Surprise Double Leg with Sean Russell
After you have been wrestling for a while, you start to understand the importance of being creative. There are definitely fundamentals in wrestling that have a high success rate, but as you climb up the ranks you have to keep progressing your game if you want to stay on top.
Being creative in wrestling can mean adding a personal touch onto a particular move or technique. Sometimes this means slightly adjusting the technique for yourself depending on your body to make things easier, or it can mean adding an element to the move as a disguise, to get your opponent thinking about something else.
Again, this becomes increasingly important as you start to climb the ranks in the game. Wrestling technique is taught very similarly around the world, such as the basic fundamentals of a high crotch or a double leg. There comes a point in your wrestling career where most of your competitors have mastered the fundamentals, so they know exactly what they need to do to defend your technique. When you add a personal touch onto a well established fundamental technique, you have tailored it for yourself and your opponent doesn’t know it, which leads to great success.
Perhaps you are not at the point in your wrestling where you feel capable of making such changes to fundamental techniques. In this video, Sean Russell gives a great example of making a small adjustment in his double leg attempt to disguise it as a high crotch. Check it out!
The basis of this move is shooting in as if you are going for a high crotch, and making a small adjustment with the placement of your arm to turn it into a double leg. To begin, Sean repositions himself from having a collar tie to an inside tie to begin to set up his takedown. As he lowers his level, he shoots his arm in as if he is going for a high crotch. Just before he goes to secure the high crotch, he moves his right arm roughly 6 inches to the outside so he can shoot for his double leg.
Sean's long career of wrestling has prepared him to train and teach in a way where he is constantly able to envision countless “real life” scenarios while training. The scenario he attributes to this particular move is perhaps in the match you have already gone for a few high crotches, so when you shoot for this one your opponent is going to continue to expect the high crotch.
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Maybe you were going for them to actually get them, or maybe you were going for them to read your opponents reaction and to set yourself up for this double leg disguise. Perhaps you were watching film of your opponent before the match and you realized that they are really good at sitting the corner when you shoot for one leg so you note that you need to go for a double. Either way, you have been observant of your opponent and are timing this move accordingly.
From here Sean has added his personal touch to the move, and now he can finish the double leg with proper and effective basic fundamental technique. Once he gets the grips on the legs, notice he is in proper form with his head looking straight up and his temple on his partner's lat muscle. From here he keeps looking up and over his back, lifting his hips and sending his partner to the ground on his back and landing in a sort of Jiu Jitsu side control position. This is a perfect example of taking all of the knowledge of the fundamentals of wrestling, and adding a minor detail to personalize it and increase the effectiveness of the take down attempt.
Former University of Minnesota 125 pounder Sean Russel has made quite the name for himself over the years. As a 2017 All-American with Edinboro, he joined the University of Minnesota just before the 2018-19 season. As a redshirt senior for Minnesota, he had an overall record of 28-6, and a Big 10 record of 14-4. In high school he was a four-time state champion with an overall record of 240-11, and during his time at Edinboro he coined the titles of NCAA All-American, three time NCAA qualifier, and many others. He comes from a family of wrestlers and since he graduated college he has joined the Minnesota Storm, pursuing a freestyle wrestling career.
If you know who Sean Russell is, then you know he has a ton to offer the wrestling community. In his four part instructional, he focuses primarily on scoring from your feet and takedown technique. It includes technique on inside position, arm drags, snap downs, elbow control, misdirection, a large assortment of takedown techniques, and most importantly finishing a multitude of takedowns.
If you are looking to improve on your point scoring and takedown ability, then you are in the right place. Let NCAA All-American Sean Russell teach you his master tactics and help you vastly improve your winning percentage. Check out his instructional here!