I’m not sure at all whether this is the right name for this ladies wrestling hold, but since we already have a “legspread” on this site, I’ll have to differentiate somehow, because the hold I’m about to describe is a different one indeed. The reason I decided to include “British” in its name is that I mostly see the British ladies apply this hold, and obviously it originates from Britain.

The attacker and the victim sit on the mat/floor facing each other. The attacker placer her feet on the inside of her victim’s legs and starts spreading them. Because she has her feet on the insides of the victim’s legs, spreading her own legs at a smaller angle will cause her victim’s legs to be forcefully spread at a much larger angle, causing tons of discomfort.

Some ladies will further increase the spread by breaking the hold and by placing their feet on the inside of one of the victim’s legs and hands on the other leg to increase the pressure too.

Efficiency: given the fact that I have never seen a girl actually submit to this hold, I’ll have to say the British legspread is a move designed to weaken the legs rather than to bring about a decision.

Possible escape: escaping this legspread hold is relatively easy. The victim can use her arms (which remain free through the hold) to lift her bottom off the mat and to pull her entire body backward, thus annulling the pressure applied by the attacker. Sometimes I suppose though the pressure and the pain can be just too much to even attempt escaping this way.