Today we’re going over “DVD 3: Top Five Moves” from How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent by Emily Kwok and Stephan Kesting. In this disc, Emily shows her favorite five submissions, sweeps, and transitions or escapes, for fifteen moves total. At 1 hour, this is the shortest of the 3 core DVDs (discs 4 and 5 are “bonuses.”)

This is an exciting DVD, and it’s my favorite so far. All of the submissions are sharp and high percentage. Emily’s setup for the north-south choke is stellar (and even works in the gi), and I liked her details on familiar moves like the baseball bat and bow-and-arrow chokes. She shows creative ways to combo her sweeps and attack from unconventional angles without being needlessly complex. The escapes and transitions are similarly creative while being safe, solid moves.

If experienced grapplers are looking for a reason to be excited about buying this set, this DVD is it. The first two discs lay out a beginners curriculum that higher belts or DVD collectors will probably be familiar with already. That’s not a complaint—white and blue belts need instructionals too, and Emily is a phenomenal teacher. (Higher belts can benefit too by studying her mindset and strategies or picking up extra details.) But this DVD rounds out the set nicely by broadening the scope and giving Emily a chance to break out of the structure and go over specific situations or plain ol’ “good moves.”

With each DVD, How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent gets a better and better, and now I can wholeheartedly recommend it not only for beginners, but intermediate and advanced grapplers too.

Next time, it’s “Bonus DVD 1: Q & A Session.”