There are many Shredder reviews on this site. This one might be of use to those with no prior knowledge of Senshido at all (like me). So if you are an instructor/trainer of some other art and have no idea about Senshido at all please read on.
Production values:
Well...not much to say here really. A VCR tape and a photocopied booklet. Personally I found it helpful to do as instructed and read the manual before watching the tapes. IMO this is quite useful if you have no idea about the principles of Senshido. The actual tape is filmed in a training place with camcorder. No DVD menus, no simulated SWAT team entries or street attacks, no heavy metal soundtrack. I showed a clip to my friend and he said: "A tattooed guy in a wifebeater shirt explaining how rip the face off...I love Senshido already!"
The tape does not differ much in production values from the majority of the instructional tapes out there. Gotta love that logo though.
The Meat
As an instructor I must first give credit to Richard for his teaching ability. You see without those SWAT team entries and heavy metal soundtracks he got me glued to the screen for the whole 80 minutes. One has to admire the his enthusiasm and his ability to convey information. I personally like his humour a lot and those four letter words injected now and then make it all a bit more real and gritty. It might not be everyones cup of tea but I personally enjoy instruction like that. Also worth mentioning is that the tape was probably taken with only a few takes yet the information delivered is clear and coherent.
But all that is secondary to the actual concept of Shredding. Is it good or not? Is it the "missing link" in martial arts? Is it something totally new?
Well the answer is yes and no.
Many RBSD systems have employed similar concepts/techniques: Compound attacks delivered with broken or shattered rhythm, attacking weak points in opponents anatomy especially the facial area.
But that is not what the Shredder is about. When I told my friends (RBSD instructors) about it the majority said:"Well whats the deal, we've been doing that s**t, eye gouges etc. How many ways there are to rip the face off?"
My answer to them was this:
Almost every system has employed some form of roundhouse kick. Yet people kick it in many different ways. Or they used to. Ever since the Muay Thai people showed how they have honed and evolved that kick pretty much everyone who wants to kick an effective round kick does it the thai way.
So what The Shredder does to the concept of attacking/gouging/ripping many times the weak spots of the opponent (mainly facial area) is the same as the thai did to the round kick: It fine tunes it, it hones it, it takes it to "the next level" But keep in mind that this is not a technique like a single kick but a concept.
Which brings me to the next item: Is it worth the buy? Can I learn it?
Yes and yes.
I personally found no difficulty in learning it. Actually I must say that so far of all the things in martial arts that I have learned so far this is one of the easiest to pick up and also one of the most effective tools. Believe me when I tell you that that is quite a lot. Since it is a concept and not a technique it should fit right there in your toolbox whatever your system is. If you have trained in reality based systems you should already know those attacks but the concept of shredding IMO multiplies their effectiviness. You can enhance your fighting ability with the Shredder, especially in the clinch, on the ground, against weapons, multiple attackers.
What is missing from the tape are different drills for the Shredder. A few drills are shown by Richies students and they are fun to watch. I personally would have liked a bit more details on how to train it.
[This has nothing to do with Shredder as such but in one scenario the attacker fumbles and drops his knife when he is taking it out from his pocket. What happens in the average dojo at this point is that the victim laughs and maybe picks up the knife and hands it to the attacker and they start again. What happens in this clip is that the "victim" immediately exploits the mistake and attacks the opponent as he is going for the knife on the ground. To me that made quite an impression. I know nothing about Senshido but I must admit that they must practise the right way otherwise that would not have happened. Good work]
After you buy the tape (as you should) you can truly appreciate the concept after you have trained it, ESPECIALLY AS THE RECEIVER! This is important, you must experience it to appreciate it. See IMO the most strongest point of The Shredder is not the actual damage caused to the enemy although that can be devastating in itself. It is the psychological side. The feeling of getting shredded is so overwhelming that you cannot concentrate on anything else except removing those hands from you face. So even if the guy doing the Shredding is not causing any damage(that is one option BTW not just in training) at the very least he will get openings for other attacks. He will make the opponent to go on the defensive.
I must confess that in the last 5 yrs or so this has been the first concept in RBSD that has actually made me go: Wow!
Now go ahead and get that tape.
You will not be disappointed.
