finishing snap down

So I get the idea that this does not come up a whole lot in wrestling for whatever reason. but when I do submission wrestling, fairly often I mange to snap someone down enough to get my arm over their head, but not enough to get them to their knees. should I just leap back and try to yank them down? attack their legs somehow?

use that snapdown to put them in a front headlock.. choke them out and strech them out with the front headlock, move and get behind.

Chris, you're on the right track with "should I just leap back.." If you want to use a snap down to actually take someone down (instead of just using it as a set up) you have to hit sort of a "sprawling snap-down."

Try this: pressure into the guy, when you feel him push back into you, SNAP with all your might as you sprawl your legs out. Quickly circle behind. Like this... (give it a minute to let it fully load the animated .gif)

http://www.themat.com/technique/snapdowns/angleone.gif

If you want to use the snap down as a takedown, you CANNOT just use your arms. Your arms aren't strong enough. Remember this: if you want to move your opponent's whole body, you have to move YOUR whole body to do it. Snapping with just your arms can be useful in working set-ups and hand-fighting, but hit a sprawling snapdown to actually get a takedown. Note: even if you don't actually get the takedown, a good hard snap will be a great set-up for any follow-up attacks - such as a front headlock, like Todd mentioned.

MMA!, I try not to, but sometimes it happens. What I consider to be the "ideal" sprawling snapdown is to snap his head into the ground, landing on my toes, and supporting my upper body with my hands/elbows/or shoulder in his upper back as I spin behind.

But... sometimes you'll end up hitting your knees, it's not really a big deal. It's just that you are quicker and more mobile from your feet than you are from your knees.

littlewrestler, I cannot picture what you're talking about. How did my opponent get his arm on my leg? The worst case scenario of trying to use a snapdown as a takedown is that I snap his head and he doesn't go down - I'm not in a bad position.

Sure, it's a low percentage takedown, but it's also very low risk. If the snap down is turning out to be a high risk takedown for someone, then there's something they're not doing correctly.

Take a look at the following animated .gif's from themat.com - they're all very "safe" - as in, the offensive guy will not be in a bad position if the snapdown doesn't actually "work". But keep in mind that even if the snap doesn't score a takedown, it'll still take the man out of position and open up other opportunities.

http://www.themat.com/technique/snapdowns/circletoarmchop.gif

http://www.themat.com/ted/brandssnapdowns/snapdown.gif

http://www.themat.com/technique/snapdowns/Frontheadnoarmcontrol.gif

http://www.themat.com/technique/snapdowns/Elbowtrapped.gif

http://www.themat.com/technique/snapdowns/angletwo.gif

The above are all great images to illustrate a good snapdown takedown. (Give 'em a few seconds to load.)

Guys any good video tapes that deal with snap downs?

I think Tom Brands has a snap down tape.

todd,

very nice.....

Brands should, his snap down is EVIL.