Folkstyle Wrestling/Stance and Movement

Purpose: Having a good stance is one of the most important skills to have in wrestling. As you will learn, a good stance is vital to your success. Throughout the book, we will be referring back to your stance and movement, so make sure that you master it now. A good stance will allow you to both defend against an opponents attack and initiate your own offensive moves. The finer points of the stance will be decided by your wrestling style (which you should already be formulating, based on the information in the last chapter) but the basic stance remains the same. Your knee's should be bent (to varying degrees based on style), your head should be up (more on this in the next chapter), and your weight should be distributed evenly throughout your foot (more on this in the next chapter as well). You may think that your stance is supposed to be comfortable... It's not. In order for you to get the maximum amount of both offense and defense, you are going to have to stand in an uncomfortable position. Figuring out your ultimate wrestling strategy will be discussed near the end of the book, but for now it is best to master all the different stances, so as to keep your options open. The different choices that you have during your stance include: Staggered Stance Or Square Stance Straight Back or Curled Back Forward Lean or Regular Lean High Stance or Low Stance Fingers Forward or Palms Forward Let's go through all of these options in detail: Staggered or Square Stance Movement Don't Cross Feet Lead Leg Movement in Staggered Stance Forward Lean Versus Regular, Movement Changes