Mousel’s Focus Mitt Training for Mixed Martial Arts
Introduction
Tim Mousel owns his own martial arts club in Houston, Texas. He also has a web site, www.defend.net Information about this product, as well as others, can be found on the site.
This is a review of “Focus Mitt Training for the Mixed Martial Arts” DVD. This written piece is not intended to be an aid to study, but to allow the reader to consider whether or not the DVD itself could be used to assist in their own training regime.
Basic Information
The DVD is about 45 minutes in length. I initially thought that it would be too short but, in fairness to Tim, the techniques shown are not demonstrated dozens of times. That is what the rewind and playback buttons are for. He limits the number of repetitions and is then able to include more in the programme.
A word for the Europeans out there. My own DVD player would not play the DVD. But all was not lost, I could play it on my kids’ Playstation2. But Tim may wish to release a version compatible with European equipment if he wanted to sell more to that market.
The picture quality is excellent; good camera work, great lighting and a clear view of the techniques being demonstrated. Each section is divided by a rolling “ying yang” symbol across the screen, and that helps break the presentation up into manageable study pieces.
The Techniques
This is not a Reality Based Self Defence DVD (my usual interest), and does not pretend to be. Being a RBSD person myself I could hear myself saying “but you could claw his eyes here, or strike his throat there….” So this DVD may not be for any reality based people out there. Mixed Martial Arts is a sport, albeit a very very street effective one. Having said that I certainly did pick things up that would be of use to me in a real fight. I won’t go into detail (this is not an instructional review, remember), but Tim has shown me things that I can use in street defence. Little gems in fact.
I already have an instructional tape about the focus mitts, made by another famous JKD practitioner. Good as that is, Tim’s DVD is better. The temptation would be to focus on the striking element, the punches and kicks etc. But Tim mixes the strikes in with both standing and ground grappling. Like he says at the conclusion of his presentation, one weakness in some Mixed Martial Artists is that they only box/kick box when standing, and only wrestle when on the ground. This has long been a bug bear of mine too. Why practice pure grappling to the extent that you miss opportunities to strike and, even worse, allow your opponent those opportunities on you? Tim shows a drill that counters this tendency, and the whole DVD is geared against it. The better fighters don’t limit themselves anyway, and strike or grapple as the situation demands. This DVD will go along way in promoting this kind of approach in your own training.
Some of the techniques involve feinting and drawing, and would be effective in competition. Not as relevant to the streets though. where people wouldn’t know enough to react to your feints anyway, but good ring craft nonetheless. Tim helps take the training to that deeper level by doing this. This is not a beginners DVD though. Some skill level should have been achieved prior to it being studied.
Criticisms
My criticism would be twofold. Firstly some of these combinations were quite complex, involving relatively lengthy exchanges where the pad holder also strikes the trainee. This is fine on one level, but it is a little bit too choreographed in my view. Maybe I’m straying into the “Aliveness” debate here. I think it would be better (and, of course, harder) if the pad holder were given the option of hitting the trainee when and where he or she wanted to. This would make it more real. After all, there are infinite possible variations in attack that an opponent may come up with. There is no way you can cover them all, so why not train in a manner that will allow you to react to what is happening in that given moment. But this does not matter to the person purchasing the DVD. He or she can adapt the ideas from the tape in whatever way they think best.
Secondly, the presentation goes from simple to the very complex, and then backwards and forwards between the two. It may have been a better idea to start with the simplest of drills, and gradually work up to the more complex ones, i.e. the ones that involve lengthy exchanges and takedowns etc. Again, though, the DVD viewer could pick and choose the order in which he or she studied the DVD; there is a facility to choose at which stage you wish to view it from. Tim does emphasise that it is wise to practice the techniques slowly, and only build up speed and power when they have been correctly earned. This is good advice, and one which only fools would ignore. Some of the simpler ones are fine conditioning drills also.
Conclusion
I have studied similar JKD/MMA of the type Tim teaches, and I was impressed by his skill level. His breaking down barriers between the ranges (i.e. especially the striking and grappling ranges) is a welcome change to the approach of many. They should compliment each other, and Tim makes sure they do.
I strongly recommend the DVD to grapplers who want to incorporate more striking, strikers who want to incorporate more grappling, and anyone in between. The Focus Mitts are an excellent training tool, and this DVD helps make the most of them.