Ankle Pick From A Two On One With Dan Vallimont
One common way to set up takedowns in wrestling is with a two on one. A two on one, sometimes called a Russian tie, is when you have your opponent’s arm trapped to your chest while holding onto the bicep and wrist. By controlling the arm, this gives you a lot of control of your opponent and gives you a great angle to attack your opponent from. Another thing that is great about a two on one is that it is very difficult for your opponent to attack you when you have a two on one on them. Another reason that two on ones are so popular is because of the wide variety of takedowns you can hit when you have a two on one.
Usually when someone has a two on one, they are trying to hit some type of shot or maybe a dump or throw, but one really cool takedown you can hit with a two on one is an ankle pick. Check out this video of Dan Vallimont where he teaches how he likes to use a fake single leg to set up an ankle pick from a two on one.
There is a lot of technique crammed into this video, let’s take a closer look at Dan’s technique. First of all, you have to start with a good two on one. A lot of times you can get a two on one by shrugging off a collar tie like Dan does in this video. When his opponent has the collar tie, Dan reaches up with the opposite hand to grab the wrist and shrugs it off. This small detail can make a big difference. If someone has a tight collar tie on you, it can be very difficult to just peel it off with you hand. So by shrugging it off, you are using your whole body to clear the collar tie.
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Once Dan clears the tie, he brings the arm down to the two on one position. As you can see in the video, he has the bicep nice and tight to his chest and his shoulder is kind of on top of his partner’s shoulder so he can use it to put pressure on it. Another important thing to pay attention to is his foot position in relation to his opponent; Dan has a great angle on his opponent.
After getting the two on one, the first step in hitting this ankle pick is to step behind the foot of your opponent. As Dan says in the video, you don’t need to kick the foot real hard or try to sweep it. All you have to do step behind the foot and give is a small kick. It will be pretty much automatic that your opponent will step their foot back. When they do, this puts weight on the far foot which sets up the ankle pick perfectly.
After you step behind the foot, the next important step is to close the distance. In the video, Dan uses a little hop step to do this. This footwork is very important, and if you don’t do it correctly, you will have a difficult time hitting the ankle pick.
Once you have done the hop step to close the distance, you will put your foot behind the far foot. When Dan does this, his toe is off the mat to almost try to hook the ankle with his foot. This makes it just a little more difficult for his partner to pull their foot away. Next, reach down and secure the ankle and drive your opponent over the ankle then lift it up and put it on your thigh. If you do this correctly, you might even be able to get some back points from this position.
This is a really great takedown because you are able to disguise your ankle pick with a fake single leg attempt. If you do it correctly, by the time they realize what is happening, it will be too late for them to defend it. Anytime you can string moves together to confuse your opponent, good things happen.
If you would like to learn more elite wrestling technique from Dan, be sure to check out his in depth video series titled “The Russian Tie Formula by Dan Vallimont”. In this four part video series, Dan explains his Russian tie system he used to during his wrestling career.