Ask Cael: I’m comfortable on my feet and feel great on bottom. But I need something that will make me solid on top, should I learn to ride legs? What are some tips that will make me solid on top?

Story Published Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Question from J.  Bolduc: I’ve progressed so much in the past few years I’ve been wrestling. I’m comfortable on my feet and feel great on bottom. But I need something that will make me solid on top, should I learn to ride legs? What are some tips that will make me solid on top?

Cael: If it feels natural to you then absolutely learn to ride legs.  I don’t teach kids to ride legs but if they do ride legs we help them get better.  I would guess there are plenty of videos on line and information out there to teach leg riding.  Leg riding is about flexibility, hip strength and technique.

Two main tips to success on top are 1) keep pressure forward and 2) stay behind your opponents arms.

You keep pressure forward by driving off your toes and committing your hips to riding your opponent.  The best riders are committed to riding.  They aren’t just hoping to ride, they attack.  Space generally in wrestling is weakness so keep those hips tight.  Drive off your toes to keep the pressure forward.  You want to make your opponent carry your weight.  If you are on your knees, you are probably carrying your own weight.  When you keep pressure forward it forces your opponent’s weight on their hands and that keeps them on the mat.  Also to ride well you must control your opponents hips.  If your opponent can’t clear his hips to create some action, they will have a tough time escaping.  I would suggest a chop/ flank ride.

Staying behind your opponents arms is self explanatory but critically important.  It is a great advantage to be able to float back and forth between different rides as well.  For example, you start with a chop/flank and if you can’t break them down to their belly you switch to a spiral ride then back to the chop/flank etc.  there are a lot of option but if you can keep a lot of forward pressure and keep all the weight on your opponents hands and stay behind his arms it will be difficult for your opponent to escape.  After you learn to ride and break an opponent down, then you start learning tilts and turns.

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