A single leg trades power for options. You control one limb instead of two, which means the opponent can hop, whizzer, or fight your hands, but it also means you can attack from angles a double never reaches. The essential detail is height: a leg carried high against your chest with your posture upright is a scoring position, while the same leg allowed to slide toward your hips is a scramble you may lose.
Key points
- Trap the leg high against your chest with the knee above your own waistline, elbows squeezed so it cannot slide free.
- Your head goes outside the leg and against the ribs; a head that slips inside invites a sprawl straight onto your neck.
- Keep your posture upright once the leg is yours, because a bent-over single lets them snap your head toward the mat.
- Run the pipe by pulling the trapped ankle toward your hip while your shoulder drives across their standing leg.
- Against a hard whizzer, change direction to the far side or drop to a low single rather than standing and fighting the overhook.
Common mistakes
- Letting the leg slide down to your hip, which lets the opponent hop free, whizzer over the top, or score behind you.
- Standing with the leg and no plan, which gives the opponent time to grab your ankle, hop away, or start a scramble.
- Attacking the near leg with your head on the inside, which walks you directly into a front headlock and a go-behind.
Put it into practice
Leg height and finish circuit
- From a stationary partner, take the leg ten times and stand with it pinned high against your chest before releasing.
- Add the run-the-pipe finish for ten repetitions per side, pulling the ankle in as your shoulder drives across.
- Have your partner apply a light whizzer so you rehearse changing direction instead of standing still and fighting it.
- Finish with one minute of live wrestling that begins with the leg already in your hands.
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