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Other/Mixed Strength and Conditioning Tips for Wrestling

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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xagunos

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I'm 16 and compete in wrestling at a high level and would like to get some opinions on strength and conditioning. Physical strength and conditioning have never been my strongest suit while technique made up for that. Right now my strength program consists of Zercher Squats, Bench Press, Weighted Pull-ups and Kettlebell Swings (do my best to fit in 3-5 days of strength training a week). Practices are also fairly hard. Any general strength and conditioning tips for wrestling?
 
Cut back on the gym man. 2x week full body no conditioning. Your sport will take care of that. Strength should be the focus in these years. Build a big base of absolute strength and let your coach do wgat he does. If you train 5x week you will burn out. You can't ride two horses.
 
Please refer to an excellent article written by Master SFG Peter Lakatos - Strength Coach For Carlson Gracie Hungary, Gives Some Solid Strength Training Advice For BJJ Players

Another must read article by Peter - Strength Fixes Everything

Stina Albihn, SFG Team Leader, coaches wrestlers in Sweeden, you may contact her, I am sure she will be happy to help with advice

Easy Strength by Pavel and Dan John is a must read - I am just reading it for like 30th time. It features many excellent tips and programs from world class combat sport coaches.
 
Alex, former Olympic wrestling champion Buddy Lee has a great book on advanced jump roping. The jump rope can be your one stop shop for wrestling conditioning. In addition to the obvious cardio benefits, it develops incredible hand and foot reaction speed, especially as you progress. Buddy attributes a lot of his success in wrestling to the jump rope. Pick up his book.

 
 
Alex i wrestled in high school and college in my younger years.I would first make sure you can go three periods without gassing.I have seen many matches won in the third period because on of the guys was totally tired.So your conditioning should be first right now IMO.Strength is something that should of been attained in the off season and you try to maintain during the season.I agree with Eric to cut your lifting to two days a week and split your work up.It is much more difficult to build up your strength while your expending yourself at practices.Remember more is not always better especially if you have hard wrestling practices and conditioning work.
 
I agree with the advice on less days of lifting.  Build your strength slowly and surely.  If you overwork and build fatigue and get injured that is a big setback compared to the marginal strength gains you can get by lifting 5 days a week.  If you want to use your time for wresting consider watching wrestling tapes, doing more slow skill work, and visualization work.
 
are you kidding me? sf is kb at first ;)  i cannot fully agree with absolute strength training. it needs defferent programming and also different almost everything - food, rest etc. so imho you can't sacrifice stamina, endurance and some "special" strength which is useful for wrestling. also you can't lost dexterity. better no weightlifting than a lot. bodyweight exercises at first. for relative strength, flexibility and endurance. gymnastics besides usual wrestling practice is also good for flexibility, endurance and to improve control of body movement. for strength and speed and explosive power use kettlebells. you can add medicine ball, clubs, hammer and bag. turkish wrestlers use heavy (like man) bags and it's very good for strength which you can use directly in fight. also tree and rope climbing. for very useful strengthening use any kind of isometric training. you can't use power and strength without strong grip and endurance of arms and shoulders. also core strength (and neck) should be priority to avoid that oponent "break" you in any situation. i think traditional training with longer series or in circles with constant tension is very useful for wrestling which is very demanding for endurance and/in tension. without endurance you will be quickly tired and your strength (and speed) goes away. if you want to be inspired try to find some videos of old schools like indians, turkish, sumo etc. like this:

<a title="hindu strength training" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0NLilpx1l4">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0NLilpx1l4</a>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ1h8ANVCOs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14EcZebDDEk it will bring you into world of tons of videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZZKjZpWac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbC6X_JyE1s

 

 

 

 

 
 
I'm glad lonely fighter pointed this out. Some of the legends of wrestling didn't lift heavy weights. They became stronger by wrestling more, and doing light weight and body weight exercises to failure. You can still get farmer burns (one man who had a huge influence on the current shape of American wrestling) wrestling course for free online by searching for his name. He has his wrestling specific exercise program, much of which you probably haven't seen before, which he used to make champion wrestlers.

If you actually want to get stronger and better conditioned for wrestling, you could do a lot worse than listening to successful wrestlers.
 
I would disagree with a lot of the above. In my experience, a 3-5 day a week pttp, ES, or S&S type program works exceptionally well for grapplers of all sorts. Especially when it comes to injury prevention. I'm also very much of the camp that your conditioning should come first and foremost from practicing your sport; it can be supplemented with other modalities, but the practice of the sport, especially a sport with a high degree of skill like wrestling, is primary, imho.

I also can't believe I'm the first to mention the getup; it is a phenomenal exercise, and if I had to pick only one exercise for someone in a grappling sport, that would be the one.
 
About the getup, most of it is just a string of very common wrestling moves. The thing is, since I don't wrestle or do jujitsu any more, I use it as a way to get in touch with the defining sport of my youth. But for a current wrestler, the hand placement, lines of gravity, and the lines of force are different from what you actually do. You're better off wearing a weighted vest and using monster bands to go through complexes that simulate a string of wrestling moves.

 

Also, about just increasing brute force using a simple program like pttp, I lifted weights every day before practice 5 days a week (a lot of guys did, many of them in a way more similar to what you're proposing.). From various Olympic champions we've had, I don't think it's necessary. But what you said about conditioning, I agree with 100%. Get more, then, get more. Also practicing being under tension for 2 min through rack holds, waiter walks, and farmers walks is a very smart use of weights and has been highly beneficial to me personally.
 
Sorry, I agree with lonely fighters comments on conditioning, I don't disagree with your comments Jason, rather I can't think of any wrestlers or boxers for that matter that didn't do road work for conditioning (by that I mean running, jump roping, etc...).
 
Hello, I have a very athletic 12 year old, 105lbs boy that has being wrestling for 5 years. The most weight he is cut is 3lbs since he started wrestling..I want him big and strong:). I need some advice though.. Right now he is practicing wrestling 5x a week and sometimes wrestling tournaments on weekends (does a youth wrestler really needs to practice 5x a week during wrestling season)?....he also does 2 boxing privates one hour each 2x a week and works out 2x a week(doing plyometrics like shaking the rope, jumping on and off boxes, pushing a sled, arm curls, squats, trx rope, lunges, etc, etc...). Does he needs to workout during wrestling season? I know it will be better to do boxing in off season but he still wants to do it right now..however his main sport is wrestling..the only reason we do boxing privates is because that's the only way he will find time to do striking. I don't want him to get burn out... By the way he eats very good and healthy and also gets at least 8hrs or more of sleep every night and he is a straight A student.. 7th grader.
 
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