The training progression is amazing.
My favorite part of the dvd was Mikail showing his ''work''. Mikail's work is amazing in the sense that he is a short person yet able to deal with opponents of any size at ease. Watching Mikail break so many stereotypes I had been taught about wrestling is amazing.
The other thing I liked about the dvd was the creativity and fluidity you can achieve out of it. After working with the dvd's progression a little bit my work has improved greatly. The dvd is really good for inspiring variety and spontaneity. The more I practice the material the more locks, breaks, and pins I see. I used to and still sometimes get caught up in thinking I have to lock a person in a certain way or use a certain technique. This dvd helped me realize how futile it is to resist and move fixed on something. When you learn how to move in relaxation and follow your opponents movement like in the dvd, the ''work'' comes out on it's own.
I really enjoy this dvd.

Several things stood out. First, Mikhail starts by giving the viewer exercises to strengthen the muscles around the two most common injury sites in grappling sports: the knees and shoulders. Unfortunately this approach is still pretty uncommon in the United States where most athletes just try to play the sport to get into shape.
Secondly, the idea of wrestling at a more relaxed pace while always controling the breath, is a great way to build a physical and technical base upon which to build up to more intense efforts later on. This reminds me of runners who do LSD (not the drug, but Long Slow Distance) in the off season to prepare for the more intense work leading up to competition. As always in Systema, the emphasis is on training which builds up, rather than destroys, health. That being said, it's always fun to watch Mikhail add disabling strikes, neck cranks, and the like to the equation.

Bravo !!
I would be very interested in any future wrestling videos, seminars or workshops.

The work on this film will be easy for all people to relate to. The wrestling dvd will appeal to the people who at first seem cynical about Systema. I suspect alot of mixed fighters, Ju Jitsu players and Graeco Roman atheletes will be inspired by this film.

Wrestling (catch-as-catch-can) and Western Boxing have served me well over the years that followed through my military career, far more than my black belt in Aikijujutsu did. So I have a personal biased for anything "wrestling," as well as a very critical eye for wrestling functionality in real world events.

If one studies carefully all of the performances of Col. Ryabko in past productions, one sees a bottomline of proactiveness appear. He attacks the head immediately without hesitation as soon as it is within range. And from here he continues to attack the person's tension (wherever is exists), which is intensified from attacking the head (where the head goes the body follows.

This video is no different when The Colonel acts--or more accurately: proacts.

What is revealed in this DVD are excellent breathing practices when wrestling, and what I believe is the most important aspect of the DVD is the emphasis placed on slow, free movement work designed to assist one in his or her personal awareness and sensitivity for "discovering" how to alter positions of disadvantage into positions of advantage.

Slow down--is the theme in this video. We all want to go faster, but there is more to life than increasing its speed. If we slow down and seriously ponder what we are feeling and experiencing while we wrestle, EUREKA, we find where the tension is and how to relax and move out through the hole.

In competitive arenas and in real world violence, things occur so quickly and explosively there is no time to think--we can only feel. Being a wrestler sensitive to spatial relationships and changes in those relationships assists one in successful SERE actions. When these skills are repeated over and over and over again--practiced perfectly in simulations for the real world--one begins to learn of the benefits of nonstoppable movement under the duress of severe violence. But we must first learn correctly by going S-L-O-W!!!

This DVD offers a solid basis for developing the essential awareness and sensitivity for understanding spatial relationships and their immediate changes in a wrestling environment. It truly is the basis of the entire Systema methodology on one DVD--but you have to F-E-E-L it to understand it over and over and over again.