The second DVD review is from Irelands leading Self-Protection specialist, John Brawn.  John’s courses and website have been featured on TV3, The Gerry Ryan Show, The Irish Times and Channel 4.  Almost every national daily and Sunday paper has covered John's work.  John gives seminars and workshops in subjects from self-defence and fitness to assertiveness and body language throughout Ireland and the UK.  Now John has produced a recent production called Power-Punching. This is a 1-hour programme incorporating various methods of increasing basic body mechanics and hitting power. A very good effort by John, particularly aimed at those who prefer to punch as well a novices alike who need to develop the actual basic skills of footwork, motion and body mechanics that are without doubt the foundations to all striking power.

Veteran doorman of some 15 years, John Brawn is no stranger to real world violence and has applied his craft more times than he probably cares to remember. John is well suited to punching, he has hands like shovels, as hard as stone with immense power behind them. As we all know the majority of the Combatives fraternity prefer open hand strikes but the information from John’s instructional offers lots of useful information on how to improve on your general overall power, regardless of whether you punch or not. The actual technical aspects, cover all the basic boxing punches, jab, cross, hooks and uppercuts from both a boxing guard and more importantly from a self-defence aspect, from the fence of which he gives Geoff Thompson credit for.

A professional production, I like the way it changes angles to show you different scenes, showing you a prospective from a different point of view etc. Lots of pad work incorporating basic skills on the pads and also on the new larger version of the B.O.B training dummy.  You can see the immense hitting power that John has when he works on the impact pads and B.O.B.  The basic mechanics you will learn from this instructional can be applied to open hand shots as we’ve said so there is a good transition there. Good ideas for power development, also incorporates the use of hand held weights for punching including some excellent kettle bell work, which is a great bit of kit for increasing explosive strength and dynamic motion.  John assures me that in the next volume of similar subject, he is going to elaborate more on these kinds of exercises. Overall a very good fundamental package for all those that want to learn to punch with power, not everybody is built like John, not everybody has got hands like the sledge hammers he’s got if he hit you, you stay hit, but you will certainly get a lot from this instructional and I highly recommend it to all Combatives enthusiasts.

Additional Reviews

John Brawn is in the top class of Self Protection instructors in these isles, and is, without doubt the number one in Ireland. He has produced a DVD on Power punching, and he very kindly sent me a copy. Those of you who attended the recent International Seminar will remember John for his determination, intensity, and, above all, his power. In this DVD he shows how to develop and apply power in the various punches. The community is split on the issue of open hand, versus closed fist strikes. I'm very much a proponent of the open hand strikes, but such luminaries as the late Gary Spiers, Geoff Thompson and Nick Hughes see no problem with the fist. If you are going to punch it's wise to learn from someone who has punched a few in his time, and John certainly knows the score on that account.
Besides the orthodox jabs, crosses and hooks John shows some foul blows. All in all, a good solid presentation of an important topic... Add it to your collection if you are serious about Combatives training.

Den Martin Chief Instructor of CQB Services

This is the DVD that all the guys who prefer closed fist strikes have been waiting for. John Brawn is Irelands leading self defence expert, John boxed for over ten years, is a second Dan Kyokushinkai, worked the doors for fifteen years and is the hardest puncher that I have ever met. The DVD is very professionally made, Johns teaching method is clear, concise and very direct. The first thing that he teaches on the DVD is footwork; he then incorporates punches into the footwork drills and finally adds the use of weights to help increase the punch power. All of the punches are then shown on the pads; in this section John explains the importance of a good pad man, forward drive, body dynamics and impact delivery.  The DVD also covers the banned punches of boxing; John demonstrates these strikes on the pads and B.O.B again covering application, targeting and delivery. John devotes a section of the DVD to the use of the Kettle bells, this is one of John's favourite pieces of equipment, several exercises are shown and their benefits explained. I feel that this DVD fills a gap in the market, as there is very little good material out there for punchers making this A MUST BUY DVD for anyone who wants to improve their punching and punch power.

Alan Becket CQB Instructor

Available from www.johnbrawn.com

E-mail:  jbsecurity@anu.ie