@Josh Barnett
Is there any book you could recommend about the principles of Catch and its techniques?
Surfing Amazon, I've singled out the following and I'd like to know what you think (I live in Spain so I don't have access to the whole Amazon catalogue):
- Wrestling: Catch-as-Catch-Can Style by E. Hitchcock, a reprint of a 1854 book.
- Say Uncle! (the title is looong) by Jake Shannon.
- The Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture - Grappling, Wrestling, Submission by Martin "Farmer" Burns.
Thank you in advance.
Hitchcock's book (The book was published 1912 he was born 1854) is pretty cool lots of submissionholds and counters. Farmers books is a classic also. I personally like a book named "Wrestling intercollegiate and Olympic" from 1939 by Henry Stone. The history section is good and in techiques there are a lot of mat-wrestling manuvers and effective "catch-submissions". Also "a naval aviation training manual - wrestling" is awesome. I would go with those two if I had to learn Catch from a book. Fortynately I have had a change to learn it in Snake Pit Wigan.
You might also be intersted in the online learning program of Jon Strickland whos lineage gos back to Farmer Burns. Check out http://americanhookwrestling.com/