Riding the legs, also called a leg ride, is a common offensive move used in collegiate and freestyle wrestling. From a top position, the aggressive wrestler uses the leg ride to turn and immobilize his opponent. Although it's difficult to score a full pin in a leg ride, it's an effective move for scoring back points.
Context
After the first round of a match, the wrestlers begin in referee's position. In this position, a down wrestler rests on his hands and knees. The up wrestler gets on one knee behind him, with one hand on his opponent's belly and the other on his elbow. When time starts, the down wrestler tries to escape while the up wrestler tries to flip the other on his back. This is the position from which leg rides are most commonly attempted.
Riding the Leg
To execute a leg ride, the attacking wrestler wraps one leg around his opponent's hips, then twines it around one of his legs. He uses this position to immobilize his opponent's lower body. From there, he captures his opponent's arm or head and twists the upper body until it's facing the floor. Adding hip pressure puts stress on the opponent's spine, making it harder to resist the move. There are variations of the leg ride, but all work on this basic frame.
Back Points
In wrestling, an athlete who holds his opponent's back on the mat for two seconds in high school and one second in college ends the match immediately with a pin. If he can hold his opponent's back less than 90 degrees from the mat, but not on the mat, he scores two or three points. Leg rides score back points by turning an opponent's back to less than 90 degrees.
Repeat Back Points
Another advantage of the leg ride is that you can release your opponent's upper body while maintaining your leg hold on his lower body. In wrestling, once you score back points, you can't score back points again with the same hold. With a leg ride, releasing the upper body, then recapturing it without releasing the lower body is considered enough to score additional points.
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