Down Position: First Moves (from January 2009)

The simplest, and most common, approach involves standing up on the whistle. While this can be a good strategy, it is not always the best strategy. This strategy works best when it allows you to get to your feet and score quickly. But oftentimes, the opponent is quicker, or takes certain steps to keep you from standing up. If the top guy gets underneath and jams you before you can get to your feet, you will need a different strategy - so lets look at a few of these.

Knee Slide. When done right, the knee slide keeps the opponent from chopping and breaking you down, and also gets pressure off of you. It is an excellent first move to use with a standup.

Power Sit. Getting hip movement creates space and gives you lots of escape options, such as standups, granbies and petersons. Note: I believe you are always better off, with any kind of sit, if you get off your hips quickly, rather than staying there. Use it to create space and keep moving.

Hand-fight. This strategy works very well against leg wrestlers and tilt guys. You fight hands before moving, therefore controlling the inside position - then you move from there.

I teach athletes these techniques as part of our down series, and most of these are on my DVD's as well. It is important to have a couple different ways to score from down, so you can beat all situations.

For Coaches: How To Train It:

While many coaches believe you always stand up first, it isn't always the best strategy for each athlete. You have to know your team, and know what to recommend for each athlete. Some first move techniques from the down position are as follows: Stand-up; Knee Slide; Hand Fight; Power Sit; Granby.

While, as a team, you might drill certain tendencies, and a particular stand-up, when it comes to individuals, you have to know what works for each athlete.

For those who are quick footed and athletic, the Standup is a good option. For those who get broken down a lot with a tightwaist chop, the knee slide is a good option. This blocks the chop and allows them to follow it up with a standup or a power sit, depending on the position. For athletes who never seem to clear hips away from the opponent, Power Sits create motion and get their hips away. The Granby is a good tactic if your guy gets chopped but keeps position - especially good if the opponent stays with the chop. If your athlete has trouble with a leg and/or tilt guy, and is wrestling such an opponent, the Hand-fight strategy works very well, because you control hands first and then score.

Another key - be able to tell your athlete: "Change Off." He should know that that means to hit a different first move.


Down position handfighting (from June 2006)

Here's a down position drill to help your athletes fight the opponent who gets underneath the arms. One athlete is in front, on the knees and sitting on his ankles, back fairly straight, while the opponent starts from behind. Wrestler in front lets back wrestler hook under the arms and up on the shoulders. Wrestler in front has to fight opposite hands from here: First step, fight the opposite hand by grabbing it, second step, work the same side elbow inside. Then fight the other side. Tell the wrestler in front to let the back wrestler inside for a number of reps so he can work the technique. Then, eventually, he will block out a side, secure it by keeping his elbow in, and then fight the other side. A good combo drill from here: Step one, fight the hands, block him out; step two, back pressure, come up and cut; step three, level change and double, and then the other guy gets in that starting position.

Training methods to teach hand control (from Oct 2006)

I mentioned in the Wrestlers' section about getting "knuckle control". This method refers to getting hand control by grabbing the opponent right at the hand, or knuckles. A good activity to help your athletes fight hands is to play the "Locking Hands" game. One guy is standing behind the other, just as wrestlers would be during a standup attempt. On the whistle, the guy standing behind has 5 seconds to lock his hands around the front guy. Front wrestler has to stay in position and fight hands, no fair dropping down or running away! When you first start out, the guy standing behind will probably win more often. Once you show them "knuckle control", you will see the front man start to win more often. I will have mini-tournaments with the Locking Hands game at a lot of my camps - it helps break up the practice while also serving as an excellent hand-control drill. This is a game that athletes can play, and not really have to be the same size. If I have a big size mismatch, I will put the smaller athlete behind, to give him more of a shot.

The Power-sit and Granby (from Nov. 2006)

A couple fundamentals to key on:
1. When we go to a sit-out, we don't stay there. You should hit one hip (not both), and stay for no longer than a split second. Any longer than that allows the opponent to attack you from a vulnerable position.
2. Make sure you move your hand first - that way, you beat the chop, and keep your opponent from tying up that arm. The power sit series is quick and explosive, and gives you many scoring options. Athletes in my system who use it, score the following ways: Sit-out/Turn in, Sit-out/Switch, Sit-out/Granby, Sit-out/Peterson, Sit-out/Standup. It is an excellent series to get you moving, and create openings.

Now for some strategy on using our Power Sit series. When to recommend the power sit? If you have an athlete who has trouble standing up, trouble moving from down, this is a good series for them. If you have a superior athlete - strong, great hips, quick, athletic - they should use a stand up most of the time. The Power Sit is also a good strategy against a cradler. Good sit-outs can wreak havoc on a cradle wrestler's game plan. Just make sure they follow the fundamentals listed above - don't stay in the sit long, or you will put that cradler back in his game. Other important point regarding cradlers: Make sure your athletes don't Step with their outside leg - just rotate the knee, keep the ankle where it is.

Leg Counters (from Feb. 2007)

Countering Legs, part one: from referee's position
Countering legs when you are still on your base, involves following a few basic rules:
1. Learn to Keep your position and don't let yourself get broken down. Wide knees and arms for starters.
2. Fight with the feet - this is a technique I teach the athletes in my club and also is on my DVD. Its hard to explain here, but basically, you hook the ankle with your free leg, then move your tied up leg inside his. You also use the free leg to kick off a scissors if he has it. This technique keeps you from reaching with your arms and getting into trouble. It works very well against the majority of leg riders, because most of them hook the ankle and go into cross-body. A cross body leg rider can always be countered in our system.
3. If you do fight using your arms - use the Inside Arm technique, get the same-side arm inside their leg and get that arm wide! In other words, don't grab the leg - just Position the arm. You still have to be able to hold your position when they go to break you down. Then you can circle away from that leg to escape.

Here are a few drills to help your athletes fight off legs.
1. Keep the Legs out. Bottom guy holds his position, doesn't get broken down, keeps the legs out.
2. Get the Legs out. Top guy starts with legs in and tries to keep them in, bottom guy tries to get them out. Also a good drill for the legman trying to keep them in.
3. Flat, keep them out. This one's even harder, but very important for athletes. Bottom guy has to be able to bring an elbow to a knee before basing up so top guy doesn't sneak a leg in.
The above 3 are actually live drills. The next one is not a live drill.
1. Block the knee or catch the leg. If the top guy brings the knee across the thigh, or close to it, bottom guy just blocks it with the palm of his hand and forces it away. If top guy brings the leg out, or tries to throw it in, bottom guy makes sure the elbow on the inside arm (attacking side) goes to his knee and he catches the leg and plants his hand on the mat. Important point - tell him Not to hang onto the leg - just bring the arm inside and post it.

Key ingredients to getting out from Down Position (from November 2008)

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.

Now - 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.