Alright, so today was all about getting that whizzer dialed in. Seriously, I’ve been getting caught with single legs way too often lately, and my defense felt like wet paper. So, I figured, no more excuses, time to actually put in the work on it.
Getting Started with the Basics
I dragged my usual training partner, Dave, onto the mats. Good guy, Dave, always willing to drill even the boring stuff. We started super slow. He’d give me a lazy single leg shot, and I’d just focus on the mechanics of slapping in that whizzer. You know, getting the arm deep, hooking over his shoulder, trying to get my hip into him. My old coach used to scream, “Elbow deep! Pressure down!” Sounds simple, right? Not so much when you’re actually trying to stop someone who wants to put you on your back.
We must have done that for a solid 20 minutes. Just the entry. Whizzer in, feel the pressure, reset. Whizzer in, try to circle, reset. My shoulder was already starting to talk to me a bit.
The Nitty-Gritty Details
Then we moved on to what I think is the hardest part for me: maintaining that pressure and actually using the whizzer effectively, not just having it there. It’s not just an arm move; you gotta use your whole body, drive that hip. I kept finding myself getting too high, and Dave would just switch off to a double or drive through me. Super frustrating.
- Focus point one: Keeping my hips lower than his. This was a game changer when I actually remembered to do it.
- Focus point two: Constant pressure. Not just holding, but actively driving and making him uncomfortable.
- Focus point three: Head position. Trying to get my head into his temple or neck area to help steer him.
There were definitely moments where I just got it all wrong. He’d slip under, or I’d lose my balance trying to put too much weight on it. Dave got a few “takedowns” even in the drill, which, you know, bruises the ego a bit, but that’s why we drill, right? To find those holes.
Adding Some Live Resistance
After a while, we started to add a bit more fight to it. He’d shoot, I’d whizzer, and then he’d actually try to finish the takedown, and I’d try to fight it off or look for a go-behind. This is where things got sweaty and a lot more tiring. Suddenly, all those little details we were drilling became ten times harder to remember.
I noticed that if I could time my whizzer well and immediately start circling and pressuring, I had a much better chance. If I was late, or lazy with it, forget about it. He was on my leg and finishing. It’s crazy how a split second makes all the difference.
We did a few rounds of this, maybe two-minute goes. My arm felt like lead by the end, and Dave was probably sick of shooting singles on me. But, hey, that’s practice.
What I Think I Learned (or Re-Learned)
So, what’s the takeaway? Well, my whizzer is definitely not perfect, not by a long shot. But it’s better than it was this morning. I realized just how much I neglect the fundamentals sometimes. Everyone wants to learn the fancy stuff, but if you can’t stop a basic single leg with a solid whizzer, what’s the point?
The biggest thing for me today was the hip pressure and the circling. When I got those two things working together, the whizzer felt strong. When I didn’t, it felt like I was just hanging on for dear life.
I’m gonna keep hammering this. Maybe next time, focus more on using the whizzer to set up my own offense, like a shuck-by or trying to limp arm out. It’s a grind, this wrestling thing. You fix one leak, and another one springs up. But today, I feel like I patched one up, at least a little bit. My shoulder might disagree tomorrow morning, though.
