Upper Body Takedowns For Wrestling by Adam Wheeler

What Will You Learn?

American folkstyle is so focused on the mat work and leg attacks that it’s easy to forget sometimes how quickly a throw can change a match. You can learn some of the most effective and complete upper-body wrestling sequences in the sport with this new 2-volume instructional series from 2008 Beijing Greco-Roman Bronze Medalist, Adam Wheeler. Adam is one of the most successful American Greco wrestlers ever, and he’s here teaching every detail on his go-to attacks.

Adam wasn’t always the accomplished athlete he is today. After not winning a match his first year on the mat, he decided something needed to change and started approaching his takedowns a lot more carefully and scientifically. After a lot of time and practice, he finally started discovering something he liked. Then, he found another. And another. They all worked together, making a chain wrestling system that gave him an answer for every counter.

Soon, he was hitting them all the time, and using them against some of the best wrestlers around. He took “The Wheeler Special” all the way to the 2008 Olympics, nabbing a bronze for USA Greco, the last American to bring home a medal from the Games in that sport. Now, the formula that turned a winless freshman into a world-class wrestler is here in full, with Adam showing the unique ways that he approaches his takedowns and exactly how these throws work perfectly for folkstyle and freestyle too.

Every match starts with a tie-up and a good upper body wrestler is always fighting for underhooks and overhooks, pummeling their arms for control to set up their throws and snap downs. A *great* Greco guy (like Adam) is able to take that concept and break down exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it, so that others can learn from his experience. He’s a wealth of knowledge, always giving little adjustments that lead to big results, like why pummeling the top of the head is better than grabbing around the neck, or why a high bodylock is always better than a bearhug. His series’ are high-percentage, low risk, and proven on the senior level.

Every wrestler has times when they need to score points fast, but too often they don’t really have the experience going upper body, where all the best feet-to-back threats are. See those important details on Adam’s 2-volume set, especially from a double unders bearhug. It’s not as simple as overpowering someone, it’s leverage and positioning that you need to get everything out of such a strong position. With just a few simple adjustments, turn that bodylock into a head-and-arm pinch that gives you a whole new series of attacks to choose from. Every move in this instructional works together, so that you are never risking yourself as you work through your moves.

No matter your skill level or style, these are moves that can work for you. Adam’s Wheeler Special, the throw that brought him to the Olympic Games and then took him to the podium, uses your body weight and position for power, instead of strength or speed, making it an easy-to-learn technique for everyone willing to spend a little time working it. Whether you are a takedown-focused wrestler or more of a mat wrestler, adding a throw to your arsenal can come in handy again and again throughout your wrestling career.

Wrestling as a sport has been around since the earliest days of athletics, so it is pretty rare to be an innovator in the game, but that just shows you how outside the box this whole series is. From normal pummeling and over-under ties, you can take an opponent from a false sense of security to throw to the mat before they know what happened. Even the Olympians he competed were left scratching their heads at what just happened! With just some small adjustments from the over-under 50/50 tie-up, you go from an even position to the first link in the chain. No matter where they go, there’s a solution, each one ending with you in great position, out of danger and ready to keep creating opportunities to score.

So What's On This Series?

Give Yourself A Big 6-Point Move With The Signature Wheeler Special Combo From American Greco Great Adam Wheeler

The Wheeler 2-on-1 is a way to tie up and control someone that can change your whole strategy around tie ups. Like any great chain wrestling system, as soon as Adam gets to his offense, he has an answer no matter where you go, starting with his patented Wheeler Special, a combination arm drag/hip toss that he uses constantly. If they turn left or right, he has answers for that, following the momentum to big head and arm throws and body locks. If they try to back away, he has his own personal style of snap downs, and if they let him, he grips and rips a whip throw that turns gravity into your own personal tag team partner. This is a takedown hack, a small position that has enormous results once you understand the power you have there.

Understanding the concept of pummeling, fighting a hand through resistance so you can control someone better, is enormous in wrestling. Winning that tie up and being able to create action from there can win or lose a lot of matches. Across this instructional set, see the pummeling and throwing warm-up drills that Wheeler uses every day so that he’s always ready to get his position right, and build a skill that will help you through the rest of your season and beyond.

This kind of 6-point ability can help you blow a match wide open in folkstyle, but throwing is a fundamental skill at the Olympic styles of freestyle and Greco-Roman. If you have offseason tournaments and clubs that you want to excel at, finding a way to go feet-to-back will take you far! Adam’s the last American to medal at Greco in the Olympics, making him a great resource on all the subtleties behind getting the grip and popping your hips for those amplitude moves.

See How Adam Wheeler Went From JV to Olympic Medalist With A Tactical, Technical Series Of Tie Ups And Throws

So What Does It All Cost?   

Well, that depends, what is it worth to learn how to implement world class upper body takedowns in your wrestling?

An upper body takedown can make or break a match

We could have easily charged $77

But we're not going to do that

Instead, cut that price by almost 50%

Get Adam Wheeler's  set for just 

$37