Over the years, there has been a lot of light on the Russian Wrist Snap, especially after the famous YouTube Wrestling video of the move being performed at the American Kickboxing Academy.
A truly amazing move to see, the Russian Wrist Snap when pulled off correctly, showcases a wrestler’s dominance over their opponent. That said, there is yet another variation of the famous Russian Wrist Snap that is not only easier to pull off but much lower risk as you are always in a safe position while performing the move, the move being called the Stieber Snap.
The US wrestling community started to call the move the Stieber Snap after seeing Logan Stieber pulling off the move constantly in wrestling competition but in fact Logan Stieber has shown this move many times to young wrestlers he has coached, Stieber calls the move a Cross Wrist Drag to Go-Behind. That said, the name the “Stieber Snap” has stayed and Logan Stieber’s variation is now know by the term.
Logan Stieber is a former Freestyle Wrestling World Champion as well as Pan American Champion as well as winning 4 individual NCAA D1 Wrestling titles in his collegiate wrestling career. Stieber is a true elite level wrestler and has pulled off the Stieber snap on the best wrestlers in the world.
How to do The Stieber Snap
Although it looks similar to the Russian Wrist Snap, the Stieber Snap is different in nature. It is a very simple move which is not overly complicated as well as offers very little risk to those performing it while also presenting high reward if pulled off correctly.
To perform the Stieber Snap, you first need to get a good solid cross wrist control on the opponent, this simply means you take your left hand and grab their left hand (can also be right hand to their right hand). A really good way to attain wrist control is to post on the opponent’s head thus getting a reaction from them grabbing your wrist and then work into cross wrist control from there.
Once you have cross wrist control, fake a leg grab and a jab step to the opposite side leg of the opponent’s arm you have a grip on. This means if you grab the opponent’s left arm you need to fake the leg grab to their right leg. By faking the leg attack, the opponent will be forced to move the leg backwards (a very common reaction, especially at higher levels of wrestling) thus removing one of their posts and being less balanced in their wrestling stance and having a weaker base.
Now that you have disturbed the opponents base, all you need to do is pull the opponent’s hand to the mat, turning your hip inwards while moving toward the back of your opponent. This movement is a bit similar to a slide-by in the fact you are trying to go around your opponent in one direction while twisting them the other direction to attain the back position.
Advantages of The Stieber Snap
The Advantages of the Stieber snap over the Russian Wrist snap is that when performing the Russian wrist snap, you need to get out of your normal wrestling stance/position when your head is way below your waist thus inviting a strong counter attack should you not pull the move correctly whereas when doing the Stiber Snap, should you fail in performing the technique successfully, you will still be in a good position to attack and defend from.
The Russian Wrist Snap also works off when the opponent goes to sprawl whereas the Stieber Snap works off when an opponent pulls their leg back in order defend the fake leg grab, thus creating more opportunities to enter the Stieber snap than the Russian Wrist snap as it is much more common to defend a leg grab by pulling one’s leg backwards than it is for an opponent to sprawl, especially at higher levels of wrestling competition.
In Conclusion
The Stieber Snap is an excellent wrestling technique to add to your wrestling game, it’s really easy to do is a low risk/high reward wrestling move that can surprise the opponent while not not endangering yourself from being in a bad position if the technique is not successful. The Stieber Snap truly is a great wrestling technique.
