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Pre-season wrestling clinic, Fall 2025
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2025-11-04: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Top Wrestling Part 8 - Getting out from Bottom- The Quad Pod.
When on bottom, we want to get to our feet. We will use the Quad Pod stand up to do so.
First, you need to set up properly on bottom:
- Butt is low on heels
- Hands and knees are slightly wider than shoulders
- Your weight is back, while you are light on your hands
- Your back is rounded
- Your head is up and shoulders down
On this variation, off the whistle:
1) we move our hands towards the side the opponent will be likely looking to chop or spiral us
2) while we turn our hands towards our opponent we shift our weight away and over our far leg
3) with weight over our far leg, our inside leg is now able to post out towards opponent
4) Next, we push our far leg out and
5) Push back into a tri or quad pod while circling so as to get the opponent to the side of you
6) Simultaneously, our far arm and hand is sealing and looking to grab his hand and put it in our back pocket
We will need to keep our inside hand on the mat so we don't get driven down
A proper tripod will have your:
1) Knees slightly bent (you’re not standing straight up and down)
2) Feet wider than shoulders
3) Hands able to freely raise off the mat - you should not be bent over with your weight over your hands
4) Butt low
5) Head and chest are up - to prevent a half nelson or cradle - be mindful of their top hand and be ready to grab it if they try to cradle you
Use your hands to keep thee opponent behind you so as to prevent them from "T'ing" up to you and lifting you for a mat return.
Also, note in folkstyle wrestling the moment your knee and hand touch the mat the opponent can no longer lock their hands.
You will look to chain this with switches, the knee slide standup, especially if opponent attempts to bring you back down, and possibly even sit and turns, potentially. However, try making this the backbone of your bottom offense to get you out from under the opponent.
Video: Here is a great review from Iron Faith Wrestling.
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2025-11-03: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Top Wrestling Part 7 -The Spiral RIde to the Half Nelson or the Cross Face Cradle.
If the opponent is resisting your tight waist near arm chop, we will transition to the spiral ride. Remember we are trying to stretch the opponent out, breaking them from their base and flattening them onto the mat.
The hand that is on the elbow goes inside the opponent, and takes out the near arm, above the elbow, while the hand that is on the tight waist or belly button, is placed on the inside of the far thigh. You then spiral them to the mat by running your legs towards and around their head. From there we will look for a wrist and a half nelson. Watch the details provided by Cary Kolat and master pinner, Wade Schalles, below. Especially review Wade's detail on the half nelson and how to "sink" and run it properly. Although not covered in the videos, it is also effective to use your inside knee to anchor your opponent's hips so they can't just spin with you while you run the spiral ride.
Video: Cary Kolat.
Video: Wade Schalles.
Some bonus coverage below from John Smith, 2x NCAA Champion, 4x World Champion, and 2x Olympic Champion, demonstrating his spiral and tilts. Especially take note how Coach Smith demonstrates important details on how he grabs not the forearm or wrist, but the hand of his opponent, and how that affords you a lot more leverage and effectiveness to controlling your opponent.
Video: Multiple Ways to Turn Opponent from Spiral Ride to Attacking the Wrist by John Smith.
Cross Face Cradle:
If the opponent 1) bases out and fights off the tight waist, near arm chop and then attempts to curl or ball up and turn away when you 2) do the spiral ride or throw a half nelson, you will then look to cross face cradle the opponent (originally covered on 01/04/2024 on the Clinic Website).
Cross Face Cradle from top position:
1) We are covering opponent, straddling the leg, making our opponent feel our weight.
If you're on your opponent's right side...
2) Block their left elbow with your left hand while...
3) You reach reach across their head with your right arm, placing your forearm across their face, grabbing their left arm so your pinky is on their elbow and your other 4 fingers are above the elbow on their tricep. Pull their arm upward so your opponent looks like they are eating their own left arm.
4) While maintaining the cross face with your right arm, secure the opponent's left leg by going elbow deep behind their knee.
5) Drive their head using that secured right arm cross face towards the secured leg and attempt to grab the wrist of the arm you are using to cross face with the hand of the arm elbow deep behind the leg. Secure your lock.
There are several ways to turn your opponent from there, but for now work on pulling them onto their backs ("Rip Back" or "High Leg Over" Finish) and then getting your knee in their side, your forehead into their temple, while you maintain your grip, and squeeze your elbows to your sides for extra pressure.
Video: Penn State wrestlers montage featuring Jason Nolf, David Taylor, Bo Nickal, and Ed Ruth.
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2025-11-02: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Top Wrestling Part 6 -The Tight Waist Near Arm Chop and Roll Through Tilt (Clemson Roll).
On top, on the way to turning and pinning the opponent, we are trying to break the opponent down flat, destroying their base in the process. A tight waist near arm chop is an effective way to do this.
Note the details on this technique - you need to set up so 1) your back knee is ready to drive into the opponent's backside ("Knee up the butt") to drive him forward, 2) your tight waist arm is ready to pinch and squeeze your elbow in to be very tight around the opponent's waist, and 3) you collapse the opponent's arm diagonally, into their belly area. You are doing all of this off the whistle, on your toes, driving the opponent over the arm you are "chopping".
See this video from Cary Kolat.
From this break down, we reviewed a Roll Through Tilt aka a "Clemson Roll" by establishing a cross-wrist hold on the opponent. On the cross-wrist, be sure to pull the opponent's wrist across his trunk and into his "back pocket". The wrist should not be loose and/or up near his chest. Below is a Cross-Wrist series from Olympic Silver Medalist, and 3x NCAA Champion Spencer Lee. He, like many others, endorse placing your free elbow in-between the opponent's thighs while you place your head into his lap. Importantly, you are using your legs and driving the opponent forward over the shoulder that is attached to the wrist you are controlling. You are not simply rolling sideways. Note also how you are loading the opponent onto your lap, creating a pocket with your bottom knee up and going lace to lace with your other foot.
Video: Spencer Lee demonstrates.
We also demonstrated placing your free hand behind the opponent's thigh instead of placing the elbow under, between the thighs. I personally prefer this version, but you need to play with both to see what works for you. I like this because I find I am better able to get "Tee'd Up" to the opponent and I can also naturally get to a ball and chain from here. But, that’s me.
Here is Tbilisi and NCAA Champion and World Record Holder for Pins, Wade Schalles demonstrating on PSU's NCAA runner-up and 2x NJ State Champ out of Jefferson HS, Dan Vallimont. Wade was the coach at Clemson University, hence it was called a "Clemson Roll".
Video: Perfecting the Clemson Tilt with 2x NCAA Champ and Master of Pins Wade Schalles.
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2025-11-01: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Neutral Part 5 -The Russian 2 on 1 continued.
We went over some techniques to use when your opponent posts on your head and attempts to pull their arm out off your Russian 2 on 1.
If you feel the arm breaking your center plane, go into the key lock, push in to them, and then when they push back, use that momentum to snap them down to the mat with a shoveling motion, being sure to keep their wrist pinned into the mat so they are anchored to the mat and can't circle out. See the previous videos from Amit Elor and Russian Panda on 2 on 1's.
If you can't get to the key lock or reverse kimura and the opponent is placing the palm of their free hand on your head, pushing you away and circling to the front of you, you can push the arm up that you control in the Russian 2 on 1 while simultaneously taking an inside step with the leg that is closest to the opponent, and lowering your level to get to a body lock or double leg. If the opponent is using the "blade" of their forearm (typically the ulna bone) to push your head away, you can also try taking your hand that is on the opponent's wrist on the Russian and using a v-block above your oppenent's elbow, ducking under the opponent's arm that is against your head.
See video example from TeachMeGrappling's Brian Peterson.
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2025-10-27: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Neutral Part 4-The Russian 2 on 1.
Continuing with our goal of getting our opponent's flank or side in an attempt to get around them, we introduced the Russian 2 on 1 towards the end of our last session. We saw how we can get to the Russian 2 on 1 from the opponent's collar tie. We can also get to it from climbing up their arm from our 2 hands on a wrist or from an aborted arm drag, when we can't completely get around the opponent when pivoting, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip.
For now we will focus on getting the "Russian" from their collar tie.
Here is a great review from "TeachMeGrappling", a BJJ/Wrestling channel from Brian Peterson a world champion BJJ athlete and wrestling coach in CA:
Video: Russian 2 on 1 for beginners.
Note:
You use a thumbed grip (thumb up).
Your inside or proximal arm should be in the arm pit, up on their shoulder- not on their middle of their bicep or near their elbow.
The distal arm on their wrist, palm up, under their wrist.
Pulling their arm across your chest.
Also, note how to establish proper head position- your head into their neck.
If their arm that is pulled across your chest breaks your center plane, we will go into a reverse Kimura or a keylock, to maintain the hold.
TeachMeGrappling again:
Video: Easy Takedown with a 2 on 1 Keylock.
Although there are myriad techniques from here including fireman's carry (kata guruma in judo), zangief roll ("key lock throw"), inside trip (ouchi gari in Judo), sumi gaeshi (similar to Zangief roll), Hip throws (o goshi), ankle picks, inner thigh throw (uchi mata in Judo), and foot sweeps. For now, if we cannot just go around the opponent from the Russian, we will focus on the following series:
Look for 1) a single leg and if the leg is already back or opponent pulls back, 2) transition into a snap down:
Video: Russian Panda's 2 on 1 takedowns.
Note how you push and pull to get the opponent moving and you want to transfer their weight to their far leg to make the leg you are attacking light. As always, you maintain proper stance and head position. Also note how Coach Anton keeps in constant contact with the arm that is in the Russian. He uses the mat as "additional arm" to secure the opponent when he snaps down from the Russian. If you feel the arm breaking your center plane, do the snap down from the reverse kimura or key lock.
Video: Here is World and Olympic Champion Amit Elor demonstrating.
Imagine yourself shoveling the arm and opponent into the space that was created by their leg being back.
If you want to go down the Rabbit Hole on the Russian 2 on 1, here is one of the GOATs, Sergey Beloglasov, a 6x World Champion and 2x Olympic Champion demonstrating. We also include a complete review from Ebed Jarrell of Iron Faith, and a review of PJ Duke's series also from Iron Faith. On aside, Sergey is considered one of the most technically perfect wrestlers to have ever lived. He currently coaches at Cliff Keen WC at the University of Michigan.
Video: Sergey (demonstrating on East Brunswick HS and Princeton University’s Trevor Lewis).
Video: Russian Tie, Iron Faith.
Video: PJ Duke Russian Tie review from Iron Faith:.
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2025-10-24: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Neutral Part 3-Wrestling from the Collar Tie (Sanderson/Taylor).
We will seek to establish a collar tie from the wrist engagement as we have demonstrated in the first 2 sessions. From the collar and wrist we will look for 2 particular techniques: 1) Inside Single and 2) Ankle Pick.
In fact, almost ALL of Cael Sanderson's offense was from establishing a collar tie with his right arm and engaging the opponent's wrist with his left hand. From there he uses the hand that is on the wrist- his left hand in his case- as the "shoot" or "ankle pick" hand.
Here is Cael in 2003 giving a clinic on the principles of his collar/wrist tie. He gets into his single leg attack in addition to the ankle pick, but focus on his movement and how he uses the collar tie and wrist to get to attacks.
Note the following on the Collar Tie:
1) When you engage the opponent, do NOT reach because then they can post and level change on you!
2) Instead have "alligator" or "T-Rex" (short) arms and keep your elbow close to your side and pointed down- if your elbow is flared out, your opponent can hit a slide by, duck under, or high-crotch on you- no good!
3) Bury your elbow into your opponent's sternum or chest, so your forearm acts as a block to prevent your opponent from being able to shoot on your legs.
4) Use that same arm's hand to cup the back of your opponent's neck or skull base, reach their far ear with your cup hand if you can, and snap or pull their head down - do it like you mean it..remember you're looking to take them out of position!
5) Be forehead to forehead. Don't go ear to ear.
6) Ultimately you want to move the opponent to create openings for attacks.
Video: Cael Sanderson Clinic.
Video: Cael Sanderson Clinic Part 2.
For the Inside Single:
Video: Cael Sanderson, inside single.
Note how you take an outside step and the hand that is on the wrist is shooting on the leg as you swoop behind with your head on the inside, bringing your collar tie arm/elbow down, and you collect both legs.
Now for the ankle pick:
1) From the collar, use your other hand to grab your opponent's wrist.
Note: The hand that is holding on to the wrist will be the hand that will do the "picking" or "shooting". So if you have the collar tie with your right arm, and you're grabbing your opponent's wrist with your left hand, it will be your left hand that will be attacking your opponent's right leg.
2) You will want to circle to the leg you will be attacking and continually be moving your feet! You'll hear us yelling, "hands and feet"- that's a cue to move your hands and feet while in your stance. That's just good practice.
3) You will look to move your opponent, taking them out of position, and getting the leg you want to attack to be there for the taking. You do this by using that collar/wrist tie and pushing, pulling, snapping, and making windshield wiper or circular movements with your feet.
4) Using the collar tie, pull your opponent's head down and across as if you're trying to get it to the ankle you're attacking. Or even better, think about bouncing it off the mat.
5) At the same time the hand that is on the wrist will grab behind your opponent's heel, aiming to have your pinky near the base of your opponents heel.
(#4 and #5 implies you will be making a level change)
6) Throw your opponents head using that collar tie as if you're throwing an axe or making a football first down signal.
Here is the grandmaster of ankle picks, undefeated 4x NCAA champion, 2004 Olympic champion (Athens), and current Head Coach of Penn State, Cael Sanderson demonstrating with former World Submission Grappling Champion, Ricky Lundell:
Video: Cael Sanderson, ankle pic.
Here is PSU’s 4x AA, 2x NCAA Champion, 3x World Champion, Olympic Gold medalist, and current Oklahoma State University Head Coach David Taylor (DT), a Cael Sanderson coached athlete, demonstrating his version. He uses a collar tie with a tricep instead of a wrist, but same principles. You'll notice, if the opponent lifts their head you can go into a double leg, single leg and not get buried and extended under your opponents hips, let alone be cross faced.
Video: David Taylor, ankle pick.
Here's a David Taylor ("DT") technique breakdown with real, live match footage. He's hitting this on national and world level competitors. Also, it doesn’t matter on which leg to attack. Attack the leg that is forward. If your opponent reacts in a way that the other leg is there- go for it, as DT often does:
Video: David Taylor, ankle pick study.
And Cael:
Video: Cael Sanderson, live hightlights.
Here is a nice breakdown of Cael’s system from Iron Faith:
Video: Cael Sanderson, Iron Faith breakdown.
Overall, both Cael and Taylor used their footwork and tie up as a gateway to get to the opponents leg. They'll attack the leg that is forward, "circling to it". Moreover, they may start with the ankle pick but transition to a double or single very quickly.
Next session we will review the Russian 2 on 1.
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2025-10-20: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Neutral Part 2.
In Part 1, we reviewed how we will make contact and use the opponent's wrist as a gateway to getting to the outside of our opponent, and attacking either leg or side, depending on the opponent's reaction. Later on we will use this point of contact to engage in a collar tie with the wrist.
Related, we will also demonstrate "2 hands to a wrist" to get to attacks and the use of an outside step arm drag to get the opponent's "flank" and around them.
First, "2 hands on a wrist" as demonstrated by 4x NCAA Champion, 4X Freestyle World Champion, and 2x Olympic Bronze Medalist Kyle Dake:
Video: Kyle Dake, "2 hands on a wrist".
What I like about engaging the wrist is that it forces you to keep your hands low and importantly prevents you from reaching up and out to your opponent's head without an agenda, which I see too many do. Going for the wrist this way enables you to not only attack, but also down block or defend your opponent's attack. However, Kyle correctly points out, as we have stressed already, when you grab an opponent's wrist, the opponent can also attack you. So, you have to "dictate the pace," which means you are "imposing your will" on the opponent, as opposed to just grabbing the opponent and not having a clue as to what to do next.
Moving on to the outside step arm drag, which was introduced in the Part 1 email, we watch NCAA and Freestyle World Champion Vito Arujau demonstrate:
Video: Armdrags from the Outside Step with Vito Arujau.
Notice you are not simply pulling your opponent into you. Instead you are pulling the opponent down, looking to get their hand(s) on the mat, while you pivot, taking an outside step, taking your right (left) shoulder into and behind their left (right) shoulder, getting hip to hip, so you are both facing the same way. Do not pull diagonally.
Given we are focusing on attacks that are initiating from a wrist, here is a Ebed Jarrell of Iron Faith Wrestling demonstrating the arm drag from an opponent's wrist. Note how he highlights the opponent can do similar attacks on you even when you are grabbing their wrist. In fact, a set up that is used is to bait your opponent into grabbing your wrist and then dragging them, or re-grabbing their wrist to do all the attacks we have shown. However, it you dictate the pace, you're in control. No matter the position, if you just hang out with no intent you will get yourself in trouble.
Video: Arm Drag From Wrist Control.
Here is Univ Michigan NCAA All-American and Freestyle World Champion Stevan Micic demonstrating with Ebed Jarrell:
Video: Arm Drag, Ebed Jarrell.
If you don't like to shoot, here is the arm drag some have called the Dagestani arm drag given Dagestan's prowess in combat sports:
Video: The Dagestani Drag - For those who hate to shoot.
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2025-10-15: Wrestling Pre-season Clinic: Neutral Part 1.
This is how we will engage and make contact to eventually get into our collar/wrist tie. Note the importance of maintaining stance and proper head position.
(Cary Kolat, PA legend, NCAA Champion, Olympian, World Medalist, current Naval Academy Head Coach):
Video: Kolat Head Hands Stance And Motion.
From wrist (even if opponent initially grabs your wrist) get to leg via a simple jab step. Note Parker's head position.
(Parker Keckeisen, NCAA Champ, US Nat Team Member)
Video: Parker Keckesisen.
You attack leg, opponent steps back! Ok, no problem, go to other side.
(Keckeisen again)
Video: Parker Keckesisen, video 2.
Or, from initial wrist grab, just attack opposite side to start.
Video: Keckeisen on "Pritzlaff Single".
Outside Step Arm Drag: Vito Arujau (NCAA, World Champion) demonstrates.
Note the importance of bringing your shoulder to opponent's same side shoulder (your right to his left or vice versa), getting hip to hip, as opposed to moving diagonally. Additionally, you are seeking to get the opponent's hand(s) to the mat:
Video: Amrdrags from the outside step with Vito Arujau.
Here Rei Higuchi, Japan's World and Olympic Champion, has his technique broken down as he uses the outside drag to get to leg attacks:
Video: Rei Higuchi Arm Drag.
From above you can see skills that can be chained together and will enable you to properly engage opponent and attack both sides, as you go around your opponent.
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2025-10-14: Introductory email.
Hello Parents & wrestlers,
In this clinic we'll focus on skill acquisition. After all, wrestling is a game and it should be thought as one. As in all games, there are teachable skills and frameworks.
It's my opinion, too many times it seems kids don't have a process as to what they're trying to do in a match. They fight hard, no doubt, but they instinctively reach and grab opponent, taking themselves out of position, and seemingly revert to instincts, which often are not ideal. I see this across all sports.
So, we will develop a framework for what we're trying to do out on the mat. That way techniques make sense as to why we do them and how they can flow with one another.
We'll look to chain a few techniques from our feet, a few from the top position, and a few from the bottom.
From feet, we will focus on head and hands positioning and moving our feet while we maintain stance.
Our philosophy on our feet is that we want to get around our opponent. How?
To do this, we will learn how to operate from an opponent's wrist, engage in a collar/wrist tie, and implement arm drags and the Russian 2 on 1.
On bottom, our philosophy is that we want to get to our feet. We'll introduce a quad pod standup and will learn a switch, looking to chain these techniques.
On top, our philosophy is to flatten out the opponent, breaking him down from his base. We will learn a tight waist/near arm breakdown and a spiral ride. We will review the Clemson Roll (roll through tilt), half nelson, cross face cradle (far side cradle), and ball & chain. Importantly we will look to chain some of these together depending on opponent's reaction.
I'll look to post videos of the techniques so they can be reviewed outside of clinic.
Wrestlers we will study include Cael Sanderson, David Taylor, Vito Arujau, Rei Higuchi, PJ Duke, Wade Schalles, John Smith, Ben & Max Askren, Parker Keckeisen, Sergei Beloglasov and Cary Kolat.
Lastly, although wrestling is a physically and mentally demanding sport, it should be fun. If it isn't, we're doing it wrong.
I feel too often we make too many sports a grind, especially wrestling, and believe if something isn't grueling we're doing something wrong.
I certainly believed that growing up - if I was having fun, I wasn't working hard enough. Every workout in every sport or gym session had to end in exhaustion or close to failure or I wasn't maximizing my growth potential. Wrong. Making something miserable doesn't make you better at it.
We can be held accountable, work hard, but enjoy the process.
Adam
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