Fundamental Wrist Wrestling Techniques with Brett Pfarr
While there are so many control techniques in wrestling, sometimes it is control from stand up that seems to be the most difficult. When both people are standing, they are able to make maximum use out of all of their limbs. If you are standing and your opponent has control of one or both of your wrists, you are definitely starting to feel vulnerable.
Proper wrist wrestling is enormously important. Not only is it important to practice maintaining wrist control, but it is equally as important to know what your next move is going to be from wrist control.
Just because you have wrist control does not mean you are on your way to victory just yet. As is the case for most wrestling moves, there are counters to wrist control. The wise thing to do is find a particular technique or two that you like, practice it a lot, and be aware of all the possible counters so you can attempt to eliminate them.
In the heat of a match, counters are going to be a split second decision. If you can attack in such a way where you only give a few counter possibilities, and are also expecting them, you will be able to eliminate them and finish how you have been practicing.
In the following example, we will take a look at the importance of footwork and leg positioning, and how it plays an effective role in fundamental wrist wrestling. In this video, Brett Pfarr shows some of his favorite variations of wrist wrestling, check it out below!
To begin, Brett clarifies that there are many techniques depending on if you have their wrist, if they have your wrist, and so on, but in this video he will be going over the fundamentals on an arm drag when you have your opponent's wrist.
Starting the technique standing, Brett grabs the same side wrist of his opponent with his right hand. From here he uses the arm drag where he places his left hand on the tricep of his partner's arm, on the same arm in which he has wrist control.
Following the arm drag, the two options are to step in with your inside foot, or step out with you outside foot, while dragging your opponent past you. Brett clarifies that it is totally up to personal preference whether you take an inside or an outside step, but that he favors the inside step and then uses his knee to block his partner's leg so when he tries to move it pulls his leg up and gives Brett the ability to attack it.
Brett also gives a possible scenario from taking an outside step, where if your butt is back and your head and chest are not in, when you step to the outside it leaves a bunch of space for your partner to just circle you when you do your arm drag. If you are going to step to the outside which naturally would create more space, make sure you are staying tight to your partner to eliminate their ability to circle you.
The point of this is to drill it continuously and find out how you like to step. It is also important to drill this from different positions and opposite side wrist control so you can determine which way you want to step in every scenario.
Brett goes over the situation where his partner has the same side wrist control on him, so from there he would use an outside drag while stepping to the inside, but again it is all about personal preference.
Although this video is about wrist wrestling, Brett clarifies that when drilling this you should be concerned about your footwork. Having wrist control is great, but if you are stepping into areas that create space and diminish momentum, then your wrist control can become useless.
The list of Brett’s achievements go on and on, and include titles such as Two-Time All American, NCAA finalist, Three-Time NCAA qualifier, Two-Time Big Ten finalist, and so many more. He finished his career at the University of Minnesota during his 2016-17 redshirt senior season with an overall record of 31-3, and dual meet record of 12-0, and a Big Ten Record of 9-0.
More recently, Brett had arguably the biggest win of his career when he beat 2017 World silver medalist Boris Makoev in the 2019 Bill Farrell International quarterfinals while wrestling for Team USA. Luckily for those in the wrestling sport, Pfarr has packed so much knowledge into an instruction for anyone to benefit from.
In his lengthy 4 part instructional, Brett covers play in the scramble, low single defense, single leg offense and finishes, multiple outside step variations, wrist drag offense and defense, and so much more.
There is so much high level technique in this instructional that absolutely anyone would not regret studying it. If you know that you are ready to take your wrestling to the next level, check out his instruction here!