Video to DVD conversion complete

Turtle Press has completed transferring video titles to DVD format and will soon be discontinuing VHS sales. Some titles will not be transferred to DVD and will instead be discontinued, so order soon if there are VHS titles on your wish list.

Turtle Press video previews on Google

Turtle Press vidoe previews can now be seen on Google Video in broadband windows media format. If you're having difficultly previewing titles on our site in RealPlayer or just prefer to watch the previews in your browser, go to video.google.com and search on the DVD title or key words.

Feinting for Street Fighting

Loren Christensen and Wim Demeere, authors of Timing in the Fighting Arts, offer this simple partner drill to practice using feinting in a self-defense situation:

Square off with your partner and run trough your entire arsenal of feints using your head, arm, kicks, grabs, footwork, and even shouts. Your partner should give you honest feedback. If he feels your feint isn’t convincing enough, he tells you so. Now, don’t take it personally and come back at him with, “Yeah, but your mama’s a thief.” Learn from the critique and strive to correct the problem.

Here are a few tricks for you to try. They are simple because our fighting philosophy is simple. It’s already hard enough on the streets without getting complex in your self-defense.

Switch levels of attack Fake an attack to your opponent’s legs and when he moves to block, hit him in the face. The bigger the difference in the levels, the harder it is for him to defend against your follow-up attack. If you can’t hit at extreme levels, do less. Fake a head punch, and when he dodges, slam a hard punch into his liver.

Practice 1 or 2 sets of 10 reps of each combination on both sides.

Last Day to Save on Advanced Joongbong DVD

The Advanced Joongbong DVD will ship on Dec 15th. Today is the last to preorder and save $5.00 off the regular price.

Dec 15th final day for ground shipping

Order before Thursday Dec 15th to take advantage of lower cost priority mail or UPS ground shipping on Christmas orders. This is also the final day for all international orders to arrive in time for Christmas. After Dec. 15th, choose UPS second day air or UPS next day air for guaranteed Christmas arrival.

2 Turtle Press titles in Black Belt Top 10

According to Black Belt Magazine Turtle Press had two of the top ten selling martial arts books in 2005:

Ultimate Flexibility by Sang H. Kim ranked number 2 for the year, edging out martial arts classics A Book of Five Rings and Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Solo Training by Loren W. Christensen, a consistent top seller on Amazon.com for the past few years came in at number 8.

Martial Arts Drill for Kids: Obstacle Course

The following drill is excerpted from the Martial Arts Instructors Desk Reference:

Making an obstacle course in the training hall is a great class starter for kids' classes. Don't let anyone stand around waiting in line - assign a time killing exercise like jumping jacks or running place between turns at a station. Some ideas for stations to keep everyone moving:

• Jump over a pile of kicking shields
• Crawl through a tunnel of kicking shields without touching them
• Jump over a series of heavy bags laid about two feet apart
• Kick or strike a hanging target, hanging bag or stand up heavy bag
• Weave around a line of hand targets
• Duck walk under a hanging heavy bag
• Look in the mirror and kihap loudly five times
• Roll between two kicking shields without touching them
• Block an " attack " by a blocker or foam wand
• Kick a paper cup off of the top of a standing bag
• Crawl under a stick balanced on two chairs
• Walk on a line on the floor (masking tape works well and removes easily after use)
• Hop over a belt laid on the floor to form a zig-zag course

Some stations may require an adult to reset or facilitate.