A Pennsylvania state champion won a title basically because he had a great sprawl, could hand fight with anybody, and nobody could hold him down.
Not because he had a flashy single leg. Not because he threw big headlocks.
Because he mastered his stance and motion wrestling fundamentals before anything else.
My buddy Jon Trenge, a 3x NCAA All-American, teaches stance and hand fighting FIRST. Not shots. Not takedowns. The foundation. And it works at the highest level.
This guide breaks down exactly how Trenge builds wrestlers from the ground up: proper stance, how to move in it, five drills you can run today, and the mistakes that get beginners taken down.
What Stance and Motion Actually Means
Here's the simplest definition of wrestling stance you'll ever hear: chest over thigh.
That's it. That's the checkpoint every coach uses.
But "stance and motion" actually means two things in wrestling. It's a position AND a drill.
The position is your wrestling stance: staggered or square, knees bent, weight on the balls of your feet, hands up and ready. You've got three main types. Staggered stance with one foot forward (most common). Square stance with feet even. And one-knee stance for specific situations on the mat.
The drill is what every wrestling room in the country runs at the start of practice. Jon Trenge describes how he runs it:
"I usually have everyone line up and face the front of the room. And I'll pick a leader or two leaders to come up in the front and the kids will section off in front of that leader and they'll follow that person."
The leader calls out movements. Left, right, forward, back. Down blocks. Sprawls. Shots. Fakes. Everyone mirrors. About one minute at a time.
That drill teaches you to stay in your stance while doing EVERYTHING wrestling asks of you. It's not a warm-up. It's the single most important drill in the sport.
How to Set Up a Proper Wrestling Stance
Most beginners get told "get in your stance" and have no idea what that actually means. Here's how Trenge builds it from the feet up.
Feet first. Most wrestlers are right-handed, so they lead with their right foot. Put your dominant foot forward, slightly staggered. Feet about shoulder-width apart. This isn't a deep lunge. It's athletic and ready.
Bend at the knees and waist. This is where your power comes from. You want that chest-over-thigh position. Not standing straight up. Not bent so low you can't move. Think athletic ready position, like a linebacker reading the play.
Weight on the balls of your feet. Not your heels. The moment your weight shifts to your heels, you're dead. You can't sprawl. You can't shoot. You can't react to anything. Stay on the balls of your feet and keep a slight bounce.
Hands up, elbows in. Your hands should be in front of you, ready to engage. Elbows tucked tight to your body. Leaving your elbows out is like leaving the front door open.
Head position is everything. This is where most wrestlers get it wrong. Trenge is very specific about this: you want your forehead in your opponent's temple. NOT head-to-head.
"I always hated this position because I'm stuck. I can't get to his legs. His arms are in the way. He's pinching my head like a grape."
That head-to-head position, what Trenge calls the "cauliflower ear" position, is a stalemate. Neither wrestler has an advantage. Push the opponent's head into yours, back your head out, and get your forehead into his temple. Now you control the tie-up.
Moving Your Opponent Without Losing Position
Here's something beginners get wrong every single time.
They grab their opponent and try to muscle them around with their arms. It doesn't work. Trenge puts it bluntly:
"If he's in his stance and I grab onto him and I try to move him, he's not going to move a whole lot. What's going to happen is I'm going to get off balance."
The fix is counterintuitive. You move your opponent with your HIPS, not your arms.
Get your inside ties. Circle. Drop your level just a little. Then pull at the very end of that circle. Your body mass, concentrated around your hips, creates a whipping motion that moves your opponent way more than your arms ever could.
Trenge describes it like steering a bus. One hand pushes, the other pulls. And you move your butt in the OPPOSITE direction you want your opponent to go. That's what creates the whip.
"My arms didn't do that. If I tried to do that with my arms, it would look like this. It wouldn't move. If I use my legs, I can really whip him around in a circle."
This connects directly to your takedown setups. Every shot in wrestling starts with creating an angle or a reaction from stance. Hip-driven motion is how you create both.
Why Defense Should Come Before Offense
Most coaches teach shots first. Trenge thinks that's backwards.
"I see a lot of coaches teach kids single legs, high crotches, and double legs first. And those are extremely hard moves to hit for a new wrestler. When they take that shot, there's a really good likelihood that the other opponent is gonna sprawl and score on them, and it's gonna defeat that wrestler."
His approach: build the shield before you teach the sword.
The order matters. Hand fighting first. Sprawling second. Stand-ups third. THEN offense.
Once a wrestler can hand fight, sprawl on every shot, and escape from bottom, they can't get pinned. They can't get taken down. They can stay in EVERY match.
Trenge says a wrestler who masters those three skills can "effectively beat like 90% of the high school kids in the country." That's before learning a single attack.
The sprawl is particularly connected to stance. Same bent knees. Same weight on the balls of your feet. When a shot comes, your legs kick down and away. Not up. Trenge calls the upward sprawl a "parachute sprawl" and says it's one of the most common mistakes he sees.
"Why jump up in the air when the guy's shooting at your legs? You want to get your legs down and away as fast as possible."
Hips straight to the mat. Chest and head up. That's the stance paying off.
5 Stance and Motion Drills You Can Run Today
These drills come straight from Trenge's practice room. Every one of them builds your stance and motion from a different angle.
1. The Mirror Drill
Line up facing a leader. The leader moves in their stance: left, right, forward, back. They mix in sprawls, down blocks, level changes, and shot fakes. Everyone mirrors. Run one-minute rounds. This is the classic stance and motion drill that every wrestling room uses and it teaches you to maintain position while reacting to movement.
2. The Knee Tap Game
Two wrestlers face off. One wrestler tries to touch the other's knees by lowering their level and penetrating. The defender practices down blocks at the wrist and kicking their leg back. Do one turn each, then go live where both attack and defend simultaneously.
"It's teaching him to level change. It's teaching him to penetrate. It's helping them see how easily they can get in there and reach the guy's leg. And it's showing them how to be offensive and counter offensive at the same time."
This one feels like a game, not a grind. That's on purpose.
3. Quick Ties Clearing
Partners face each other in stance. One wrestler reaches for ties. The other clears them instantly. The whole point is timing: the best moment to clear a tie is right as the opponent makes contact. Not after they sink in.
Once both wrestlers get the rhythm, you'll see arm drags, duck unders, Russian ties, and sweep singles showing up naturally.
4. Cowboy and Brahma Bull
One wrestler stays on hands and knees (the bull). The other tries to get behind them (the cowboy). The bull uses only head movement and hip motion to stay square. The cowboy uses lateral motion, misdirection, and fakes.
Trenge says this drill works for every age group: "This is very good for young kids but it works great for high school and college kids too." It teaches the fundamental concept of staying square to your opponent while someone is actively trying to get an angle.
5. Solo Shadow Wrestling
No partner? No problem. Practice your stance and motion against an imaginary opponent. Move left, right, forward, back. Mix in level changes, shot fakes, sprawls, and down blocks. Focus on keeping your stance fundamentals solid through every transition.
This is the beauty of stance and motion. It's one of the few wrestling skills you can drill completely alone.
Common Stance Mistakes That Get You Taken Down
Standing too tall. If you're upright, you've got a high center of gravity. Every single leg and double leg in the world is easier to hit on someone standing straight up. Get your chest over your thigh.
Weight on your heels. The moment your weight shifts backward, you lose your ability to react. You can't sprawl, you can't shoot, you can't change direction. Stay on the balls of your feet.
Head-to-head stalemate. That cauliflower-ear position where both wrestlers' heads are crammed together? Neither wrestler has an advantage. Fight to get your forehead in your opponent's temple. That small adjustment controls the entire tie-up.
Using arms to move your opponent. You'll gas out your arms and get off-balance. Your hips are the engine. Circle, drop level, then pull at the end.
Learning offense before defense. This isn't a technique mistake. It's a training mistake. If you can't defend a shot from your stance, learning to shoot is putting the cart before the horse. Build the shield first.