BEGIN HERE
Your stance decides what is available
Knee bend, hip position and where your weight sits determine which attacks you can reach and which ones your opponent can take.
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POSITION FIRST
Every score starts with position.
Stance, hand fighting, leg attacks and mat work — the details that decide whether an attack finishes, explained plainly.
A technique-first wrestling guide: stance, hand fighting, leg attacks, mat wrestling and competition explained in the order a coach introduces them, with the details that decide whether an attack finishes.
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Featured guides
Stance & Motion
Beginner
Stance and Motion: The Foundation of Every Attack
Your stance sets the ceiling for every attack and every defense. Build one that stays low, stays balanced, and still lets you move in any direction.
Stance & Motion
Intermediate
Hand Fighting and Ties
Matches are decided in the hands long before anyone shoots. Learn the ties that create inside position and the grip breaks that get it back.
Takedowns & Attacks
Beginner
The Double Leg: Penetration, Drive, and Finish
The double leg is the first attack most wrestlers learn and the one most often finished badly. Distance, head position, and drive decide the outcome.
Takedowns & Attacks
Beginner
The Single Leg and Its Finishes
A single leg gives you control of one limb and several ways to finish. The hard part is keeping the leg where you first trapped it.
Takedowns & Attacks
Intermediate
The High Crotch
The high crotch attacks from the inside and sets up lifts, corner finishes, and a clean switch to the double when the opponent defends.
Defense & Counters
Beginner
Sprawling and Front Headlock Defense
Defending the legs starts before the shot arrives. Hips back, hands active, and a front headlock waiting for whoever gets their head too low.
Defense & Counters
Advanced
Re-Attacks: Turning a Stuffed Shot Into a Score
A stopped attack is not a failed attack. The wrestlers who score most are the ones who already know what the second and third moves are.
Mat Wrestling & Riding
Intermediate
Riding, Breakdowns, and Control on Top
Riding is about where your weight sits, not how hard you squeeze. Break the base first, keep your hips heavy, and stay in a position that leads to a turn.
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Every category, every guide
THE BASE
Stance & Motion
Stance, level change and footwork — the shape you hold and the way you move before anyone has made contact.
Stance & Motion
Beginner
Stance and Motion: The Foundation of Every Attack
Your stance sets the ceiling for every attack and every defense. Build one that stays low, stays balanced, and still lets you move in any direction.
Stance & Motion
Intermediate
Hand Fighting and Ties
Matches are decided in the hands long before anyone shoots. Learn the ties that create inside position and the grip breaks that get it back.
GOING IN
Takedowns & Attacks
Doubles, singles and high crotches: entries, penetration, and the finishes that turn a good shot into points.
Takedowns & Attacks
Beginner
The Double Leg: Penetration, Drive, and Finish
The double leg is the first attack most wrestlers learn and the one most often finished badly. Distance, head position, and drive decide the outcome.
Takedowns & Attacks
Beginner
The Single Leg and Its Finishes
A single leg gives you control of one limb and several ways to finish. The hard part is keeping the leg where you first trapped it.
Takedowns & Attacks
Intermediate
The High Crotch
The high crotch attacks from the inside and sets up lifts, corner finishes, and a clean switch to the double when the opponent defends.
STAYING ON YOUR FEET
Defense & Counters
Sprawls, front headlocks and the re-attacks that turn a stopped shot into an attack of your own.
Defense & Counters
Beginner
Sprawling and Front Headlock Defense
Defending the legs starts before the shot arrives. Hips back, hands active, and a front headlock waiting for whoever gets their head too low.
Defense & Counters
Advanced
Re-Attacks: Turning a Stuffed Shot Into a Score
A stopped attack is not a failed attack. The wrestlers who score most are the ones who already know what the second and third moves are.
TOP CONTROL
Mat Wrestling & Riding
Breakdowns, rides and turns — how to hold control on top and convert that control into scoring instead of stalling.
Mat Wrestling & Riding
Intermediate
Riding, Breakdowns, and Control on Top
Riding is about where your weight sits, not how hard you squeeze. Break the base first, keep your hips heavy, and stay in a position that leads to a turn.
Mat Wrestling & Riding
Advanced
Turns and Tilts: Scoring From Top
Turning an opponent takes a lever and a block working together. Half nelsons, cradles and tilts all follow the same underlying logic.
GETTING OUT
Escapes & Reversals
Stand-ups, switches and sit-outs, plus the hand control that makes any of them work against a heavy rider.
THE SEASON
Competition & Weight
Style differences, weight class planning and the practical decisions that surround a match rather than the wrestling itself.
Competition & Weight
Beginner
Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco Compared
The three main wrestling styles share a foundation and diverge on what scores. Knowing the differences changes how you attack, defend and finish.
Competition & Weight
Intermediate
Weight Management for Wrestlers
Making weight should be a planning problem, not an emergency. Healthy wrestlers pick a class they can hold while eating, drinking and training normally.
If you are new
Your first months on the mat
A sequence that introduces skills in the order they depend on each other. Move to the next stage when the current one holds up in live wrestling, not when the calendar says so.
1
Weeks 1–2
Position and motion
Build a stance that survives pressure and learn to move without crossing your feet. Add the sprawl immediately, because leg defense is what makes early live wrestling safe.
2
Weeks 3–4
Contact and control
Spend real time in ties. Inside position, grip breaks and the habit of keeping your head up are what make every later attack possible.
3
Weeks 4–8
The first leg attacks
Learn the double and the single properly, then the high crotch as the inside version of the same idea. Drill the finishes more often than the entries.
Useful next
Practical resources
ROOM WORK
What a beginner actually needs
Wrestling shoes that fit, headgear that stays put, and a mouthguard if you wear braces. Nothing else changes how you wrestle.
FIRST STEPSTwo attacks, drilled properly
If you drill only two attacks this month, drill the double and the single, and spend more repetitions on the finishes.
SCORINGWhere close matches are decided
Top and bottom work settles more matches than most beginners expect. Every breakdown here is paired with the turn it leads to.
SAFETYSeason planning without the crash
Choose a weight class you can hold while eating and drinking normally, then let consistent training and time do the rest.
Questions
Common questions
How long does it take to get good at wrestling?
Basic competence in stance, a leg attack, a stand-up and a breakdown usually takes a season of consistent practice. Wrestling is a contact skill sport, so real progress is measured across years of live wrestling, but a beginner who drills position carefully becomes hard to score on surprisingly early.
Can I learn wrestling from written guides?
Written guides explain what a position is for, which details matter, and what usually goes wrong, which makes your practice time far more productive. They cannot see your hips or correct your timing. Use them alongside a qualified coach in a supervised room, especially before any live wrestling.
Which style should a beginner start with?
Start with whichever style your local room teaches, because coaching quality matters more than the ruleset. The fundamentals of stance, motion, hand fighting and level change transfer completely. Once those feel automatic, cross-training a second style tends to expose the habits your first style allowed you to hide.
Do I need to cut weight to compete?
No. Many wrestlers compete well at or near their everyday body weight, and any change of class should be planned across weeks with medical and school or federation supervision. Rapid fluid loss reduces performance and is genuinely dangerous. If making a class requires restricting food or water, the class is wrong.
WrestlingGuide.TV
Wrestling, explained the way it is taught in a good practice room.
A sequence that introduces skills in the order they depend on each other. Move to the next stage when the current one holds up in live wrestling, not when the calendar says so.