Is it better to explode as soon as the whistle blows and get hand control or fight hands once your up or is it better to stay down for a few seconds and get hand control and come up?

The reason I ask is because my dad taught me to explode up and get hands as you start to explode and cut away, touch the mat when you're clear. But yesterday I was working out with my HS coach, and he didn't like the way I was doing my stand ups. He told me to stay on bottom for a few seconds, bring both elbows back, palms down so they couldn't get inside, and even told me to put my head down for a few seconds while I fought hands and then come up. My other coach taught me the same way my dad did, but I just don't like this new way, but if it's better, then I'll start using it.

And, if the head down, hand control, come up method is better than how do you break someone down who does that? When I wrestle my coach I feel like I can't do anything and end up coming over the arms and he escapes, how do I beat this?

I call the second method, the one your coach told you, the "armadillo method". Basically, you put your head down on the mat, shell up, seal off, and don't let him get any control on you. Then, you can work on your stand ups and other moves to escape. National finalist and long time UNC head coach Bill Lam preached this method, so obviously it works. Is it a bad method? No. I wouldn't call it better than the other (immediate action). But both are valid strategies.

As far as my opinion, I've always felt that bottom is about creating motion and being able to chain together moves in such a way that your opponent can't follow you. If you're sitting there with your head and weight on the mat, you're obviously not creating any motion. And while you're sitting there, even though you've sealed off and he can't get inside, all of his weight is still on top of you. I feel like it's very hard to create that motion and come up after he's already had time to put all of his pressure and weight on top of you. Instead, why let him have the chance to do that? Stand-up off the whistle while sealing off at the same time, get your hand control, cut away. If the stand up doesn't work, chain it into something else. I never like to stop moving on bottom.

I guess that I believe in the theory of constant motion on bottom, and when you're sitting down there letting him get his pressure and weight on top of you, it goes against that. However, it IS a valid tactic. Your coach isn't wrong by any means. I feel that, if you prefer standing up on the whistle, your coach should be fine with that. If you grow to like the armadillo method, then use it.

Really I always looked at it as what you're better at as a wrestler. At Oklahoma State they are firm believers in strings of explosive stand ups, which I try to impart on most wrestlers I train. But guys like me are better at say an armadillo method, or my favorite is a slow build-up to a tripod to a stand up. IloveSATS covered it so well I don't what more to say

I went ahead and put defenses in another post so I didn't clutter up the first one.

As for defenses to the armadillo method, there are two that come to my mind off the top of my head - one basic, the other a little bit trickier.

Imagine you're hitting a tight waist and chop. Now, imagine you're hitting a tight waist and chop - without the tight waist or the chop. Confusing, right? But hear me out. Since he's balled up and sealed off, you can't rely on your tight waist or your chop. When you hit a tight waist and chop, you want to be up on your toes and driving him forward, right? This puts pressure and weight on him, alongside driving him forward and stopping his motion. Do the same thing here - drive into him and keep your weight on him with your toes. You have to rely on your body, your weight, and your feet to drive him forward instead of the tight waist and chop. One of the keys to this is having your knee driving into his butt. This will help to drive him forward and flatten him out. When you're putting this pressure and forward motion on him, it will begin to create openings for traditional rides - wrist, claw, half, etc.

Now, this sounds simple, but it can be tricky. A mistake many wrestlers make when driving with their feet and applying pressure is getting too high on the opponent. This makes it easy for their opponent to shake them off and get their escape. It sounds like this may be happening to you. Honestly, there's not a whole lot that I can "explain" that will help with this. It's really more of a feel thing that comes from wrestling live. The only real tips I can give you is to make sure that your weight is settled, and that while you want to be driving him forward and putting your weight on him, you also don't want to overextend yourself and get too high on his body.

The other method I described isn't so much tricky to do, but very tricky to describe, so I'm gonna use a few visual aids. It has to do with your starting position from the top. I'm going to assume that you line up as a right handed person normally would - if you're left handed, just do the opposite hand. When somebody lines up and puts their hand on their opponent's elbow, they normally drape their four fingers over the front of their opponent's elbow, and have their thumb behind the elbow. For example: http://oi54.tinypic.com/2lbcrhu.jpg

However, there's a trick called the "reverse grip" that basically allows you to beat your opponent inside every time. With this grip, you have your four fingers draped behind their elbow, and the thumb in front, like so: http://oi53.tinypic.com/349468h.jpg

This grip will allow you to quickly pull your hand up and snag an underhook on his shoulder before he can seal you off. I 100% guarantee that, with this grip, you should be able to beat your opponent to the inside before he can seal you off. While he may still ball up, you now have inside control on that side, which can lead into a spiral, claw, and other rides like that.

Hope I helped.