-video set, Christensen gives detailed
explanation on the techniques and skills that are most effective for real street
situations. Besides teaching the
viewer how to perform techniques, Christensen explains the concepts behind the
techniques and how a police officer, security personal, or just an individual
needing to control or restrain someone in a street fight, can use them more
effectively in real life encounters. Included
in these control techniques on the first tape are the armbar, lower back wrist
flex, police wrist flex, bent arm lock, bent arm wrist flex, shoulder lock
takedown and the outside twist. Christensen
teaches these and their variations from the minimum custody hold to applying
them from an attack. Each section
has a review segment to aid in actually learning these techniques to use
yourself.
In tape two, Christensen gives further excellent
instruction on principles that will help save you when things get ugly on the
street. He covers principles such
as the action-reaction principle; where the head goes, the body will follow; and
the distraction principle. He goes
into detail on how circles will aid in performing the techniques and generate
more power to put a person on the ground. Christensen
knows full well that sometimes a technique does not work in the street like
planned, so he covers going from technique A to B when things are not working.
Being able to change in mid-flow is a valuable skill, and the instruction
on these tapes will help you develop your ability to handle these tough
situations.
Besides the principles taught in the second tape,
many more techniques are shown as well. Christensen
covers hair techniques, pressure points, striking techniques, and prone subject
techniques so you can control the subject after using one of the numerous
takedowns described earlier. I
especially enjoyed the fact that Christensen teaches in the tapes, and is more
concerned with passing on solid information that will help other officers and
individuals in real life encounters, than he is about impressing viewers with
his own skills. These are tapes you
will learn from, and if you practice what is being taught, your effectiveness
and use of techniques will undoubtedly improve.
Even if you are familiar with some of the techniques
taught on these tapes, Christensen’s detailed instruction is sure to help make
them more effective and painful. Whether
you are in law enforcement or security, or a martial artist wanting to increase
the effectiveness of your joint-locks, these videos are an invaluable addition
to any self-defense video library.
Reviewed by Alain Burrese, June 2002