Customer Reviews

Black Belts Karate Studio DVD with Punch Bag

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My daughter is in karate and my son used to be. This toy is a fun thing for them to do at home. Nobody's promising that your child is going to become a karate master from this video, but at least it motivates them to move and practice things at home. The karate community is so defensive and certain people are ridiculous. I appreciate the control and discipline karate teaches my child, and realize that isn't going to come from this toy, but if you look at the review from one of the people that reviewed this, you will see that she has reviewed products she has never even seen in person. Bottom line, this is fun at home for your kid.

For all these "serious" martial artists who criticize the product I would urge you all to think outside the "box" and understand that a kid who is sitting at home because they're afraid to join a real Karate class might become inspired by this toy and urge their parent/s to sign them up for a real Karate class! The product is not meant to be the "be all, end all" of Karate but inspire kids to be more than they are and that it's okay to dream big.

In North America it is a proven fact that our children are becoming less physically active due to technological advances and seem to suffer increasingly more from age-related diseases at younger ages. Everything being relative, any toy that encourages physical activity at an affordable cost is worth every penny in my book!

This is a fantastic product and our kids love it!

This toy is great for letting your little Karate fan "test drive" the sport before committing to professional Karate instruction. This set combines "make believe" and a little hero worship (the video centers around a cool-teen) to get your kid engaged and moving! My son enjoys the video (which I think is corny) and is actually engaged and seriously focused. He bows to the screen and follows the "Master's" instructions. Then by the end it's usually a free-for-all with the bag. This set doesn't offer, and is certainly not meant to take the place of, serious Karate training. It is introductory level fun! Our son takes Karate lessons and I can tell you they are very pricy and the cost of testing and uniforms is in addition to instructional fees. So, why not test the waters with this great little toy? You will cringe when you hear the villian's name is "The Crimson Sausage" but, your child (age 3-7) will love it! We only ran into one problem so far. Our dog loves the red kick bag too. The vinyl didn't hold up to her teeth but, we found that a bike tire repair kit did the trick.

I am a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwondo and my 4 year old son loves this toy. The key word here is TOY, people. That is why they sell it at Toys R Us and not a karate schools- so lighten up. He does not really watch the video but loves to hit the bag. The video is just a tiny synopsis of what martial arts is, that's all. If you are so concerned that your child would get beat up in school because he/ she thought he was a Master, then the problem is your parenting. My son thought he was spider man last year and I Showed explained to him he wasn't. RELAX!

My youngest loves this toy! He walks around singing the songs and sleeps with the punching bag. The video that comes with itt is excellent and very funny. Great toy!!

I ignored the hard core Karate guy reviews here hoping for a fun activity for my son. He is one of a set of triplets and his sisters had gotten the Bella Dancerella DVDs, I was hoping this would be a boy version for him. Something fun to get him up and moving on rainy days. I wasn't expecting a video to actually teach him Karate, but I was hoping the video to be fun, engaging and have him up and moving. Instead this video is 90% skit and only 10% very quickly showing the kids a couple moves they can do. The video never referred to the foot prints on the mat, making it just worthless. The kids basically just stood there watching the stupidest show I have ever seen waiting for their chance to do something, anything.

The `villains' of the video are the Crimson Gang who are dressed up like the punching bag that comes with the kit. The three names of the Crimson gang are The Crimson Sausage, Booger, and Zipit. If the video spent more time on getting the viewer involved and having fun and not just watching a cartoonish show I could have over looked the silly names and absurd costumes. However, as it is this video doesn't engage the viewer at all and is the worst children's video I have ever watched. Thankfully my son thought it was boring and didn't want to watch it again. This one was packed up and returned. I can get a blow up punching bag and make up our own video and it would be better than this one. Don't waste your money.

I have 2 boys, age 5 and 7, and got this for them last Christmas. For two days straight, this is all they wanted to play with. At the end of day 2, however, the bag sprung a leak. After several failed attempts to repair it, the bag was shoved in the corner out of site. Today I tried to fix it again, nothing works so we have to throw it out. My boys are terribly sad. They still play with the outfits and watch the video, but it's just not the same. Their friends who also have this set have had the same problem.

Before you bash my review. Consider this. I have almmost 25 years expreience in Martial Arts. My Father and Uncle each have over 40 years of experience. Our studies are with the folks that brough GOJU KArate to the US from Japan. We teach both adults and children. So we know our stuff.

Instruction videos and books should only be used as a supplement to reinforce actual instruction. Additionally the videos or books should be reinforcing the same style or technique that is being taugh in class. This video does not. It is junk. The comapny marketing this is highly irresponsible.

I watched the video today. I also looked at the photos that accompany the box that the product is contained in.

Where do I start. This product is so bad.

Here is just some of what I found. Firstly, technique that I see being used for the mostpart is either poor or incorrect. For example, a child would need to be shown how to make a proper fist in person. You could argue that the video is good enough to display this, but the proper fist and open hand techniques aren't even being displayed in the video or in the photos on the box. It just is incorrect. You would think that something as important as a correct fist would be stressed.

Next, no proper warmup? Injuries are inevitable.


Forget whether or not proper technique is being taught, or whether or not a video can be teach this. I'm not even going to go into how bad it is to hand a child a black belt, the true essence of Martial Arts, or any of the many other things that are wrong here. I'll just concentrate on child safety.
Here is what you should consider.

1. Are the people instructing your children qualified? NO.
2. Is a proper warmup being used? NO. Get ready for injuries.
3. Will children be running around wacking each other? Yes.
4. Will some children think that this will work, and get get themselves hurt in a schoolyard confrontation? Yes
5. If a proper fist is not taught, a child can break their fingers or hand. I've seen it happen. Incorrect uses of other techniques can be cause injuries as well. There is no teacher available to correct the student. The video is not showing correct form anyway.



This is a very irresponsible product. Remember that your child's safety is your own responsibility before buying this.



Brian Pralgo,

Japanese GOJU-RYU Karate

It's fun! I like the kicks best.I like to punch the bag. I like Sensei nobu and Tommy Nitro. I like everything about it!I like learning Karate.
I'm 7.

Very good kit. The bag and floor mat helps, but is very slippery. The video is good, the best that I have seen thus far, however, there is very little instruction and a lot of play time.