Yes that AK fold in the vid is questionable of course, but I think he made it mostly to make the points that you listed above. His basic strategy is to play hands as the PFR, in position wherever possible.

This hand was discussed on their forum and he basically said that of course it's OK to continue with AK against a UTG open, but it is read dependent (if the opener is a 3/3, you might as well dump your AK, if he is a 80/70 you obviously 3b it, etc). He did not have reads on this first vid because he was not using a HUD.

Do not rule off the entire vid and instructor on this one hand. His strategy does work. Yes it is nitty, straightforward, ABC and everything you want, but his goal is to show you that you can beat 2NL, and he makes a fine job of that while building a nice nit platform and play discipline to build onto.