[Bengoshi]

Ok, some edits since I've seen the entire set.

First, if you don't know what a SWOT analysis is, if you've never broken down a Judo match into fifteen or twenty minute sections for planning purposes, it is well worth getting.
Second, Rhadi is applying basic project management and sports principles to Judo. Much of the set is on basic principles, ones I've realized many people don't know or don't appreciate.
Third, from these you get the basics of why several Olympic athletes listed Rhadi as their coach (one in Judo, a couple in other sports).

The series could well be called: basic principles for approaching Judo (or other major activities).

It is pitched at what I'd consider the mental level of a bright high school student or the average college student. Rhadi's style makes it easy to understand with enough recursion that you can pick it up one time through.

That said, the good news, from my viewpoint, is that the DVDs are just about perfect for my nephew. When Rhadi states that they are as useful for learning algebra as Judo, he is making a critical point.

Also, while the CDs were aimed at people running a club, the DVDs are aimed at individuals. Some of the tools are similar, but he takes it very different directions.

The DVDs are Rhadi giving a seminar. They are also about to be discontinued (which is what I gathered from his website). Pricing on them just keeps getting better and better.

They start with his normal claims to authority from experience and credentials, (btw, pinstripe shirts are good in life, not on video).

Disk One
Scale up
Don't use average people for your examples
Use the library (including interlibrary loan).
Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power
Get a team
What you can pay for in time or money you can buy
What you can't, get from a library

There are no entitlements
Focus on the present, what you are doing
The past isn't the question, it is what you are doing now.
Always be striving.

Had good things to say about Eddie Liddy.

Don't pack party clothes when you go to tournaments
Ask and listen to the advice of professionals
Don't complain (amen).

DVD2 Note, currently being sold without the printed materials he refers to on the DVD
Economics/politics vis a vis Judo
The need for a base line
Cross-train
Strength and Conditioning #1
push, pull (e.g. push-ups and rows), level changes (e.g. squats) and rotation (e.g. wood chops) (the examples given are all mine)
Do you want a sprinter's body or a marathoner's body
behavioral Congruency
The need to plan, the need to emulate

Perfect for a teenager.

DVD3
Consultation vs. professional consultation
Judo has its parts. Ask yourself, where are you on each part? (he details the five parts and does some analysis).

DVD 4
You can't live on tactics
SWOT Analysis

DVD 5
SWOT analysis
Operant Conditioning. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning]

DVD 6
Rhadi really believes in cross-training to the point he can be rendered speechless with emotion.

But ... he was extremely firm on the point that before you branch out, you must get a foundation.
If you try everything at once, you will end up with nothing.
Thesis/Anti-thesis/Synthesis

The value in much of it is that it applies to Algebra Class as well as Judo.

A reprise of the similar material in the CDs where he breaks down a match in to sections, in this case, 20 second sections.
Notes that a match has 15 attacks in it and that the last minute of a match is the penalty rich period.

He is very well aware that referee perception and preference affects matches. He actually analyzed every national level referee, their preferences and their habits. He could probably tell you who each referee favors as well. That would have been great content ...

Started to get very Judo specific.

DVD 7

I'll get that watched and analyzed later.

Worth what I paid for it? Sure, I think it will help my nephew, he can understand the entire thing and I think it will be what he needs. I'll get it mailed out (my brother doesn't approve of my sending him videos unless I've watched the entire thing).

I feel sorry for Rhadi's delay in recognizing the impact that referees could have on him until much later in his career.

As a last note, I'm reconciled to a busy life, time consumed by family requirements and the thought that I may well get my shoulder rehab finished (my wife insisted that I quit Judo until it recovered) and not be able to work in a return to Judo.

I'm also glad to be able to find life skills materials of this type to pass on.

The other nephew I sent earlier material to (by Rhadi, I should have kept notes, I could have posted a review) is still just wrestling, probably will not take up Judo, got a lot of value from the material.

This post has been edited by Aranon: 01 October 2008 - 01:40 AM

[Bengoshi]

Ok, end of disk 6 and disk 7

First, Rhadi treated Judo like people treat football.

Second, reprises the Cuban woman's Judo program.

Three fast attacks so they can get a Shido
Double sleeve, drop sode, as soon as you push back.

Remember, in the beginning of a match, they don't penalize you for false attacks, the last minute is the penalty rich period.

It would be nice to see Rhadi share his analysis he did of every national judge, their favorites and their predilections.

Two things come out:

1. apply general learning principles and general sport principles to Judo.
2. apply general football principles to Judo. (Think about it, four quarters, two minute drills, different approaches for each down and each stance). Energy expenditures (pass routes to exhaust the defense, that sort of thing, apply it to Judo). Thus, just as he sections off training in the CDs, he sections off matches for Judo players.

To a wrestler much of it is obvious, but wrestling matches start sectioned off (you have three "halves" to a match, etc.).

Execute, then analyze on your execution. Just like post game analysis for every football game.

I'd like to see a lot more of his SWOT analysis of current Judo players, the ones he did for the Olympic qualifiers and for the Olympics.

That would be some secrets ;)

If what I'm writing about in the review causes you to go "ok, and ..." this isn't for you.

But, if you haven't heard of operant conditioning, if you've never done a SWOT analysis, if you've never broken a match down into twenty or fifteen second analysis, the material is very worthwhile.

If you want to communicate to a (bright) fifteen year old, this is perfect.

The last half of the DVD ... advertisement for The Grind. I'll finish watching it and update this (at 23 minutes in, I kind of ground to a halt).

Ok, that is how it started, but it actually was more than just social proof that The Grind is a good product. He actually gets useful insights from the participants.(my edit for this section)

Will I buy any more Rhadi products?

Yes. I've pretty much hit my nephews that can appreciate them, but I think I'll get The Experience just for the story. I've bought the Scouting Report since he was liquidating that and it cost me only ten dollars. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with The Judo Scouting Report, but what the heck.

Now, if he had specific information, like the things I've mentioned above (his SWOT analysis of each major Judo referee, his SWOT analysis of each person he thought he might face in the Olympics, that sort of thing), I'd be even more interested. The examples he does give are pure gold.

I have to say that if Taraje's DVD had included groundwork and throwing drills, a SWOT analysis on Taraje and on his competitors and referees he faced at the qualifying trials and Pan Americans and planned for in the Olympics, it would have probably been the best modern Judo DVD released.

The tournament clips you can buy often don't show you enough tape of a match to do an analysis of the match itself, you just see the throws. http://www.judovisio...n.org/index.php is really valuable because you can see complete matches.

I guess Taraje is waiting until he decides if he wants to make a run at one more Olympics or not before he does that (releases all that information).

This post has been edited by Aranon: 01 October 2008 - 01:47 AM

[Bengoshi]

Ok, just bought The Experience too, since it was written down dramatically (Rhadi is clearing off a lot of stuff) http://www.rhadi.com...ster/index.html

I would have bought it anyway, regardless of Judo Success Secrets, but I thought I'd note that the price has dropped into impulse purchase range. I had planned to buy that, decided, what the heck, I'd pick up Judo Success Secrets, and then the price dropped on The Experience. I'm hoping to see more application of what Rhadi is talking about and I'm interested in more information. Of course what I really want is something like that, only about Jimmy Pedro.

Speaking of which, I've also got Jimmy Pedro's Grip Like a World Champion DVD (which I bought a while back) -- and I think it is well worth getting to know what is going to be coming at you and to perform a SWOT analysis on. I got that a while back, just so I could understand what I was watching happen in the Olympics. If my rotator cuff repair and rehab doesn't go better, I may not be coming back to practicing Judo, so watching these videos may be my last brush with the sport.

This post has been edited by Aranon: 01 October 2008 - 01:51 AM

[Bengoshi]

Well, I'm glad I went and finished the DVD set, the end of it was more than just marketing.

I should note that as a result of watching them all, and writing this review, I think in the end that I think I admire Rhadi very much. His passion comes through and he seems much more authentic on this series than he sometimes does in his marketing.

I think this multi-DVD set will do my nephew good and his dad will like it (his dad is an MBA who handles project management and this set will resonate with him).

On balance, Recommended if you are still interested after reading all of this review.

This post has been edited by Aranon: 01 October 2008 - 01:58 AM

[Dave Chesser]

Thanks for the lenghty review. This is the best promotion for Rhadi's stuff I've seen yet. The more lengthy, positive reviews on a non-affiliated site I see, the more likely I am to buy.

[Bengoshi]

Dave Chesser, on Sep 30 2008, 08:56 PM, said:

Thanks for the lengthy review. This is the best promotion for Rhadi's stuff I've seen yet. The more lengthy, positive reviews on a non-affiliated site I see, the more likely I am to buy.

David,

I still have qualms about suggesting to some people that they spend a hundred dollars on things I think they should really know. On the other hand, if they don't know them, this is probably the easiest (and perhaps only) place they are likely to learn them. When I think of the cost as being "less than a new Gi" or "four movies with food and a date" or ... then it seems more worthwhile.

Rhadi's sales approach is a real negative to me. On the other hand, it is the current "best practice" for internet sales and I'll be he learned it like he learned everything else by finding out what is the current best practice and following it.

I'm just not seeing reviews of any of the stuff he is selling or of many DVDs. So, even though I don't know a lot, I thought I'd review some things.

[Dave Chesser]

Your willingness to review them is much appreciated.

I like Rhadi's approach a lot. And his experience speaks for itself. So i'm predisposed to buy his stuff I guess.

But many of his products sound exactly the same to me. I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. Telling the customer what a product is NOT is often very useful, even if it seems like a negative to some people. His marketing often gets in the way of that.

Again, your review is very useful.

[Bengoshi]

Thanks Dave. Rhadi has two problems. First, he is following advertising "best practices" which sell a heck of a lot more units than the old fashioned approach. I mean, I have Steven R. Cunningham's Core Throwing Techniques of the Kodokan Judo Syllabus (a United States Judo Association seal product). Vol. 1 and 2 are deep, rich and probably sold fifty units between them. But that sales approach pretty much blurs all the lines.

Second, he has a core experience and he is still developing how to communicate it.

The CD set is basically for anyone who has a dojo or a club or who wants to have one. You basically get it for free with other products.

The DVD set is basically the core approach for individuals -- it is Rhadi giving a seminar over a couple days that someone shot on DVD and then put together.

The Jimmy Pedro Gripfighting DVD is a nice, clean product. Examples, drills, high production values. The CD set with book is basically a lot more talking and kind of an introduction to what Pedro's DVD has. I'm not sure about the last product, but I suspect it has a lot more nuance and a lot more material, but rougher production values than the Pedro DVD.

Beyond the Rings is just inspirational stuff. Not bad, interesting perspectives.

The Scouting Report -- the CD part of it is excellent, I haven't watched the DVD yet, but it takes SWOT analysis and scouting further. Rhadi was basically giving it away and there is nothing wrong with it, it is a nice mature, well produced product, that teaches you how to apply the concept of scouting the opposition to Judo. I'm amazed to realize that no one is doing that at the Olympic Judo center and that when someone goes to the Olympics there isn't a that sort of material available for every American who goes.

No football team, even at the Jr. High or Middle School level, would play a game without scouting. Wrestlers engage in it.

Basketball teams? Of course.

Or strength and conditioning? How many people get conditioning by jogging instead of sprinting?

BTW, I blogged on Rhadi at http://ethesis.blogs...i-ferguson.html

But you are right, a lot of things run together. I'm glad I could help a little with my two posts.