Olympic Throws With Adam Wheeler
Even if you don’t wrestle Greco very often, it is still very important to learn how to wrestle and throw from Greco positions. Greco style throws can sometimes be more effective when used in folkstyle or freestyle wrestling because you can use leg attacks to set throws up.
Adam Wheeler won a bronze medal in Greco-Roman at the 2008 Olympics. He has a lot of different throws that are highly effective. Here are a couple that you can add to your offense.
Pinch Headlock Hip Throw
The first throw combines a headlock with a hip toss. It starts out with you in a pinch tie up position which is basically getting an underhook then reaching that hand up and locking your hands around your opponent’s head. From here, you are going to cinch the lock up by going deeper with your underhook arm.
When you have hit this point, you will do what is commonly referred to as a drop step or a back step to clear your hips through and throw your opponent.
Elevator Body Lock
In this next video, Adam shows an elevator body lock which is a great throw from a double underhook position.
When you have double underhooks on your opponent, lock your hands behind their back and pull them in tight. Also notice Adam’s foot position, he has his lead leg deep in between his opponent’s legs. One small but important thing that Adam does is pops his partner up and quickly lowers his level to lock down around the waist. After you have the body lock, you can hit a corkscrew finish or lift and elevate the leg and take it over.
Wheeler Whip
Another Greco option is to do what is called the Wheeler Whip. This starts with an arm drag and when you drag, you take a deep center step between your opponent’s legs and the near hand goes behind your opponent around their waist. Most of the time, your opponent will step their leg out because they feel vulnerable. What is great about this move is Adam is anticipating his opponent stepping their leg out and using it against them.
When you feel them step out, the hand that is on the waist will slide up to the armpit. From here, be sure to pull with both of your arms to twist your opponent’s upper body and now you can hit a lateral drop style throw.
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These are great throws for any wrestler to add to their offense. Even though you don’t see big throws like these in most matches, it is important for a wrestler to have a couple of reliable throws that they can in a match in opportunity or need presents itself.
If you want to learn more about upper body throws be sure to check out “Upper Body Takedowns For Wrestling” by Adam Wheeler where he shares more of the techniques that he used to become one of the top Greco wrestlers in the world.