How To Use Your Hands In Wrestling Video

The first line of a wrestler's defense is their hands. Learn basic wrestling moves, defenses, and attacks in this video from a wrestling coach.

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Keep thumb facing down
Move legs when pressure is felt
First defense is hands

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Brandon Slay won the Gold Medal in Freestyle Wresting at the 2002 Olympic Games in Sydney.

BRANDON SLAY: Now as I said, the first line of defense are my hands. But my hands can only be a line of defense if I have my thumb facing down. Because if I just place my hand on top of Robert's shoulders just like this and my thumb is not down, if he lowers his level, lower your lever, see, my hand does not go anywhere and then there is nothing it can do to stop him. But if my hand is on him and I point my thumb towards the mat, now Robert lowers his level, my hand goes with him. And with my thumb down, as he shoots on me, he penetrates; he moves in to me, it is going to put pressure on my thumb, right here, which needs to tell my brain that he is attacking. I need to move my legs. So I like to think about this thumb as an alarm system. As soon as he lowers his level and attacks, I feel that pressure in my thumb, that tightness. That tells me that he is coming; it alarms me that he is coming and I need to move my legs to defend him. So it would look something like this. My hands on him correctly, he lowers his level; my thumb is down so I can feel him. He goes to attack, I feel the pressure, I can defend him. So my first line of defense are my hands, but I have to have my thumb down to feel my opponent attacking me.

How to Use Your Hands in Wrestling Video

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