Wrist Control Options With Highlight Humphrey
If someone were to ask you right now about the first thing you go for when starting a match, what would you think of? For most people, the answer to that question would most likely be some sort of takedown or the setup for a takedown. Chances are, you can probably vouch for the truth behind that statement if you answered that question to yourself while reading this. There is nothing wrong with being goal oriented and wanting to get your opponent down, but there are smaller steps that need to be taken.
Wrestling is so complex and tedious at times, that it is very easy to forget some of the basics. For example, you probably didn’t even think about one of the most important positions in all of wrestling--wrist control. It may not seem like a big deal, but it is very common for wrestlers to find themselves in this position very early into a match.
With the abundance of moves that can start from hand fighting and gaining wrist control, this is a crucial position to get comfortable with. You won’t want to go into a match without knowing what to do here and next thing you know, your opponent has your wrist. At that point, your opponent has set the tone for the match, and that gives him the mental advantage of feeling in control.
When you take that aspect of wrist control into consideration, it suddenly seems much more important. And yes, any wrestler that has been around the sport for any considerable amount of time has heard about getting wrist control, but many just stop there. Just simply grabbing your opponent’s wrist with no plan of utilizing that isn’t going to do yourself any good. That is why it is a must to learn how to effectively gain wrist control while developing an offensive strategy for a takedown.
Getting wrist control isn’t as easy as it sounds sometimes. This is yet another reason to expand your knowledge and fluency when going for a wrist. Any skilled wrestler that you face isn’t going to simply give up their wrist. They know how much of an advantage you would have, so lots of wrestling matches have a point where the two people are just going back and forth, tit for tat trying to get a wrist. This back and forth is not helping either person. A simple way to avoid exerting all of that energy for no gain is to just be as good as you can possibly be at hand fighting. Luckily for you, we here at Fanatic Wrestling are here to help. From our state of the art lineup of renown wrestlers on our roster, Reece Humphrey is here to help you ensure success from a hand fight.
Reece Humphrey is one of the premier wrestlers on today’s scene. He started asserting his dominance all the way back when he was in high school as he won three state championship titles. Continuing his path of success as he entered the college level, Humphrey was a two time D-1 NCAA All American as a part of the Ohio State Buckeye roster.
He then went on to make a great showing at many US Open Tournaments, leading to his participation in the Olympics while representing America. The knowledge that he has is matched by only a select few. He shares this knowledge in Highlight Reel Upper Body Throws and Takedowns, available for you to be able to learn, practice, and reach your full potential. This instructional has many learning points for you to take away, but one example is a duck under that uses the ever important wrist control mentioned earlier. Check out this clip to get a feel for Humphrey’s amazing teachings and learn a sweet new move at the same time!
From the very beginning of the video, Humphrey recognizes the importance of the wrist control element of not only this duck under move, but in wrestling as a whole as well. At first, he goes over all of the different combinations of wrist control that are likely to happen while you are wrestling. You can grab with either hand, get grabbed on either by either of your opponent’s hands, or a mix of the two at the same time. Each of these have different outcomes that could happen. Being familiar with all of these will give yourself an advantage, especially if you know moves from each one like Reece is about to show.
For this particular duck under setup, you’re going to go for one of the simplest forms of wrist control. You don’t have to cross your body, grab and regrab, or worry about any complexities. You take the hand on your shot side, and you grab your opponent’s wrist on that same side. From here, Reece is going to show you how to use that control to your advantage.
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The way that you make that happen is pulling their arm over your head as you go for the duck under. This shortens the distance that you must travel to secure the move not only by bringing your opponent closer to you, but also because by pulling you are traveling faster. Pulling that arm is a simple step, but it makes a world of difference. A line of defense is taken away, and your offense is made more effective. Although, knowing this setup for a duck under is no good without knowing how to actually do a duck under.
Reece breaks it down simply. There is no over explaining or complicating. It is just two steps. The first step is a big one outside, just as if you were going for a sweeping single leg. Once you do that, you just need to step back into the guy’s body. As you are doing this is when you really need to quickly pull their arm over your head. This is what opens up his body for the move to be able to work.
On the step back into the guy, you need to be tight up against him, pressuring in as much as you can be. The more quick and violent the step back into the guy is, mixed with throwing that arm over your head, the better.
Now you’re in the perfect duck under position. Your head should basically be on your opponent’s rear delt, and you should be pinching his armpit between your head and shoulder. If you are in this position that Reece shows in the video, you are under his armpit with all of your power under you. This will make it easy to finish the move and get your guy on the mat by simply using that power to drive through him.
As you drive up through his armpit, your opponent will begin to lose balance, and your arm on the far side will seal the deal. Give the guy’s far leg a good chop and you will both be headed for the mat. The only difference is that you will be on top with the ref indicating two points in your favor.
Without the help from a wrestling genius like Reece Humphrey, this move may seem complicated. If you watched the clip above, you saw that he was able to break it down into very manageable pieces. Once you put those pieces together and rep this move, you can hit this move as good as Reece one day. Not only his duck under walkthrough, but any knowledge that Reece Humphrey is willing to share, should be grasped and cherished. E
veryone could benefit from his amazing teachings, and everyone has the opportunity to! All that you have to do is check out Highlight Reel Upper Body Takedowns and Throws, and you can learn so much from the man himself!