The Ryssis Training Method

What Is It

My niece loves wrestling, and I love wrestling with her. I’ve been trying to nudge her technique in a very eco dynamics way, while heavily prioritizing fun.

So far I haven’t explicitly told her about any positions, goals, or techniques. My nudges are almost exclusively in the following formats:

• I’m going to (move myself in some manner)

• I’m going to (move her in some way)

• I’m going to trap your (some part of her body)

Her ultimate goal varies between

• Taking a north-south style head-control, then demanding another person attack while I am immobilized (street rules in effect)

A submission she describes as the “Judo Stomp”

I’ve occasionally used variations of this approach with adult grapplers:

• narrating what I’m doing and why

  • this is hard to keep up with during a roll, both because situations change faster than I can articulate them, and because its not always clear to me why I’m doing what I’m doing

• making comments like “well, if you do that, I’m screwed”, “I have to make sure not to let you do that again”

  • sometimes these comments include references to specific grips or movements, but I prefer to leave it more vague when I can.

When working with friends, I sometimes wrap this in a layer of “shit-talking”, obscuring its educational nature with humor.