#18: Cross-Body Ride (One Leg In)

This series is the introduction to leg riding in general and is the first version of legs that Red Hawk began teaching back in the 90’s.

Leg riding is tricky in itself, and many quit on it way before they have built up enough experience to get proficient. It does not matter what body type you have, every wrestler can ride legs, and often the best do.

The best advice if you want to be a leg rider? Do not give up on it. The biggest hurdle is being able to keep your hips up. We'll go more in detail when we go over the parallel leg ride, as this is where leg riding evolved to and where it is most dangerous to the bottom wrestler.

This is the series that put Red Hawk on the map as being good on top. We highly recommend you teach this series before moving onto parallel leg riding. They both complement each other very well and you will use them in tandem.

  • Leg In (Opponent On His Base)

    You will be on top, your right leg will go in between his legs from the right side of his body, your foot will lace around his leg near the ankle. The one downside is that this anchors your hips to that side, so it's extremely important to keep your weight across his body, leaning to the far side. If your hips should fall to the mat to the right you’ll be in a lot of trouble, so do your best to keep your hips up at all times.

    To make it easier to keep your hips up, grab his left ankle with your left hand and hook his left arm with your right from underneath his chest. This will anchor you to the far side, making the situation a little more stable and giving you time to try some of the moves.

  • Leg In (Opponent Is Flat)

    You can flatten him out by pulling his left ankle out to the side with your hand or your left foot. It might be less awkward to do this with your foot, leaving both of your arms available to control other things. This sometimes will create a potentially dangerous position causing the referee to stop the match, but usually it’s fine. This motion rotates his knee and pushes his left hip down to the mat, forcing the rest of his body to follow. It’s a good idea to figure-four the right leg so he cannot get your leg out easily. That might also make it easier to apply hip pressure while you arch your back. Hip pressure is very important with leg riding, whether you have one leg in or two.

  • Defense

    Whats the best leg defense? Well, don’t let the legs in of course. Otherwise, you don’t have much time to take action before an experienced leg rider will have everything tied up and controlled and you’ll be hoping for a stalling or stalemate call while you’re trying to fight going to your back. Do these moves quickly, else the period will waste away and you’ll be a lot more tired, regardless of whether you give up points or not.

    Note: A lot of these moves are irrelevant if the top wrestler has his feet locked up or has a figure four on your leg. If that’s the case, your best bet is to force a Crab Ride and get out while defending that instead.