The Art of Hand Fighting

Hand fighting is an essential wrestling skill. Two-time National Champion Mark Ironside shares drills for becoming an effective hand fighter and, in turn, a more dangerous wrestler on your feet.

Hand fighting is about moving your opponent so that you can set up your attacks. Coach Ironside takes a novel approach to the skill: He believes that a level of high intensity and complete domination must be maintained throughout the match. He stresses that wrestlers should set a fast pace and maintain it throughout the match.

Coach Ironside covers the basic strategy of hand fighting in the neutral position, such as not reaching, keeping elbows close, using heavy hands, applying constant pressure and immediately re-attacking. He demonstrates how to correctly close the gap when hand fighting, which maintains a good position and makes it easier to move an opponent.

He shares several drills for quickly improving positioning, including a push-pull drill that teaches wrestlers to move their hands and feet together. From these hand fighting techniques, Coach Ironside shows how to get and use four control ties, such as the 2-1, double inside tie and inside tie/wrist combination. He shows ways to control and clear these ties that will move your opponent. Each of these ties works together to create a potent offense that will exhaust your opponent. While demonstrating these ties, Coach Ironside also shows several takedowns.

Finally, Coach Ironside demonstrates how to drill hand fighting with a partner and how to clear a front head lock.

Don't just hand fight; use it to create an offense that cannot be beat! Let Mark Ironside show you how to enhance your hand fighting skills to score from the neutral position.

55 minutes. 2014.