Rafael, you raised a very interesting point when you told me that bench pressing shouldn’t be ignored in wrestling. I have been ignoring the bench press for a while because with my experiences I have found that very little upper body push strength is involved in wrestling. That’s why I’ve replaced the bench press with the row in my westside routine.
FootSoldier
I am not sure what Rafael was saying however I would not ignore bench as it is required to balance out push pull if you do not you are headed for a really bad shoulder injury.
i dont ignore bench pressing in my wrestling workout, i just dont give it as much attention as squat, deadlift, and back work. I dont think benching has a huge effect in wrestling, BUT if you were pumbling for position, it seems to me that you could be using the same chain of muscles as when benching. id almost make wrist excersises more important (try wrestling someone who you cant break from. . .its hell), but benching shouldnt be IGNORED. . .just given less priority. I dont really think benching gives much real world strength at all (unless your going to step in if teh car jack breaks). squating, deadlifting, and pullups though. . .theres some stuff to use.
-Ben