Glossary

The words the study pages use, in a sentence or two each. Where a word means something different in different rooms, this is the meaning it has here. The rules primer covers the words that belong to a rulebook.

Base: The position of the feet, hips and hands that lets a wrestler move in any direction and absorb a push. Every study on this site starts and ends in one.
Stance: A base for standing wrestling. Staggered puts one foot ahead; square puts the feet level. Both bend at the knees and hips and carry the hands in front.
Level change: Lowering the hips by bending the legs, keeping the back flat and the head up. The first half of every leg attack and of every sprawl.
Penetration step: The step that takes the lead foot in under an opponent's hips after a level change, driving off the rear leg with the chest over the lead knee.
Shot: An attempt to take an opponent's legs, usually starting with a level change and a penetration step. Single leg, double leg and high crotch are shots.
Single leg: A shot that takes one leg, with the head to the outside of it and the hands at the knee.
Double leg: A shot that takes both legs, with the head to one side and the hands behind both knees, finished by driving the hips through.
High crotch: A shot that takes one leg high, with the inside hand at the hip rather than the knee and the head up and outside.
Finish: The part of a takedown after the legs are taken, when the opponent is brought to the mat. Not shown on this site: every finish needs a partner and a coach.
Sprawl: The first defence against a shot: the hips go down and back, the legs go behind, the hands post or press, the head stays up.
Down block: A smaller defence than the sprawl: the hips go back and the hands drop to block at knee height before an attack gets deep.
Go behind: Circling around a stopped shot to end up behind the shooter. The sprawl and spin study is the shape of it.
Front headlock: A control position over an opponent whose head is down, with the arms cinched around the head and one arm, the hips back and the chest over.
Snap down: Pulling an opponent's head down and forward, using the drop of the hips rather than the arms, usually from a tie.
Tie: A hand position on an opponent that gives control: a collar tie on the neck, an inside tie on the arm, an underhook under the arm, and so on.
Collar tie: A tie with the hand cupping the back of the neck and the forearm resting on the collarbone.
Inside tie: A tie with the hand on the inside of the opponent's upper arm, controlling the arm from the inside.
Underhook: An arm placed under an opponent's arm with the hand on the back or shoulder blade. Not shown as a study.
Overhook: An arm placed over an opponent's arm, wrapping it. The whizzer is an overhook used with the hips turned in.
Whizzer: An overhook with the hips turned in toward it and the level dropped, used to stop a shot or a lift.
Hand fighting: The exchange of ties before an attack: reaching for inside position with one hand while the other guards.
Inside position: Having the hands and forearms inside the opponent's, closer to the centre. The advantage in most ties.
Duck under: An attack from a tie: change level, step past the line, dip the head under the opponent's arm and come up behind or at an angle.
Referee's position: The starting position for wrestling on the mat: the bottom wrestler on hands and knees, the top wrestler beside and over them.
Bottom: The wrestler under control on the mat, whose job is to escape or reverse.
Top: The wrestler in control on the mat, whose job is to ride, turn or pin.
Sit-out: A bottom movement: the hips drop and turn as one leg shoots through to the front, ending seated with a hand posted behind.
Hip heist: A bottom movement from a seated position: post, lift the hips, bring the under leg through and turn over into a base facing the other way.
Stand-up: A bottom escape that gets to the feet: post, lift the hips, clear a leg back, stand into a stance with the post released last.
Post: A hand or foot placed on the mat to support weight. The posting hand in the stand-up and the sit-out is the base of the movement.
Bridge: Lifting the hips off the mat with the back arched, supported by the feet and shoulders in the version taught here. A neck bridge loads the head and is not shown.
Mat return: Bringing an opponent who has stood up back down to the mat, usually with a hip lift. The hip lift shape is shown; the return is not.
Hip lift: Driving the hips forward and up to lift an opponent whose hips are controlled. Shown as a solo shape only.
Circle: Moving around the centre of the mat with short steps, keeping the base and facing the centre.
Stagger: The fore-and-aft distance between the feet in a staggered stance.
Width: The side-to-side distance between the feet in a stance. It should not close during a step.
Chain: Two or more movements drilled in the order they happen in a match, so the transitions get rehearsed as well as the shapes.
Phase: One of the four segments each study is divided into on this site, each with its own cue.
Cue: A short instruction that names the one thing to attend to in a phase.
Fault: A common way a shape goes wrong, and what it looks like when it does. Each study lists three.
Passivity zone: The one metre band inside the edge of a competition mat's circle. In the international rules, wrestling in it is restricted.
Central circle: The one metre circle at the centre of a competition mat where bouts start.
Folkstyle: The style wrestled in American schools and colleges, scored for control and riding as well as takedowns.
Freestyle: One of the two international styles, scored mostly for takedowns and exposure, with the legs allowed in attacks.
Greco-Roman: The other international style, in which attacks below the waist and using the legs are not allowed.

45 terms. Missing one? It is probably a word that belongs to your style's rulebook or your room, and your coach is the right person to ask.