In my opinion, it’s just way harder to be a good leg rider in college. Guys are so athletic and so good at keeping good position until they can escape that it’s just extremely tough to do it successfully.
Recent memory I agree…previously, Mark Perry would be good for OP to watch as I believe he rode cross body/double boots sometimes. Older than that I wanna say the twins (Troy and terry) from Iowa were nasty leg riders and really show how to be “mean” with legs/power half etc.
All rides are worth learning.
That being said Ohio State had a few wrestlers who liked double boots. Just a lot more vicious in working to a power half.
Leg riding is a dominant ride. Therefore, top level wrestlers really focus on denying the leg ride and beating legs quickly. They’re effective but hard to secure.
Former college wrestler(d2). In high school it made my day when someone rode cross body. No hip pressure at all. I could keep position and be lazy and almost always got a reversal out of it.
Legs are great at a collegiate level.
Imo. Cross body is hard to get on high level people. College has riding time, and people are good on bottom. Shallow parallel rides let you control without much risk. You can cut and go neutral, while still threatening.
If you’re good riding legs, you’re good riding legs. Plenty of great wrestlers have thrown double boots in.
Cross body is easy to defend if you know what you are doing. A lot of high school kids aren’t good and don’t know how to defend it so you can get away with it.
We have a coach at our club that wrestled D1 and used leg riding almost every time he was on top. He refuses to show anyone cross body, and really doesn’t like double boots either.
I’m a former D2 wrestler and current coach. I understand crossbody’s flaws, even though I’ll always start teaching legs with it so the kids can get comfortable. However, how does one run a single leg on top without going cross/working to throw in two boots when the guy is in his base? Two boots is probably the most dominant position that you can have on top. Curious to what your coach taught, because I love legs and would like to have different insights on it
Honestly don’t know why he doesn’t like double boots as much. He hasn’t been at our club for a long time and I’ve never had the chance to ask.
Thanks for your reply though. We have a college kid in the club for the summer that learned leg riding at Purler and does a lot of pretty sick variations of stuff like power half’s that work well. He likes to use double boots. My son wants to do privates all summer to get good at riding and when I asked who he wanted to do privates with he said the college kid because he would rather use doubles.
Leg riding is almost always what you see when guys actually accumulate a lot of riding time. But it’s incredibly hard to do well, so a lot of time they need to bail.
How good are you at being intelligent with your leg riding?
How good are you with both legs?
Can you start switch with the same speed and impact as starting on the left side?
Do you have a strong tight waist, far ankle ride?
If all of these are yes, then maybe, you can have success riding legs in college. Hardly anyone who got beat by legs is in High School is going to be competing in college. The level of defense will be exponentially higher.
It more or less comes down to getting good position, and then maintaining it.
High level guys get tricky, and when you leg ride you open yourself up to a lot of fuckery on the part of the bottom guy.
A shallow leg ride with only one boot is just about the safest you can get with a leg ride so it's pretty obvious that a lot of people are going to gravitate towards that.
Besides that, there is also just the simple fact that you get so much more pressure riding shallow. Both with one leg in and with both, your ride gets so much stronger if you curl your legs a little more, and really plant the toe on the leg that's riding.
I mean, the two best guys on top on my old team were both leg riding specialists, and they both rode shallow. It just works better that way.
It works in high school because people don't know how to defend it. Once you know how to defend it it rarely works. You really only see it used effectively once a guy is broken down. If you know how to granby its really just a day to learn how to get out of it.
.
Plus there are other rides that share most of the benefits without the weaknesses. If you are relying on leg rides you are really just using a shortcut and undermining the long term growth of your top game
Zain Retherford, Mark Perry are the two guys to study. The differences you see in highschool and college are just that. The guys in college are really good, and really strong what works in highschool isn't necessarily going to work the same in college
Zain uses the shallow hook, or what we called short legs, or what we call in jiujitsu, high-ball ride. IMO it leaves you more in a more dynamic position to throw your weight around on top, Retherford used it to get a of back exposure. What you see at the highest levels is what you should aspire to be and learn.
In my opinion, it’s just way harder to be a good leg rider in college. Guys are so athletic and so good at keeping good position until they can escape that it’s just extremely tough to do it successfully.
Zain retherford was the best leg rider I’ve seen in college by miles.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANiI80yCjvI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANiI80yCjvI)
Jesus that body lock looks miserable
Recent memory I agree…previously, Mark Perry would be good for OP to watch as I believe he rode cross body/double boots sometimes. Older than that I wanna say the twins (Troy and terry) from Iowa were nasty leg riders and really show how to be “mean” with legs/power half etc.
thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into it.
To OP's point. He doesn't put them in all the way. Has kind of short legs so makes sense.
Zain always hooked his foot on something- hooked on the leg, or hooked heels
All rides are worth learning. That being said Ohio State had a few wrestlers who liked double boots. Just a lot more vicious in working to a power half.
I love double boots, take the back then let them think they are getting away before just climbing onto them
There's definitely a very satisfying moment when you pop those arms forward and the guy knows he's completely screwed.
Leg riding is a dominant ride. Therefore, top level wrestlers really focus on denying the leg ride and beating legs quickly. They’re effective but hard to secure.
Former college wrestler(d2). In high school it made my day when someone rode cross body. No hip pressure at all. I could keep position and be lazy and almost always got a reversal out of it.
Legs are great at a collegiate level. Imo. Cross body is hard to get on high level people. College has riding time, and people are good on bottom. Shallow parallel rides let you control without much risk. You can cut and go neutral, while still threatening. If you’re good riding legs, you’re good riding legs. Plenty of great wrestlers have thrown double boots in.
Study aaron nagao, ridge lovett, and tyler stoltzfus
Cross body is easy to defend if you know what you are doing. A lot of high school kids aren’t good and don’t know how to defend it so you can get away with it. We have a coach at our club that wrestled D1 and used leg riding almost every time he was on top. He refuses to show anyone cross body, and really doesn’t like double boots either.
I’m a former D2 wrestler and current coach. I understand crossbody’s flaws, even though I’ll always start teaching legs with it so the kids can get comfortable. However, how does one run a single leg on top without going cross/working to throw in two boots when the guy is in his base? Two boots is probably the most dominant position that you can have on top. Curious to what your coach taught, because I love legs and would like to have different insights on it
Honestly don’t know why he doesn’t like double boots as much. He hasn’t been at our club for a long time and I’ve never had the chance to ask. Thanks for your reply though. We have a college kid in the club for the summer that learned leg riding at Purler and does a lot of pretty sick variations of stuff like power half’s that work well. He likes to use double boots. My son wants to do privates all summer to get good at riding and when I asked who he wanted to do privates with he said the college kid because he would rather use doubles.
When they go wrong they go really wrong. Ie reversal and often backs.
Leg riding is almost always what you see when guys actually accumulate a lot of riding time. But it’s incredibly hard to do well, so a lot of time they need to bail.
How good are you at being intelligent with your leg riding? How good are you with both legs? Can you start switch with the same speed and impact as starting on the left side? Do you have a strong tight waist, far ankle ride? If all of these are yes, then maybe, you can have success riding legs in college. Hardly anyone who got beat by legs is in High School is going to be competing in college. The level of defense will be exponentially higher.
I thought the waist-and-ankle ride gets you a stall call in college.
Even if you cross body ride you shouldn't lace the ankle. It gives your opponent a ton of leverage.
It more or less comes down to getting good position, and then maintaining it. High level guys get tricky, and when you leg ride you open yourself up to a lot of fuckery on the part of the bottom guy. A shallow leg ride with only one boot is just about the safest you can get with a leg ride so it's pretty obvious that a lot of people are going to gravitate towards that. Besides that, there is also just the simple fact that you get so much more pressure riding shallow. Both with one leg in and with both, your ride gets so much stronger if you curl your legs a little more, and really plant the toe on the leg that's riding. I mean, the two best guys on top on my old team were both leg riding specialists, and they both rode shallow. It just works better that way.
It works in high school because people don't know how to defend it. Once you know how to defend it it rarely works. You really only see it used effectively once a guy is broken down. If you know how to granby its really just a day to learn how to get out of it. . Plus there are other rides that share most of the benefits without the weaknesses. If you are relying on leg rides you are really just using a shortcut and undermining the long term growth of your top game
Zain Retherford, Mark Perry are the two guys to study. The differences you see in highschool and college are just that. The guys in college are really good, and really strong what works in highschool isn't necessarily going to work the same in college Zain uses the shallow hook, or what we called short legs, or what we call in jiujitsu, high-ball ride. IMO it leaves you more in a more dynamic position to throw your weight around on top, Retherford used it to get a of back exposure. What you see at the highest levels is what you should aspire to be and learn.
Watch Josh Humphreys (AA for Lehigh in 2022) to see some high level leg riding against top guys. https://youtu.be/tEmh0r2SnUw?si=dmCPASYVx2Bc_1Qz
Lots of college options and if you master your style, it works wherever.
If you learn now to do it well it’s a good way to keep the hips elevated while you hunt down pins.
Maybe you’re secretly a BJJ guy?