Work To Earn The Underhook With Adeline Gray
While the ultimate goal in wrestling is to get the pin, so much of the match is spent fighting for the best position. As much as each opponent wants the pin, they are also trying to avoid being pinned themself. Inevitably, both opponents are going to work to get the best position possible to achieve their goal.
With that being said, you obviously have a better chance of winning and getting the pin if you can achieve and maintain better position. Since both parties have the same difficult goal, it is appropriate to refer to it as “earning” that position. So much work goes into gaining the higher ground, how could you call it anything else?
Depending on the situation you may favor an overhook to an underhook, however gaining an underhook while still on the feet can really set you up to start making moves. Wrestling is all about control, and an underhook gives you a ton of it.
In this video, Adeline Gray demonstrates a technique used to earn the underhook with an inside wrist tie while on the feet, check it out below!
Underhook Breakdown
Adeline begins by stating she particularly likes using this technique when her partner has the same leg lead as the side she wants to underhook. Beginning on the feet, Adeline first wants to establish inside head position, being on the same side as the underhook she is going for.
The next step is to gain an inside wrist tie. This looks just as it sounds; using the same side arm you are going to get a grip on the inside of your partner's wrist. Thinking ahead for a second, if you know that you want an underhook you know that you are going to have to get on the inside of your partner's arm. To do this you are likely going to have to push their arm up or out. This would be much more difficult to do with an outside wrist tie, as leverage would not be in your favor.
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Once your inside wrist tie is secure, it is time to quickly shoot for the underhook. To do this you are going to step into the space right in between your partner’s legs, and raise the elbow on the arm in which you have your wrist tie. Right around the time your partner’s elbow reaches the height of their shoulder, let go of their wrist and reach to their back to establish your underhook.
Once you have the underhook you need to make sure that you control their other arm. You can do this with grips on the wrist, tricep, or elbow, and keep your elbow in while doing this. Make sure you are pulling them up and into you to ensure you don't get headlocked. You also want to make sure to maintain good head position and not let your head drop down too much because that could easily lead to another scenario with you getting headlocked.
The keys of the technique are to keep your head up, your elbow with the underhook high, and to keep your hip in between their legs. It may take a little bit of knee fighting before you can get your hip in between their legs, but once you have it that's when you need to make sure you are pulling them up and into you so you can keep your hip there. From here you have a ton of attacking options such as a knee pick, ankle pick, throw by, or whatever else you want.
About Adeline Gray
Adeline Gray is an American wrestler who has played a huge part in establishing normalcy and equality for women's wrestling. Adeline is a five-time world champion and 2016 Olympian, and is the first American wrestler to receive 5 world titles.
With the help and training from her father, she had a successful college career and worked her way into professional wrestling. After making it to the quarterfinals in the 2016 Olympics, she took the 2017 season off due to an injury but came back a year later to win the 2018 World Wrestling Championships. On another side of her professional career, she is the first female wrestler to have her own signature shoe.
Adeline used this instructional focus solely on the fundamentals of offense. Included in her instructional you will find techniques covering double knee trap tilt, hand turk from a double leg, multiple bar arm variations, front headlock shake finish, and so much more.
Adeline brings a fresh and energetic perspective to the sport of wrestling. Her long list of accomplishments speak for them self in terms of all that she has to offer. Don’t wait another second to start working on mastering your offensive game, check out her instructional here!