Lieutenant X – Advanced Battlefield Combatives
Salepage : Lieutenant X – Advanced Battlefield Combatives
Noble Learning is a company.
Accelerated Battlefield Combatives – Fundamentals DVD
DVD Price:?
DVD length: 62 minutes Moves: 2+ ideas
NA Return Policy
Company Address: 400 D Lake Street, Ste C, Ramsey, NJ 07446 Company Phone Number: 917-546-6870 Email: [email protected] Instructor: Chris Pizzo (aka Lieutenant X)
Website Information:
Primary Evaluation Criteria:
Quality of Production: Two instructors displayed a high degree of skill: 5
Score of Comprehension/Immediate Understanding: 2 Degrees to which this will improve a martial artist: 2
Delivery vs. Hype Score: 1: To what extent would you suggest this product? 1 squandered time (the higher the number, the less “fluff”/repetition): 2 Playback score/watching it multiple times: 1
Would I buy additional things from this company: 1
Overall rating: 1
Total: 18% (Poor = 1/2 Star).
Secondary Evaluation Criteria:
1. Poor Beginning Student Benefit
2. Poor Intermediate Student Benefit
3. Poor Advanced Student Benefit
4. It’s time to reap the benefits: who cares?
5. The requirement to purchase other cassettes in order to comprehend this one: None
Written Synopsis: I noticed numerous parallels between the advertisements for this product and those I saw around ten years ago for Jerry Peterson’s SCAR material. The same promotional strategies and connotations that marketed the SCAR’s material seemed to be applied here. I’m of the opinion that typically nothing new regarding fighting skills is really created, it often seems to me to be repackaged bits-and-pieces of material seen previously elsewhere, with alot of marketing hype added to it, and a much bigger price tag, so that we all think “this is the only thing I need to buy/know”. And, of course, the corporations hawking their wares to us are well aware that all of us as humans, whether martial artists or people searching for self-defense, would want to learn things as quickly and easily as possible. So who’s to say someone can’t teach us how to be “street deadly” in a matter of days or weeks, as opposed to the years most conventional martial arts schools claim it takes?
Let’s face it, we live in an immediate gratification age, and certain businesses appear to understand that if they can reach deep within us and locate 1-2 hot buttons that make us respond, they can pick our wallets clean! When are people going to stop falling for the video hucksters and McDojos of the world? Worse, why don’t those who have the ability to disseminate information and should be assisting in the warning (i.e. martial arts magazines)? We’re all aware that magazines are regarded as authoritative sources. But why won’t the magazines use their clout to do something positive for their consumers by providing honest, unbiased assessments of things like this? Is there any truth to the adage “with great power comes tremendous responsibility,” as depicted in the film Spiderman? What “huge duty” do martial arts periodicals have to their readers, and do they live up to it? Is it primarily to provide us with a slew of ads or Instructor articles that they want us to believe they came up with out of thin air, when in reality those Instructor articles are frequently bought or bartered for under the table, and done for a certain amount of guaranteed “advertising dollars” spread out over a certain amount of time?
Do readers of these periodicals realize that the articles written about particular people are frequently purchased and paid for in this manner? What credibility does a magazine have when we hope they’re investigating individuals and objectively bringing us something fresh they’ve discovered, but a video teacher can phone a magazine and have a story done about himself next month for $5K-20K? Don’t publications understand that publishing an article done for money is something readers are unaware of, yet it creates the impression that the magazine has done their study and now blesses or approves what the video teacher teaches? Is it just me who doesn’t see anything wrong with that? This payment for notoriety and reputation appears to me to be no different than what many of the many Martial Arts Halls of Fame do. Did you know that many martial arts Halls of Fame phone every black belt they can and inform them, “you’ve been chosen to be inducted into our Hall of Fame, the price for you to attend the dinner at which this will be done is ____, can we go ahead and book it for “? I’m serious, for a few hundred dollars, you can buy your way into the Hall of Fame. Heck, I’ve been phoned several times in the last ten years and asked if I was ready to be “inducted-for-dollars,” and I’ve always declined! Whether it’s Articles-for-Dollars or Hall-of-Fame-for-Dollars, I consider them as a farce and disgraceful!
Is it more essential to the magazines to do the right thing and either moderate, review, or undertake investigative reporting on the products of video hucksters, or to provide us genuinely impartial, unbiased, and 100% unpaid for stories about them? I know, I’ve been preaching this same sermon for years, and not a single martial arts publication has stepped up to help. It appears that money dominate, that generating false impressions with readers isn’t as important as taking advantage of them, and that it’s better if no one knows these things! Before I started writing the reviews, I used to wonder why so many black belt teachers didn’t purchase or subscribe to specific magazines. I queried several of them and continued hearing them remark, “many of them are unclean and polluted,” again and over. Later, several video instructors corroborated this by detailing the shady under-the-table transactions used by publications. Even today, you may open a magazine and discover a large piece about some video teacher, followed by full-page advertising for his videos. Constant coincidence in the absence of reciprocity? Come on, people!
I find the commercialization, direction, and perception of martial arts in America to be quite depressing at times. Hopefully, someday there will be genuine magazine-to-reader responsibility, ethics, and honesty, as well as significant reforms! Perhaps it is too much to aspire for, especially given that martial arts is a business with no government oversight in the United States, and when combined with a free enterprise environment, it appears that ethics and accountability take a second place to the almighty money. As a result, anybody may say, do, or suggest whatever they want about martial arts products and services without fear of repercussions. At the very least, there’s the internet, this site and a few others, to provide some Yin-Yang (balance) to balance out what the charlatans claim. Oh well, I’ve digressed once again, so let’s move on and return to the review.
While reading Lt X’s controversial yet alluring arm-twisting advertisements, I felt as though he was telling to readers:
1. “Martial arts is a waste of time and will get you killed in a genuine street battle.”
2. “I created a secret military warfare system.”
3. “Learn how to become effective with what I can provide you in days or weeks, not years, as with conventional martial arts.”
4. “This material is so good, and the military is aware of it, that Congress attempted to prohibit me from teaching it to the public, but because to a military loophole, I may present it to you.”
If those four concepts don’t make you raise an eyebrow, I don’t know what would. So, let’s be fair to Lt. X and not go into this blindly. Who knows, maybe he’s the finest thing since sliced bread. So let’s put the DVD in and see what he’s all about.
The first thing the audience sees is Lt. X, who remains totally hooded in a black ski mask throughout the whole film, directing us to a dirty and congested whiteboard with dozens of lines and circles, with text in the circles that I can barely read. The background behind his whiteboard is much more distracting. It’s some type of green jungle background that looks to be either crudely blue screened or superimposed onto the video because it pixelates and occasionally spills into the whiteboard area. Then there’s the video stopping and the cuts between “takes” being choppy. The first thing that sprang to me was that this had to be one of the cheesiest video productions I’d ever seen!
But what about “X” as a teacher? He could be able to give an interesting message to us. But there’s something about the way Lt. X speaks to us that worries me. He continuously exclaims “Um-um” when he speaks, his presentation is usually riddled with “pregnant pauses,” he frequently rolls his eyes or looks away when speaking, and he frequently makes a loud exhaling sound as if angry or sighing. He’s not instilling in me the degree of confidence, authority, and competence that I expected. What surprises me even more is that in his web advertising, he claims to be skilled at “teaching others”…okay. Maybe these kinds of public speaking gaffes keep people’s attention on him, but it bothers me. So let’s keep going; perhaps it’ll just be me, and he’ll blow me away with the notions or tactics he can teach us.
But he didn’t, and things didn’t get any better for me! Have you ever had to sit through an hour of a Powerpoint or overhead projector lecture that bored you to tears? This is how I’m feeling as Lt. X’s whiteboard presentation goes on for the first 30 minutes of this video, despite the fact that he’s wearing a ski mask! While he whiteboarded me into total and utter ennui, all I could think of was “X” as a Nacho Libre wrestler. During his routine, “X” tells us that we have “three brains” and that they all do different things but function together. Okay, three brains! Throughout his ranting, “X” proceeds to clutter up a whiteboard quicker than any elementary school teacher or college professor could. In between his chicken scratch, we see circles with scribbling I can’t understand and lines connecting all of these circles in whatever manner conceivable. Later, “X” shows us how to practice sketching geometric 3D cubes and cylinders to better understand the 9 angles of attack (a Filipino notion that he does not credit). All the time I’m thinking “Oh my this has become terrible to watch, could someone please nudge me or fetch me a Red Bull, so I remain up through this?
His scribblings appear to have come to a stop about 30 minutes into the whiteboarding (seemed more like 3 hours). Following that, we are taught activities to ensure that our Left and Right brains are communicating and firing appropriately! This included moves like as neck circles, hip circles, knee circles, waist twists, judo pulls, leg sweeps, and the “elephant,” which he claims causes us to cross our centerline, so activating both the left and right sides of our brain. Okay, I haven’t seen any centerline concerns in my Left and Right brains “X,” but let’s give you some more rope to see if you can now reel us in, or if you’re going to hang yourself!
“X” then returns to the whiteboard (oh dear God, not again), and I get the impression that the rope I just handed him has been transformed into a noose for himself. He discusses the importance of taking good notes when listening to his content or attending any type of lecture. He does this by recommending that we write down significant concepts, draw a circle around them, and connect the circles in a logical process. “X” demonstrated this on a whiteboard by drawing small circles around some of the main components in completing a hip throw. Within a minute or two, the whiteboard has become congested and cluttered, with many circles and lines connecting to each other, and this is too cluttered for me to study. The circles and lines aren’t even numbered, and they appear to be going in random directions. How could someone, months or years later, go back to this method of note taking, look at it, and recall where everything began? Why not simply design a basic outline or tidy flow chart instead of lots of circles and lines linking them all, resulting in a tangle that appears 100 times worse than a molecular diagram for some difficult chemical formula?
Following that, “X” demonstrates “the most crucial thing to know,” which are basic and easy judo-style breakfalls. The back fall (the egg? ), front fall (the plank? ), and side breakfalls (the floppy fish???) are all demonstrated. I’m still not impressed, because these are taught at every judo school around here the first week! Where is the material that he claims is taught in any conventional martial arts school?
The final few minutes of the film teach us how to fight from behind. “X” suggests we should not lay on our backs, but rather on our sides, kicking against an attacker’s knees or leg as they approach. Then he demonstrates what he terms a “freak and move,” which is basically how to kick while on one’s side and then post and get up swiftly from that posture. It wasn’t surprising to me that I didn’t learn much throughout my first few months of martial arts training! “X” also demonstrates how to scissor a person’s legs while laying on our side in order to knock them to the ground. Basically, while lying on your side, loop one of your feet around their heel and push against their knee with the other. Something else I discovered 27 years ago! And this is the fantastic stuff that other martial arts schools don’t teach? Which schools is he referring to?
This video, in my opinion, was badly produced. “X” couldn’t keep my attention because his public speaking skills bothered me, his silly ski mask irritated me, the green jungle print bleeding through the whiteboard irritated me, as did his excessive whiteboarding, and me being oversold on material that supposedly isn’t taught in most schools was problematic. I kept feeling like Charlie Brown in the Peanuts cartoons when he zones out in class and everything the instructor says comes to sound like “wah-wah-wah” throughout “X’s” whiteboarding and pretentious verbal presentations. Leaving aside my critique of “X’s” presenting approach, I genuinely believed the content given was of little value. We’re not going to give it a “0” since I thought the last few minutes of the film with the leg scissor type takedowns were valuable. However, the amount of value from it was so tiny in comparison to the agony of watching everything else that I’m going to claim less than 20% of this movie was valuable. As a result, I’m going to score this movie accordingly and file it in what I refer to as my junk pile of videos that I’ll probably never view again!
If you want to know more about the buzz Lt. X attempts to build for himself, about this material, you may read the teaser stuff at .
More information may be found at
FYI – Jerry Peterson used to run 2-3 page advertisements that were, in my opinion, much more attractive. I wanted to refresh my recollection of them while writing this article, so I ran a Google search and found an old Jerry Peterson 1 page ad (not nearly as enticing as his old 2-3 page ads). If you want to read it and compare the tone of Peterson’s commercial to Lt. X’s, go here.
