According to former NCAA wrestling champion Zack Esposito, "The goal of the bottom position is to get my hips underneath and my back and chest up." Esposito stresses being "light" on your hands if you're on the bottom. The top man is trying to do the opposite - he is trying to put weight on the bottom man and make the bottom man "heavy" on his hands and unable to get his hips underneath and unable to bring his back and chest up.
Similarly, three-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Tom Brands states, "When I break my opponent down what I want to do is I want to get as much weight forward as I can. An essential on the bottom is the guy gets his hips back and his weight back into me and gets hand control. This is what he wants to do. When I'm on top I want to do just the opposite. When I'm breaking him down I'm hitting him hard with my hips and I'm hitting him hard with my arms and I'm hitting him hard with my legs and driving off my feet."
Back Pressure
Both of these exceptional wrestlers recognize that the top man is usually attempting to move you forward and put weight on your hands.
So the takeaway here is that, generally, when in the bottom position you want to think about getting your weight back and up. For instance, when doing a stand-up it's essential to create back pressure. You don't want to simply attempt to stand straight up without pressuring back into your opponent a bit as well.
Creating Space
When performing a switch or a sit-out you are generally trying to create some space between your hips and the top man's body. So, the hip-heist is a basic skill you need in the bottom position.
Even though you may use back pressure at the beginning of a stand-up, you may then use hand control and a hip-heist motion to create space so you can turn in and face your opponent.
Hand Fighting
You want to keep your elbows in. Your opponent may try to tie up your hands and wrists. He may grab your ankles. You need to be able to hand fight and peel his hands off when needed.
Base Position
If the top man does break you down then you need to keep your head up and attempt to get your hips off the mat and get back to your base.
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