Hi, I just made a new tribute video to Bill Wallace. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBFAeINT4iA"]Bill Superfoot Wallace - YouTube[/ame] Please let me know what you think.
Wow. A very informative and inspiring video. I always loved the name, but I wasn't very educated on the story of "Superfoot". Great job definite two thumbs up.
:topic: Just noticed your stretching link, do you follow as specific stretching program or are you just naturally flexable? I seem to be going in the opposite direction, no matter what I do I seem to be getting less flexable :bang:
Cool, but.... T..here are so many buts really Mainly Bill Wallace and anyone with any kind of rep 'are what they are'. what can YOU do?
Switch2 that's not really an issue when you're just making a tribute video. Oh and superfoot for my honest opinion I think including clips rather than pictures is always better for a highlight video. I can see you have a real admiration for the man as well but to my eyes it comes across as a bit text heavy and a bit too fan boy-ish. Of course, this is all irrelevant if your making the video for your own purposes but if you wanted it to be a popular video those would be my comments.
There's a lot of urban myths floating around as to why he only kicks with one leg. I think the longest running one was that Bill was a veteran of the Vietnam War and got shot in the right knee, although definitely one of the most popular was that he got his lower right leg bitten off by an alligator and now only has a prosthesis (trust me I don't know how they come up with this stuff!).
Unfortunately not any more. Last time he was over these parts was August last year to do a series of seminars in Northern Ireland. I am working on getting him over shortly, though. Thanks! I follow a specific program. Trust me, I'm about as naturally flexible as a plank of wood! I combined the teachings of Bill Wallace and Thomas Kurz to reach the level you see in my stretching photo. (And as you can probably tell from my expression in the photo, it still is uncomfortable as hell!). The Bill Wallace stuff can be found on volume 1 of his Century DVD series. There is a Youtube video showing a short clip from that DVD: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NskaHE42qm4"]YouTube[/ame] Bill is 60 years old in that video! The Thomas Kurz material can be found at www.stadion.com. His popular book "Stretching Scientifically" has helped thousands of people, regardless of age, to develop the ability to perform full splits and high kicks without a warm up. He focuses on developing strength at the same time as flexibility (a lot of tension in the muscles is caused by lack of strength). The book is great although the video, "Secrets of Stretching" is much easier to follow. Through Kurz's method many people have developed much better levels of flexibility than me, and in shorter a time period too. Good luck with your stretching! I can kick people in the head too! Albeit not as good as Bill. Thanks for your advice. It is mostly just for myself, but I also wanted to inform more people about the life of this legend. I certainly welcome all comments regarding the video format, but I also hope it lets one or two people learn something new. Thanks again for your comments veryone!
Good video. I used to always read his column in Black Belt 'back in the day' and, of course, was a huge fan in the full contact karate tournaments (yes I'm old....*sigh*) One wonders if his knee could have been patched up with modern medicine. Also he might have been pretty good in MMA since he was both a wrestler, judoka, and karate guy.
I saw this black belt kicking butt at a recent tournament. He was taller than me and looked a bit older than me (I'm 24). I went up to congratulate him on his win and ask him how old he was. He said he was 17 I guess we're all "old" in one way or another! Bill once said that he wished the knee surgery available today had come around a bit sooner so he could have tried MMA. In the 60's they didn't have endoscopic (keyhole) surgery; they called it "exploratory" surgery. Bill didn't want them "exploring" so he opted for total rest and was in a hip-to-ankle leg cast for 2 months. The result was his ligaments healed, but they didn't heal properly and so his knee came out of alignment. 38 years later and he had the right knee replaced because the cartilage was worn away due to this misalignment (it also caused the right knee to wear away, so he needed that replaced too!). Bill said he has no doubt he would never have needed his knee or hip replacing if he undertook today's surgery back when he was injured. He also said he woul have tried MMA if it came along earlier and he had full use of both knees. Then again, he also says he would probably never have taken up Karate if his right knee healed properly, and would never have become "Superfoot". Fate or coincidence?
I've got the Kurz book and am looking into getting his video. The Bill Wallace video clip was pretty good, looks like he's a natural teacher which is allways a plus! Can you get the DVDs over here or only from the States?
You can order the Century DVDs from http://www.bytomic.com/detail.asp?c_urn=170&show=Stretching&urn=1657&pg=1 You can also order the older Panther series from http://yap.myzen.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=61_65_132_134&osCsid=2b0d468f2c787415703034139b0afab1