There are no “new techniques” in this wonderful martial art and Olympic sport of judo that can be seen as groundbreaking, but often there are slight variations that can make a valuable difference. A slight change in strategy of entry, or emphasis on posture can make a noticeable difference. I believe that the Nicolas Gill DVD is successful in showing such variations, and showed some great judo techniques from a World and Olympic medalist.

The DVD includes instruction on Ko soto gake, Tani otoshi, O soto gari 1, Kuchiki taoshi, Uki otoshi, Sase tsuri komi ashi, Koshi guruma, O soto gari 2, Uchimata sukashi, Uchimata, Kata guruma, O uchi gari, Sankaku jime 1, Sankaku jime 2, O kuri eri jime, and also includes Nicolas’s best 1, Nicolas’s best 2, and Nicolas’s best .

The one technique that really stands out for me personally, is his uki otoshi. I haven’t seen very many videos incorporate uki otoshi in a more competitive setting, but his looks effortless, not only in the video, but also in a few of the YouTube competition highlights that I have seen. And after practicing the Uki Otoshi variation, it is easily adaptable and does work. Each throw starts with a clip of him executing the technique in a major tournament, then is followed by a break down of the technique.

The video is quality is really good, and it is easy to see the major parts of the throws, using a blue and a white gi. If you have Neil Olenkamps book, “Judo Unleashed”, you will know what a difference it makes using blue and white gi’s. This has also been standard in other videos, as mentioned above. Each technique is shown full speed, then in a slower motion clip. There is a nice breakdown of the key points of each throw at the end of each sequence, by “flash card” type images.

As you can see from the list, Gill’s instruction is heavy on the tachi waza, and offers lots of it. If you listened to his podcast interview, you will remember him talking some about posture, which comes across in this DVD as well. I found a couple of the throws somewhat confusing by the names given, and I found the background music somewhat distracting. It felt like being stuck on a DVD thriller movie menu. In the end, I believe that if you like watching Gill on the mat, you will definitely like this DVD, and I would highly recommend it to all levels of judoka.