Coaches Corner Article: Down Position

Keys for Athletes: Getting out from Down

A lot of wrestlers think the best way to get out from down is just stand up very quickly. While I am not completely against this philosophy (hey - if you can do it, go for it), the problem is, you have to be quicker than your opponent to succeed. Any technique that relies on superior athleticism to succeed, is destined to fail for the large majority of athletes, at least, too often.

My keys to getting out are as follows: 1. Hand-fight well. 2. Get some clearance 3. Pressure off you, pressure on him.

#1 Can be expanded to include fighting position as well. If you win the battle of hands, and also the battle of legs (not letting him get legs in on you or controlling your ankles), you are going to be very successful from down position. My Attack System athletes are trained to hand-fight very well - from every area on the mat. This is a cornerstone to our success.

#2 involves moving your hips to keep the top guy from staying tight to you. Techniques such as knee slides and hip heists, as well as granbies, are essential skills that give you clearance.

#3 utilizes some of the skills in #2, but also includes turning a shoulder in to your opponent when you've gotten hands controlled. We drill this skill several different ways, including part of our warm-up drills.

If you can do these three things, you will be very successful on the mat. For more info on technique and training, go to the Wrestlers Corner area of the website and read some of the articles.

Getting your athletes to do the above

#1. There are hand-fighting drills that we utilize often: teach athletes how to clear a 2 on 1 from bottom, then drill it. Get them to fight hands from the 2 on 1 and then turn it in to points with standups. Then, do some live goes with the top guy starting with a 2 on 1. This is an excellent training vehicle for athletes. Part of this package is our hand-fight standup.

We also train them to fight legs coming in using several techniques. We teach them to throw the ankle after we teach the knee slide, because both techniques use the same motion. We also teach our fight-with-the-feet technique when legs are already in.

Hip Heist drills are essential for a lot of positions in wrestling. We put them through about 4 different variations and work to get them efficient at it. Wall standups to hip heists, are also very valuable. Granbies are another essential skill. Our granby-counter drill actually benefits the top guy and the bottom guy at the same time.

#3 An excellent drill to teach this is a duck-under - peel hands - cut through drill (we call it duck-cut). You can do the same starting with arm drags. This warm-up drill emphasizes that athletes attack the hands as soon as the opponent ends up behind them, therefore keeping the opponent from locking hands and returning him to the mat. It also emphasizes the shoulder turn. Turn your shoulder in to the opponent while you are peeling the hands. This is such an excellent drill, because it also helps the other guy with level changes and finishes, as well as lifts (we have about 4 different versions of this drill, to emphasize different things).

If you want to see any of these drills in this section, stop by my club sometime or come over to the home facility and I will show you. These drills are all simple and easy to teach, and learn, and they emphasize a lot of good positions.