The Best Takedowns For Tall Wrestlers

Anyone who had wrestled will know that being tall is not an advantage. This is confirmed when you’re facing an opponent of a stocky build with a very low center of gravity.

Being taller than your opponent can actually be a disadvantage. This is particularly true if you don’t know the correct strategy for taking down smaller opposition. One main reason for this is that your opponent’s knees and head are closer to the mat than yours. As such, a smaller wrestler is able to move faster into a shot for a double or single-leg takedown. Whilst this advantage may seem minimal, if you both shot at exactly the same time, you would be beaten to the punch due to the shorter distance.

Due to this fact, taller wrestlers have to use their brains and think about ways in which to take short wrestlers down. Brute force and outworking your opponent will only get you so far before tactics and overall strategy start to take over.

Snapdowns & Clinching

It should go without saying that some of the best entries into takedowns for tall wrestlers are from the clinch position. By removing some of the distance between yourself and the opposing wrestler, they can no longer perform such explosive movements and beat you in a battle of speed.

Being taller in a clinch means that it is going to be easier for you to snap your opponent down into a front lock head position. Conversely, the opposing wrestler (if shorter), will have to move your own head downwards a much larger distance than you will theirs. Therefore you should be getting opponents in a front headlock position a lot more than they get you.

Front Headlock Options

Once in the front headlock position, there are quite a few options to consider. If your opponent has their knees on the mat, spinning to the back is always a good choice and doesn’t really matter how tall you are.

If the opponent remains standing, leg trips are also a decent choice. As a taller wrestler, you will likely have long legs. These can be used to trip the opponent whilst maintaining the front headlock position.

Double Leg Takedowns

The double leg takedown is thought of as an explosive takedown which is set up by gauging the distance of your opponent with a head tap prior to shooting. This is all true but is set up a little differently for a taller wrestler.

Either a single hand or Thai style clinch is needed on the back of the opponent’s head. After pulling them forwards, inevitably they will posture upright – which is when a taller man should strike. As the opponent is moving backward and upwards, a double leg shot is relatively easy at this point. The fact that the opposing wrestler is already moving in the desired direction negates much of the height disadvantage that you started with.

Arm Drag To Inside Trip

A technique often used by bigger guys in judo. The inside trip can actually be used by wrestlers of any height, but certainly helps a little more if you have longer legs.

As shown in the video below, the setup is pretty simple and is initiated by first going for a standard arm drag. Note that this can also be performed in a very similar way to a regular snapdown.

From here, the opposing wrestler will move their near leg backward and distribute their body weight in an awkward way. At this point, an inside trip is relatively easy since the opponent is unbalanced with their front leg in a vulnerable position. Being taller makes this technique easier to finish since you can lunge at a larger distance and secure the takedown much easier than a smaller person.

Use Of Underhooks

Underhooks are crucial in all grappling based martial arts. Wrestlers know that getting underhooks on an opponent is the difference between winning and losing, especially if you are able to get 2 at once.

The key and important factor when using an underhook against a smaller opponent is getting in deep enough and straightening your body up. Your height alone should be enough to off balance them and open up single legs, as well as trips. When a smaller wrestler gets an underhook on a taller wrestler, they must instead lean their bodyweight in to the underhook in order to off balance the opponent. This is not really a disadvantage, but a very different way of doing things based on height. Put simply, the entries into an underhook may be the same, but once there the body positioning will be slightly different.

Summary

Overall, wrestling against shorter opponents must be done on your own terms. As soon as you start playing a wrestling game based on their game plan, you will lose more often than not.

The best takedowns for taller wrestlers are based on having a strategic game plan which is designed to play into the hands of a tall person.

Short against tall is not a matchup in which one person has an inherent advantage. Of course, there could be 2 completely different styles, but the winner is going to be the person who makes the other play the wrong style for their own body type.

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