Wrestling Drill: Stance and Motion

You can gain a foundation for success on the wrestling mat by working on the fundamentals of the sport.

Two of the most fundamental skills in wrestling are your stance and motion. A strong stance can help improve your offense and defense. Movement in your stance can help set up your offense and defend against an opponent’s attacks.

To work on both your stance and motion, you can add this drill to your practice.

“The stance and motion drill can help improve your stance, motion, sprawl, penetration step and re-attack skills,” Division I coach and former collegiate wrestler Kyle Borshoff says.

HOW TO

To do the stance and motion drill, start by moving in your stance. A coach or teammate can clap or use a whistle to signal when the wrestler should execute an action. Some of these actions can be:

• Shots
• Sprawls
• Down blocks
• Sprawl shot combo
• Down block shot combo

Besides your stance and motion, this drill can improve other fundamental wrestling skills. These skills include the penetration step, a technique used to set up different offensive attacks. It can also help boost your sprawl, a move used to shut down an opponent’s lower-body attack.

“This drill can be used to improve many of your basic wresting skills,” Borshoff says. “It can also be used for conditioning.”

Another drill to consider adding to practice is the leap frog. This exercise requires two wrestlers to complete. It can help boost your conditioning while also improving your shooting and pivoting skills.