Gene Lebell: Genius, or git?

I have been thinking of purchasing “Grappling Master” by Gene Lebell, as someone gave me a photocopy and it seems very very concise and straightforward.

Is Gene Lebell all he is cracked up to be, or is he just some lummox in pink spandex?

He put Steven Seagal in a chokehold of some sort and made him pee his pants.

Originally posted by The Wastrel
He put Steven Seagal in a chokehold of some sort and made him pee his pants.

And he’s a “few” years Segal’s senior. I’d say he was hell on wheels when he was younger.

Judo Gene is the real deal, no doubt about it.

Didn’t one of Gene’s students do pretty well in UFC pretty recently too?

Karo Parisyian trained some under Gene Lebell.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of any article or information that claims Gene Lebell isn’t as good as he is supposed to be.

I read that Gene trained BJJ with the Machados before it was even heard of in the States. e’s old school, he was mixing martial arts before that was general terminology.

Gene LeBell is one of the few MA instructors out there that I would pay big money to train with (as well as get his autograph at the end). Of course, he’s probably destined for the same place in history as James Figg or Milo of Croton(do the Google seach), but I’ve learned that the truly legendary figures are often ignored by the public and fade into obscurity, while the over-hyped (Bruce Lee) and obnoxious (Muhammed Ali) get turned into superstars. Go figure.

Judo Gene is one of the old school greats. Do some research and read about his match against a world-class light heaveyweight boxer. He’s another one of those guys that I’d love to train with . . but will likely not get the chance. Just a tough, tough man that is unfortunately going to be underrated more often than not.

I have ALL his videos and his book ( finishing holds), AWeSOME !!!
He teaches the hold WITHOUT dealing with individual styles, you can adapt ANY of his moves to WHATEVER style you practise.
One of the best vid collection I have.

Originally posted by ronin69
I have ALL his videos and his book ( finishing holds), AWeSOME !!!
He teaches the hold WITHOUT dealing with individual styles, you can adapt ANY of his moves to WHATEVER style you practise.
One of the best vid collection I have.

Awesome. Is it better than the usual learn-x-style-from home video? I guess what I’m asking is . . are the moves simple and well-explained enough that you can realistically learn them from a video? I’m usually pretty skeptical about any kind of video study, but for basic stuff, and considering that it’s . . . well . . . Gene Lebell! If you say it’s worthwhile, I might consider it.

I highly recommend it.
Depending on your experience, you an get A LOT of info or a bit. But you will get something.
EX: from the videos, I know clasp my hands in a particular way ( as suggested by Gene) when I apply certain chokes and locks, that increase to pressure a great deal.
You learn about the holds, little things to make them more painful, forearm placement, for example.
He teaches to the hold, not how to get into it or how to get your attackker into it, That is up to your individual style, what he shows you is how it is done and little tricks of the trade.
EX: how to use your head to add pressure to a rear choke or rear sleeper.

The man of a thosand holds.

Yeah hes the real deal…

o yeah and he not only made segal piss his pants he also shit them.

On the set of the green hornet, he had some fun with Bruce Lee too …

Stu Hart - RIP

Since we’ve been bringing up grappling gods – here’s a link to a memorial page for Stu Hart, wrestling legend, who just died two weeks ago. He was the father of legends like Bret Hart and Owen Hart (RIP) and is well attributed to knowing matwork like no one else. I don’t want to rip a bunch of copywrited pictures off the web (the same reason I haven’t put up any of my own images), so here’s the link:

http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingHartsGallery/stu.html

ronin69, since you hail from the Great White North I expect you might be more familiar with him than me. There’s a neat picture of Stu Hart going against M. Ali and a tiger (although I suspect these were more along the lines of pro wrestling’s “choreographed encounters”). Still, a man to be revered and remembered.

Tiger Gene

I thought Bruce Lee was the man who declared Gene LeBell to be “the toughtest Man alive”.

heh…Gene supposedly picked up Lee and carried him around during a set of the Green hornet…

Stu Hart was a legend in wrestling, the real thing and an awesone teacher, his holds WORKED.

The hold the Bruce Lee does on Samo Hung in the begining of Enter the Dragon was the hold that Gene Lebell did on Bruce on the set of Green Hornet.

Gene was a stunt man who appeared on the show as a thug on quite a few occasions