November 22, 2013

Elbow pass

1. Begin an elbow pass in wrestling from a "fifty-fifty" position where both you and your opponent are facing each other, bent at the waist, with his arms looped over your shoulders and yours looped over his.

2. Duck down and dislodge your opponent's "collar-tie" as you perform an elbow pass in wrestling. Your opponent will attempt to correct his stance.

3. Keep yourself low and attack with a "high crotch" attack by shooting one of your arms between your opponent's legs. You opponent will perform a sprawl where he attempts to control you by leaning on top of you and spreading his legs while attempting to grasp your arms.

4. Grab your opponent's left leg as you do an elbow pass in wrestling, and begin to straighten your torso as you lift his leg.

5. Raise yourself up off your knees as you do an elbow pass in wrestling until you are crouching with your opponent still above you.

6. Continue holding your opponent's leg as you twist and throw him to the mat. Pin him down with an arm turk (keeping pressure on his arm and shoulder so they touch the ground when you finish doing an elbow pass in wrestling.

Far-side Cradle

1. Because the far-side cradle is a versatile technique, there are several ways from which you can start it. For beginning wrestlers, though, it is best to learn the move when the opponent is broken down flat. Cradling your opponent when he is already broken down lessens the chance of making a mistake and getting reversed. So, use whatever breakdown you like — just get him flat.

Once your opponent is broken flat, straddle one of his legs (the leg on the opposite side of his body from the arm you want to secure in the cradle). For example, if you want to secure his (far) left arm and cradle the left side of his body, straddle his right leg. Don’t forget to keep pressure on the center of his back with your chest to keep him from basing up.

2. To gain control of your opponent’s upper body, you will need to crossface him and secure his far arm.

1. Press the boney part of the inside of your wrist (near the thumb) across your opponent’s face, towards the far arm that you want to control. This isn’t a punch, so you can’t “windup” or pull your arm back to increase the force. However, you may give your opponent a stiff crossface by applying a steady, inward pressure as you move your hand across his face and towards the arm.

2. Grip his arm, high on the triceps, with your thumb pointing up. Pull his arm in towards you to secure his upper body.

3. Stay on your toes and circle to the same side of his body as the leg you were straddling. For example, if you were straddling his right leg, circle to his right side to make your bodies perpendicular to each other. Make sure to keep your weight on his back with your chest as you do this.

While off of his body, post your free hand on the mat in between your opponent’s legs, next to the same-side leg as the arm you are controlling. For example, if you used your right arm for the crossface and are positioned on the right side of your opponent’s body, post your hand on the mat in between his legs and next to his left knee. The placement of your hand will make it easier to gather your opponent’s head and leg together.

4. To begin collecting your opponent’s head and leg together, or “crunching” the cradle, you must first put your legs in position to provide the strength and leverage you need to get your hands locked.

Place your knee (that is furthest from your opponent’s head) next to his hip, and step up with the leg nearest to his head. For example, if you are positioned on the right side of your opponent’s body, place your left knee next to his right hip and step up with your right leg.

As you step up with your near leg, lift your opponent’s body up and off of the mat. Keep your hand on the mat next to his knee to prevent him from escaping. At this point, you can begin pressing your opponent’s head to his knee. The most common mistake beginning wrestlers make with the far-side cradle is trying to move their opponent’s knee towards their opponent’s head in order to get their hands locked. Your opponent’s legs are stronger than his upper body in this position, so use superior leverage to walk his head to his knee.

Use the leg you stepped up with to drive as you force your opponent’s head towards his knee. Remember that as you do this, your opponent will be trying to turn towards you to prevent you from locking your hands. Keep lifting his upper body off of the mat and driving into him. This will be constant up-and-down motion, allowing you to progressively working your opponent’s upper body to his lower body. Eventually, you will be able to lock your hands.

5. Once you get your hands locked, you can begin to take your opponent to his back. But, first you must reposition your legs:

1. Move the knee that you have closest to your opponent’s head to the mat next to his lower back. (This will be the knee of the leg you stepped up with to help you drive.)

2. Step up with your far leg. Imagine that you are on the face of a clock and step toward two o’clock.

6. Push off of the leg you stepped up with and pull your opponent over the knee you placed in his lower back. If done correctly, you will pull him to his back and your knee will be underneath his lower back.


There are several different ways to keep your opponent secure in this position, but the most basic and effective way to do this is to place your near-knee in his hip. (This will be the same knee you took him over.) From here, keep your lock tight and pinch your elbows. Also, pull your lock towards you as you use your near-knee to push his hip.

Bow and Arrow Cradle

 1. Put pressure down onto the defender's upper-body and post your hand on their head, stuffing their face down and into the mat.

2. Spin out to one side, staying off your knees, staying on your toes, and putting weight and pressure fully onto the opponent. They should be unable to do much about this except to just lay there. They may try to pull their legs up towards their chests to try to get back to their base position, but that will only help you pull off this pinning combination. You should be perpendicular to them at this point.

3. While resting all your weight on your opponent, and keeping your hand posted on their head, reach out with your free hand and grab/hook the ankle of your opponent's near leg with that hand.

4. Put your head into their side. This requires that you take your weight off of their back. Keep pressure down on their head with your hand, and keep hold of their near ankle with the other hand. This motion of placing your head into their side should be a quick one. NOTE: If your opponent bases up (gets back to being on their hands and knees as opposed to being flat on their stomach) put the head into their hip. However, if they are still flat, drive your head into their ribs (this tends to cause the opponent discomfort). Where you put your head determines what leverage you have and on what axis they will be bent in half.

5. Drive your head into their side (either the ribs or the hip, depending on their position), and pull on their head and their ankle. This is like fitting an arrow to a bow. Picture yourself as the arrow, and your opponent as the bowstring.

6. As you drive, and their leg starts to bend toward their head, monitor how close your hands come to each other. Once you feel you can lock your hands, slide the hand that is gripping their ankle down to their knee-joint and then lock your hands. Your elbow joint should be in their knee joint while your other elbow joint should be at the back of their head.

7. Once your opponent is on their side, Lock hands and squeeze.

8. Finally, drive your opponent to their back, staying on top of them with your weight over their chest to force their shoulders to the mat. 

Headlock

1. Stay on your feet while your opponent does the same. While both on your feet, tie your parter up with one hand cupping over his triceps. The other hand should be around his neck and should be resting on the nape. This is a common position when tying up, and it will not automatically signal that you are attempting a headlock.

2. Step in towards your partner quickly. Your leading leg should be on the same side being used to cup the nape. As you step in, powerfully rotate your body inward. Pull your partner's arm across your waist, using your handhold on his triceps. As you turn, catch your partner's head in your armpit. Extend the hand that was resting on his nape. Wrap it further around his neck.

3. Fall backward. Keep your partner's head and arm held fast. When you go down to the mat, your partner will be on his back. Lean on him with your back. Place one arm around his head. Pull his arm across your waist. At this point, lock your hands. His head and one arm should be stuck in your grasp.

4. Keep pressure on your opponent, Stay on your heels and squeeze the headlock as tight as possible. Lift his head so that he cannot bride off his neck.

5. Try to keep your body at a T with your partner. Staying perpendicular will enable you to exert more pressure. Prevent escape by paying careful attention to him. Make sure to keep your center of mass from straying too far to the opposite side of your opponent, or he will be able to roll you over and escape. At worse, he could even reverse your situation. If you feel yourself being rolled over, arch your back and attempt to stop the roll by propping yourself up with your head.

November 21, 2013

Arm Bar

1. Assume the referee's position; get on your hands and knees, and have your partner place one hand on your elbow and the other on your stomach.

2. As soon as the referee starts the action, throw the arm on the side that your opponent is covering across your body and plant it near your other hand.

3. Rotate your your body upward, supporting yourself on the newly planted hand, and bring the leg on the side your opponent covered underneath your body and out in front of you, so you are sitting.

4. As you complete the sit motion, slip the arm opposite your planted hand between your oppnent's legs and hook it around his inner thigh on the side opposite the side he covered. You should be sitting offset from your opponent with an arm on his thigh for leverage.

5. Scoot along the ground and get behind your opponent, scoring a reversal. Use the arm you have hooked between his legs to pull and assist you as you get around him while preventing him from following.

Arm Drag

1. In order to arm drag your opponent, you must first gain control of the arm you want to attempt the move on. Do this by grabbing his wrist with an over-handed grip (thumb facing up). This should be done using your near hand. For example, if you want to arm drag your opponent’s right arm, secure his right wrist with your left hand.

Once you have secured his wrist, pull his arm towards you to straighten it. This will make it easier for you to control his arm throughout the move.

2. Next, bring your free hand to the inside of your opponent’s arm and grasp it just above the elbow near the triceps. For example, if you are arm dragging your opponent’s right arm, bring your right arm inside of his arm (near the arm pit) and grasp it just above the elbow with your thumb pointing up.

3. Begin to pull your opponent’s arm down and away towards your foot that is opposite of his arm. That is, if you are dragging your opponent’s right arm, pull his arm down and towards your right foot. Pull his arm by using the drag, or the “hook,” you have on the inside of his arm. Then, use the grip you have on his wrist to help guide his arm down and towards your foot.

4. As you perform the arm drag, your opponent’s body will turn and his back will be slightly exposed to you. Take a big step behind your opponent with your leg that is on the same side of your opponent’s body as the arm you are dragging. While you step, release the grip you have on your opponent’s wrist and reach behind him to secure his hip bone.

As you step in, make sure to keep dragging your opponent’s arm down and away. Keep your hips in towards your opponent once you grab his hip. Allowing space between your bodies will give him a better chance to escape.

5. You should be almost completely behind your opponent in this position with one hand on his hip and the other hand still gripping the inside of his arm. Now, release the grip you have on your opponent’s arm and force that hand towards the hand you have securing his hip. You can do this by trapping your opponent’s arm between your arm and his body as you reach to lock your hands together. You can also move your arm underneath his arm to get a body lock. Either way is fine.

Bear Hug

1. While on your feet, tie up with your opponent and secure underhooks with both arms. An underhook is simply putting your arm around your opponent, under his arm, rather than over it. Underhooks are generally a desirable position when tying up, so your opponent will try to deprive you from getting two underhooks in. You may have to pummel with your opponent for a while before you can get both in.

2. Lock your hands behind your opponent's back.

3. Squeeze your opponent in toward you while lifting upward, straighting him from his normal stance. This will make him less stable. When he is straightened, pressure forward with your chest and pull him in with your arms, drawing his mass under the forward pressure of your chest.

4. As you try to force your opponent over straight backward, you can step forward around the outside of one of his feet as you push forward in an attempt to trip him up.

5. If your opponent falls straight to his back, which is likely, keep your underhooks in, or take one out to switch to a grip around his arm and head. Stay face to face and parallel with your opponent and wrap both your legs around the outsides of his legs. Squeeze and arch your back for additional pressure.

November 19, 2013

Far Foot, Far Knee

1. From referee’s position, bring the hand you’re using to control your opponent’s elbow underneath his body and reach across to grasp the knee furthest from you. For instance, if you’re lining up on your opponent’s right side, you will reach for his left knee. Your palm should be in contact with the outside of his knee in this position. Bring your free hand off of your opponent’s naval and grip the foot of the same leg in which you are controlling the knee.

2. While gripping your opponent’s far knee and far foot, pull this leg in towards you to take away his balance and keep him from defending against the breakdown. Remember to keep the shoulder of the arm you used to grasp your opponent’s knee underneath his body.

3. Get on your toes and drive your opponent in the direction of the leg you’re controlling. He will not be able to use this leg and will fall flat onto his hip. From here, continue to wrestle on offense.

Tight Waist, Far Ankle

1. From referee’s position, release the hand that is on your opponent’s elbow and reach under his body and across his midsection. The hand that you have positioned on your opponent’s naval in referee’s position will reach down to his far ankle. That is, if you are lining up on your opponent’s right side, you will reach your hand down to his left ankle, and vice versa.
Grip your opponent’s ankle at the very top of the laces on his shoes.

2. Lift your opponent’s ankle up and slightly away from his body. Try to lift your opponent’s ankle as high as you can in order to make it difficult for him to defend and regain control of his leg.

3. With your opponent’s ankle in the air, get off of your knees and onto your toes. Keep your chest in contact with the center of his back and use your legs to drive your opponent directly forward. Doing so will put a great amount of weight on your opponent’s hands and cause him to fall flat on his stomach.

Wizzer

1. Use your hand closest to the leg being attacked and create separation by pushing on your opponents shoulder. You don’t need much separation but this will keep your opponent from locking in tight and will make breaking the hold easier.

2. Push off with your toes and turn your hips from facing your opponent to the direction of the attack.

3. At the same time you are twisting your hips pushing your far hip against your opponents body. Use your far hand and arm to push under the armpit of your opponent. If you can reach the leg being attacked grab on to it and as your center shifts as described below this will create a lot of pressure on your opponents shoulder and arms. During this motion drop your shoulder into the movement and push your legs away in a sprawling motion.

4. Move your center of gravity from over your hips and legs to your chest and upper body as you put your chest upon your opponent.

Spiral Ride

1. From referee’s position, you have to adjust the way you start if you want to gain the advantage over your opponent with the spiral. While on top, take the hand you are using to cup your opponent’s elbow and turn your palm up for an underhanded grip. Your thumb should now be on the outside of his elbow. This will give you the ability to quickly get your arm under your opponent’s near-side arm once the referee blows his whistle. Your other arm will remain around your opponent’s midsection, as normal.

2. On the whistle, release the grip you have on your opponent’s elbow and place your arm underneath his near-side armpit. For example, if you used your left hand to cup his left elbow, release that grip and place your left arm underneath his left armpit. Keep your palm up and place the inside of your forearm — just above your thumb — high on his triceps, near the armpit.

The placement of your arm should be “shallow.” That means you shouldn’t get your arm too far “deep” under his armpit. If you can touch the palm of your hand to your opponent’s near-side pectoral, you are in good position. This depth will allow you to block and drive against your opponent’s arm in order to break him down.

3. Release the tight waist and move your hand down towards your opponent’s same-side thigh. For example, if you initially used your right arm for the tight waist, move it down towards his right thigh. From here, spiral his thigh (reach your hand inside of his thigh) and place your palm against his inner thigh.

4. With your arms placed in the correct position, get on your feet. Make sure to keep your chest in contact with your opponent’s back as you do this. Your chest should be positioned high on your opponent’s back, near his shoulder blades. Your head should be over your opponent’s shoulder on the opposite side of his body, next to his head. (If you’re positioned on the left side of his body, your head will “hang” slightly over his right shoulder.) Position your legs slightly behind you so you can pressure into your opponent. This is the spiral ride.

5. With your hips parallel to your opponent’s body, start taking big steps and walk your feet in a circle towards his hands. As you circle, use your forearm to push his arm forward and press against his inner thigh with the palm of your hand. Essentially, you are moving both of your arms away from one another in opposite directions. Use your legs to pressure into him as you do this.

You may not be able to break your opponent down instantly with the spiral. However, if you stay heavy on top of him, circle your feet quickly, and continue to move his arm and leg away from each other with your spiral grips — you will eventually break him flat!

November 13, 2013

Stand-up

1. Buck up to your knees.

2. Step up with either your right, or left leg.

3. Get wrist control.

4. Try to push your opponents left hand to his left side, and his right hand to his right side.

5. Stay in a squatted position but keep your hips as far away from your opponent as possible, and look up.

6. Clear your arm, then turn, and face your opponent.

Penetration Step

1. Start with either the staggered or squared stance. With either foot take a large step low and forward towards your opponent.  Keep your weight balanced over your leading leg and do not over extend your upper body too much in order to keep this balanced position.   Your hands and arms should remain in close to your body (to avoid getting hooked).

2. Continue to step through while keeping your trailing legs knee off the mat.  If it does hit the mat make sure it does not slide and that no weight is distributed to that knee. (it should bounce off the mat)

3. Continue the step though all the while avoiding your leading leg knee to touch the mat. (This is difficult to perform at first but with leg strength and practice this will be easier to do)

4. Finish the move by moving back up into your original staggered or squared stance.

July 26, 2013

Low Single

1. Drive into your opponent and step your lead leg over the leg you are controlling (if controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be with your left leg).

2. Put your knee on the mat towards the inside his leg. This will make it difficult for your opponent to regain control of this leg.

3. As you do this, slide your locked hands below his knee and secure his lower leg.

4. From here, move your outside-hand and grip your opponent’s thigh from the front of his leg. If you are controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be your right arm.

5. Once you have his upper leg secured, transfer your other hand to the outside of your opponent’s other leg. (If you are controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be done with your left hand.) Use this hand to grip the outside of your opponent’s leg behind the knee, or just above it.

6. With both of your opponent’s legs now secured, drive into him with your near-shoulder and pull his legs toward you. This will allow you to drive him flat for the takedown.

Sweep Single

1. Drive into your opponent and step your lead leg over the leg you are controlling (if controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be with your left leg).

2. Put your knee on the mat towards the inside his leg. This will make it difficult for your opponent to regain control of this leg.

3. As you do this, slide your locked hands below his knee and secure his lower leg.

4. From here, move your outside-hand and grip your opponent’s thigh from the front of his leg. If you are controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be your right arm.

5. Once you have his upper leg secured, transfer your other hand to the outside of your opponent’s other leg. (If you are controlling your opponent’s right leg, this will be done with your left hand.) Use this hand to grip the outside of your opponent’s leg behind the knee, or just above it.

6. With both of your opponent’s legs now secured, drive into him with your near-shoulder and pull his legs toward you. This will allow you to drive him flat for the takedown.

Ankle Pick

1. Tie up with your opponent, and place one of your hands behind his neck.

2. Circle in the direction of the arm you placed on his neck. This forces him to step to follow you.

3. Dart your other hand down and cup his ankle when he takes a a step, around the outside of his foot.

4. Pull his ankle up as if to tuck it under your armpit, as you pull his head down with the hand you had placed behind his neck. Drive forward with your legs as you do this to destabilize his balance.

5. Stay in tight to maintain control and secure a takedown. If you execute well, your opponent will bail out to his stomach as you drive him backward.

Double Leg

1. Fake a jab to the face of your opponent to try to make him close his eyes. This is to prevent him from realizing what you want to do and sprawl on you.

2. Put one of your knees on the ground right between both of your opponent's legs and get down low, with both of your knees bent and your back straight. This will put your powerful thigh muscles into play and stop you from hurting your back.

3. Grab both of his legs, one in each hand.

4. Shove off the ground with your legs.

5. Sweep his legs aside of you.

6. Charge your shoulder into his chest.

7. Slam him down, landing with your shoulder in his chest, perpendicular to his chest with your body.

High Crotch

1. Secure an inside tie. This is done by grasping one of your opponent's triceps with an overhand grip.

2. Pull your opponent's arm over your head and behind you, as you drop to one knee and shoot your free arm between his legs. The knee that you should drop down is the knee opposite the side you have your inside tie on.

3. Lock your hands around your opponent's leg.

4. At this point you can drive up to your feet with the single leg locked, and trip your opponent to score a takedown, or switch your grip so that you are hooked around both his legs, and drive to the side, finishing the high crotch as you would.

Lateral Throw

1. Move in close to your opponent in a standing position. Reach over his left arm near his shoulder with your left arm, and pull it to your side to perform an overhook.

2. Jockey back and forth on the mat, paying attention to your opponent's weight shifting and balance.

3. Step in quickly with your right foot and wrap your right arm around your opponent's lower back.

4. Drop to the floor suddenly and rotate your body, pulling your opponent's left arm toward you and sending his body over your right side so he lands on his back.

Standard Square Stance

1. Start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. If you are not sure about how your feet should be positioned, jump in the air—when you land your feet should be roughly in the position of a good stance.
 
2. Bend your knees until your forearms can rest on your thighs, which will also help you understand how low you need to be when facing an opponent. It may take several practice sessions to get comfortable in this position and to strengthen the muscles in your legs and back that are critical for maintaining a low posture.

3. Your back should be straight with your buttocks down and head up. Your weight should be evenly distributed between both feet and slightly forward, but make sure to stay on your toes and off of your heels.
4. Once your body is in good position, bring your hands out in front of you. Your hands serve as your first line of defense, so dropping them at anytime could mean takedown points for your opponent, or worse.

5. Keep your palms facing upwards, or next to each other (like the manner of holding a ball). Never face your palms down—this is called “heavy hands.” Holding your hands in this manner dramatically slows your reaction time and makes your wrists easier to tie up.

Moving in a Square Stance

·         Use short, quick “shuffle” steps to circle or move from side to side, keeping your feet and base wide. Never cross your feet when moving in your stance as this will leave you open to be taken down and also create make you more vulnerable to injury.

·         At the same time, maintain your good position: knees bent, butt down, back at a slight angle, head up, and hands out.

·         Always face and stay square to your opponent—allowing your opponent to position themselves at an angle towards your body leave you more open to an attack.

Sit-Outs

1. From your base, support your weight with one arm and the opposite knee, then step your other leg underneath you, and rotate your body to come to a sit.

2. Work for hand control. Keep some pressure back into your opponent, but be aware of his hands so that you don't get chin dropped. Your opponent will try to keep his arms inside if yours, under your armpits. Dislodge his arms, and keep your elbows in tight to your sides so that his arms are no longer inside of yours.

3. Quickly roll sideways, over one shoulder to face your opponent. Flag the arm of the shoulder you roll over to catch your opponent and keep him from circling around behind you. If he is not able to follow behind you, attain your normal stance, and back up a little to ensure that the referee scores your escape.

4. If you cannot escape after one sit-out, try chaining multiple sit-outs in a row. Often this will get an opponent out of position and enable you to escape.

July 1, 2013

Hip-Heist

1. Put all your weight on your dominant knee and try to push up with your dominant leg. Lock both elbows at your hip while driving with your legs.


2. Push off on your dominant leg and try to flip your hips so they are perpendicular to the mat. Keep your balance by using the arm and leg still on the mat.


3. Thrust your opponent off of you by swinging your free arm over the side to move you from facing the mat to facing upward. You have just reversed the move.

4. Attack your opponent's legs and ankles to complete the reversal

Bear Hug

1. While on your feet, tie up with your opponent and secure underhooks with both arms. An underhook is simply putting your arm around your opponent, under his arm, rather than over it. Underhooks are generally a desirable position when tying up, so your opponent will try to deprive you from getting two underhooks in. You may have to pummel with your opponent for a while before you can get both in.

2. Lock your hands behind your opponent's back.

3. Squeeze your opponent in toward you while lifting upward, straighting him from his normal stance. This will make him less stable. When he is straightened, pressure forward with your chest and pull him in with your arms, drawing his mass under the forward pressure of your chest.

4. As you try to force your opponent over straight backward, you can step forward around the outside of one of his feet as you push forward in an attempt to trip him up.

5. If your opponent falls straight to his back, which is likely, keep your underhooks in, or take one out to switch to a grip around his arm and head. Stay face to face and parallel with your opponent and wrap both your legs around the outsides of his legs. Squeeze and arch your back for additional pressure.

May 15, 2013

Fireman's Carry

1. If you are a right-handed wrestler (you take a shot with your right foot forward), you must first secure inside arm position. This can be done by simply coming into contact with your opponent and keeping your elbows and arms tight to your body. The position you are trying to be in has your left hand grasping just above your opponent's right elbow, and their right hand grasping your left arm (outside of your position, of course).

2. When the inside arm position has been achieved, feel free to circle around or push and pull your opponent. All good take-downs begin with some sort of motion.

3. Get your opponent to stand up straight at any time during this motion. The easiest way to do this is to pull down on the back of their head with your right hand as if you were trying to snap their head to the mat. (Remember to keep your inside arm position on the left). The first instinct of your opponent will be to jerk their head up so as not to be snapped down. This gives you the golden opening to execute the Fireman's Carry.

4. Hold your opponent's arm with your left hand and shoot a high-crotch, head outside, single leg to your left (their right leg). This should be done When your opponent is reacting to your head snap. If you do this correctly, you should still have their arm secure, and they should be bent over your shoulders with your right arm between their legs.

5. Think of a clock once this position is reached. You want to plant their right shoulder on the mat at 10:00 (2:00 if you are shooting left handed). To execute the finish, pull down on the arm you have secured, and push up with your right arm. Plant your left shoulder on the mat where you want theirs to end up.

6. At this point, their momentum should be moving in a way that makes their body roll off your shoulders and on to the mat (usually on to their back). It is very important that you let go of their leg with your right hand so you don't stop this momentum.

7. After you release the leg with your right hand, move your hand up their body to their hips or waist so you can hold them in control to earn your two points. Always keep hold of their arm with your left hand until the take-down is secured.

May 2, 2013

Chop

1. Start in Referee’s Position

Although you can break an opponent down with the arm chop anytime he is in his base, it is beneficial to learn how to perform this move from referee’s position. Drilling this move from referee’s position will train you to break an opponent down quickly after the referee blows his whistle, and when your opponent is in his base.

2. Get Your Grips

In order to successfully perform this move, you must first make some minor adjustments to your position:

Secure the Tight-Waist

Pull the arm that you have wrapped around your opponent’s midsection into your body. As you do this, make sure that you have this arm wrapped around his midsection as far as possible; try to get your hand all the way around to the other side of his midsection if you can.

Also, “pinch” or pull your elbow in towards his body to make your hold even tighter. This will allow you to keep your opponent’s body secure so you can put your weight on him.

Block the Elbow

Next, move the hand that you had placed on your opponent’s elbow in referee’s position and reach it around the front of his arm as far as you can. This blocks his elbow. For example, if you had your left hand on your opponent’s left elbow in referee’s position, you will use your left arm to block his left elbow. This will be the arm you“chop.”

You should try to touch the bend of your elbow to the bend of his, but it’s okay if you can only get your hand around the inside of his arm. In this position, your palm should be up facing your opponent’s midsection and the bottom of your wrist/forearm should touch the bend of his elbow.

A common mistake beginning wrestlers make when performing this move is that they try to chop the arm with their hand. This is ineffective and can even leave you open to be countered. Instead, make sure to use your whole arm to block the bend of your opponent’s elbow.

3. Drive Over the Arm

Next, get on your toes and start driving into your opponent. Make sure you are positioned behind your opponent with your chest in contact with the center of his back. Drive off of your toes and put all of your weight onto his back, driving his body forward and slightly towards the arm you are blocking. As you do this, make sure to pull the tight-waist in towards your body. Also, pull the arm you are using to block your opponent’s elbow in towards your body as you drive. This will allow you to “collapse” this arm and break him down.

Tougher opponents will not break flat instantly. However, by keeping constant pressure on your opponent and using your arm to collapse his, you will break him down eventually. To add some extra pressure, you can drive the side-same knee as your tight-waist against your opponent’s buttocks. For example, if you used your right arm to secure the tight-waist, use your right knee to “bump” or drive against his backside.

4. Catch the Wrist

As you drive your opponent over the arm you are “chopping,”his arm will come closer to the arm you are using for the tight-waist. So, as you drive your opponent flat, “catch” or grab this wrist with your hand in an overhand grip with your palm facing down. For example, if you chopped your opponent’s left arm, use your right hand to grab his left wrist as you drive him flat.

From here, pull your opponent’s arm tight across his body and bring the elbow of the arm you are using to secure his wrist in towards your body. Doing so will give you many options on offense, such as tilts, arm bars, and various other types of turns. Also, make sure to keep your chest in contact with his back and keep driving off of your toes. This will keep him from basing up and escaping while you work to put him on his back.

February 19, 2013

Blast Double

1. Start in a staggered stance so you’re ready to change levels and fire off your shot quickly. Set your trail leg behind you at a slight angle so you’re able to push off into your takedown.


2. There are many ways to set up the blast, the most basic of which are snapping and motion. Use motion to take your opponent out of position by faking, level changing, circling, etc. This should confuse your opponent, and generally will cause him to react by adjusting his position. Also, snap your opponent’s head and shoulders in order to take his upper body out of position.

3. However you set your blast up, you will know your opponent is out of position when his chest is parallel to yours, facing you. Imagine your opponent has a target in the center of his midsection, about where his sternum is. This will be your target. Anytime you have a clear view of “the target,” or the target is facing towards you, that’s when you’re able to hit your blast.

4. Once you see your target, lower your level by bending your knees, and then put your weight on your back foot (also called “loading up”). In order to hit this technique successfully you need to be lower than your opponent before you take your penetration step.

5. Take a big step in between your opponent’s feet with your lead leg. To make sure your step is deep enough, look for “three feet in a row.” This occurs when your lead foot is in the middle of your opponent’s feet. Instead, take a big step until your forehead hits the target (or elsewhere on your opponent’s body).

6. Make your penetration step as you simultaneously hit on or near your target. (As you step, use your legs to drive through as your forehead meets your opponent’s body). Also, do not use the top of your head to hit the target. You can severely injure your neck this way. Your neck is the strongest when you keep your head and shoulders up and in good position. So as you hit, lead with your forehead and/or face.

Moving in a Staggered Stance

·         Make sure that you take small steps—don’t allow the bottom of your feet to come too high off of the mat. If you want to move backwards use your back foot first, then follow it with your lead foot.

·         If you want to move left, you will have to move your lead leg to the left first, putting most of the weight on your front toe for a split second.

·         Once you move your lead led, move your trail leg to the left as well, rocking your weight from your front leg to your back leg as you move.

·         If you want to move to the right you will need to lead with your right leg. Move your right leg to the right first then follow it up with your left.

Staggered Stance

1. Start with your feet a little bit wider than shoulder width apart.

2. Bend your knees until your forearms can rest on your thighs.

3 . Your back should be slightly angled with your buttocks down and your head and chest up.

4. When you are low enough, bring one leg a step in front of you with the toe pointing directly ahead. This will serve as your lead leg—the leg that you step with to penetrate an opponent’s stance. Most wrestlers designate their stronger, more dominant leg to be their trail leg or “power” leg, but it depends which leg feels most comfortable. (Not sure? Think about what leg you would best kick a soccer ball with).

5. Most of your weight should be resting on your front foot.

6. Your shoulder, front knee, and foot (of your lead leg) should be somewhat aligned.

7. Your back leg, or trail leg should be slightly off to the side with your toe angled slightly away from you, though some wrestlers like the toe of their trail leg to point directly ahead for extra power on their shot. Play with the different positions to determine what’s best for you.

8. Once in position, bring your arms out in front of you. Your hands serve as your first line of defense, so dropping them at anytime could mean takedown or back points for your opponent.

February 14, 2013

Crossface

-ram your forearm into the face of your opponent

 -perform a crosssface for a defensive move only

 -you can use a crossface to go into a cradle

 The main thing to be aware about is that your not intentionally trying to break a nose or injure him. This move should be started less than a foot away from the wrestlers face. It is not a full speed move, just enough to move his head.

Sprawl

-when the other wrestler shoots on you, you must get your legs back

-if he gets a leg, push down on his head or crossface him and spin behind

-when you spin block his arms so he can’t defend it

Tie-Ups

-for a tie-up place one hand on back of the neck of other wrestler, other hand on bicep (rotate or pummel to get control)

-be strong in your tie-ups, don’t let him control you

-work on making angles

Duck Under

1. When tying up, place one of your hands on the back of your opponent's neck. This is a common place to put a hand while tying up and will not immediately signal that you are going to attempt a duck under.


2. With your other hand, pop your opponent's elbow up, then drop down and forward, ducking under the arm.
3. As you duck under his arm, use the hand you left behind his neck to pull down, using your weight and momentum to draw him forward off balance. If you exert enough pressure and duck with enough explosiveness, he should collapse forward onto his hands and knees and you will be right behind, scoring a takedown.


4. If your opponent does not lose his balance, but you manage to get behind him, lock your arms around  his waist, and pop him off his feet with your hips, then bring him sideways back down to the mat so that he goes to his hands and knees. Stay in close to score your takedown.

January 28, 2013

True Commitment

'COMMITMENT' nearly as often as we hear the terms New Ideas and Goals.

 COMMITTING to a Goal is more difficult than setting the Goal. Imagine pursuing a Goal until every possible avenue to succeed has been exhausted. A question for wrestlers to ask themselves is whether they are willing to fully commit themselves to a Goal. If that question can be answered in the affirmative, an athlete will be well on the way.

Committed individuals are:

- honest with themselves
- cannot blame others for their shortcomings
- will not look for an escuse

I believe that there are things that wrestlers and coaches can do to make committing to a Goal a reality.

- be realistic about what you might be able to accomplish
- it is also important for the athlete and the coach to be on the same page regarding individual and team   objectives
- a one-on-one meeting with every athlete is a very effective way for a coach to find out exactly what an athlete is thinking and what his or her Goals are

Set your Goal, commit yourself to the goal and do not let anyone or anything get in your way.