How to Leg Ride in Wrestling

In wrestling, after every period, and every break in action when the wrestlers are on the ground, wrestlers start in the referee's position, with one wrestler in a dominant position. It is the task of the top wrestler to control the bottom wrestler and prevent their escape, while working to put the bottom man on their back. Leg riding is a method that the top man can use to control his opponent and work toward pinning moves without breaking his opponent down to his belly.

Instructions

1. In the top position, hook one of your legs inside of your opponent's corresponding leg. That is, hook your right leg inside of their right leg, or vise versa. Your hamstring will rest on the inner side of his quadracep.

2. Sink your leg in so that your toes can hook around your opponent's calf, which secures the leg ride. In this position, you will be at a diagonal from your opponent, and will be able to ride higher than you would normally without fear of being rolled due to the anchor you have in hooking their lag.

3. Keep pressure across your opponent's body with your free leg. If you opponent tries to roll you, keep your leg hooked in and follow through their roll. From the leg riding position, you can work many different techniques to score back points or a pin, such as tilts, guillotine, banana split and power half nelson.

Tips & Warnings

• Leg riding gives puts the top wrestler in a powerful position, because the bottom man must usually dislodge the hooked leg before he can escape.

• Hooking both legs inside of your opponent is a double leg ride, which can be sued to exert pressure to flatten them out to their stomach, or as a stalling technique.