wrestling
Wrestling is a grappling art focused on taking opponents to the ground, controlling their movement, and securing pins. It belongs to the broader category of strength sports and draws on physical conditioning, body mechanics, and positional awareness. Training centers on executing takedowns to bring an opponent off their feet, maintaining control of their body once grounded, and applying pins that restrict their ability to move or escape. No single origin is recorded for wrestling as a whole, as comparable grappling practices have appeared across many cultures independently throughout history.
Training in grappling arts of this type generally emphasizes close-contact physical engagement, balance, and leverage. Practitioners develop the muscular strength and coordination needed to off-balance an opponent, secure holds, and maintain dominant positions. Conditioning, grip strength, and body positioning are recurring elements of practice, alongside the ability to transition fluidly between offensive and defensive situations on the feet and on the ground.
Wrestling encompasses a wide range of sub-styles, each covered in dedicated sections below. These include Alysh, amateur wrestling, beach wrestling, belt wrestling, Boli Khela, Cornish wrestling, folk wrestling, gouren, Karakucak, and Kazakh wrestling, each representing a distinct ruleset, regional tradition, or structural approach to competitive and traditional grappling practice.
Styles & branches of wrestling
Alysh
Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Kyrgyz belt wrestling Wikipedia →
amateur wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
umbrella for Olympic/scholastic wrestling codes Wikipedia →
beach wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
UWW sand-circle takedown ruleset Wikipedia →
belt wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: amateur wrestling
rule family: fixed belt grip throws Wikipedia →
Boli Khela
Origin: Bangladesh · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Bengali folk wrestling of Chittagong Wikipedia →
Cornish wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
jacket wrestling for back-flat throws Wikipedia →
folk wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
umbrella for traditional regional wrestling codes Wikipedia →
gouren
Origin: France (Brittany) · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Breton jacket wrestling Wikipedia →
Karakucak
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
Turkish ground 'black soil' wrestling Wikipedia →
Kazakh wrestling
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
qazaq küresi jacket wrestling Wikipedia →
Khuresh
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
Tuvan folk wrestling Wikipedia →
Luta Livre
Origin: Brazil · Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
Brazilian no-gi submission wrestling Wikipedia →
Lutte Traditionnelle
Origin: West Africa (regional) · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
West African sand-pit wrestling circuit Wikipedia →
Malakhra
Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
Sindhi waistband wrestling Wikipedia →
Malla-yuddha
Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
ancient Indian wrestling Wikipedia →
Mukna
Origin: India · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Manipuri folk wrestling Wikipedia →
Naban
Origin: Myanmar · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Burmese traditional wrestling Wikipedia →
Nuba fighting
Origin: Sudan · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Sudanese Nuba mountain wrestling traditions Wikipedia →
Shuai jiao
Origin: China · Type: Grappling · Lineage: wrestling
Chinese jacket wrestling: fast throws Wikipedia →
Tegumi
Origin: Japan (Okinawa) · Type: Grappling · Lineage: folk wrestling
Okinawan folk wrestling, karate precursor Wikipedia →
Gear to expect. Grappling training typically calls for a gi or no-gi rashguard, and quality mats for home drilling — your school will tell you exactly what, and when. New students rarely need to buy anything for a trial class.
Find your martial art →Related grappling styles
Classification and facts from our open-data taxonomy (Wikidata CC0 base + our editorial classification). Where a fact (like origin) isn't recorded, we leave it out rather than guess. Methodology.