Wrestling Thread

I compete in judo and bjj. I really like using sandbags as well when lifting.

I’ve also been doing lots of calisthenic and med ball circuits while wearing a 20-40 lb weight vest.

Brian Jones
KAGI Sports, Inc.

I’m a wrestling coach, if there’s any I can contribute I’d be happy to! Currently I’ve got my wrestlers doing Dan John’s "conga line’ workout.

Our wrestling team is doing a modified westside program… Is there any truth to strength maintenance= more sprint work and less long distance,or would you say we will see better effects of distance training on the mat ??

Wrestling matches are only 6 minutes long. You need to train like you wrestle - balls-out and anaerobically. I think sprints do more for my athletes than any type of endurance training. I’ve watched them doing 2 mile runs and bleachers, and then 15 minutes of my on-mat conditioning, and the running for distance is MUCH easier on them.

So I say definately sprint, but mix it up. HIIT on the track, with the jumprope, live wrestling, etc. Preferably lots of sandbag training/carrying while sprinting as well.

I agree with the 6 minutes of work. I have been doing complex training with all of my grapplers and have had great results. Each set takes about 2 minutes so it fits in great with the periods of wresting matches

seeing as how there are weight divisions in wrestling, wrestlers might find it bebficial to perform various lifts for max repetitions with the heaviest weight allowed in thier division. for example if you wrestle at 165, then hang cleans to near failure with 171(?) might be very beneficial.

There may be something in what you say but the theory is difficult to follow for the following reasons:

  1. For some using bodyweight on the bar will give rise to a few reps for strength for others it will be higher reps for endurance. As a general prescription the effect is likely to be uncertain.

  2. There is no direct comparison between weight lifted and your opponents weight. A deadlift of say 200lbs would not compare with lifting someone of that weight.

  3. I am not totally happy going to failure with high reps on some of the compound exercises.

On the other hand if you have practical experience that this approach is effective then I wait to hear more.

I think wrestling should take care of most of the conditioning in a wrestler’s program. No matter how much running you do, once you reach a certain point, it seems that only wrestling itself can increase your conditioning. I don’t think running should be completely eliminated, wrestling should just take a precedence. Bear in mind i’m not a scientist, i’m just speaking from experience. here are some conditioning programs you can do, that worked great in our room:

3 guys in a group, number off. first 30 sec #1 goes down and #2 on top, #3 watches. second, #2 goes down and #3 on top, 1 watches. continue like this, so the guy on top goes to bottom and then rests. The time can be increased as the wrestlers conditioning improves. Needless to say, all of it should be balls out.

1 min of sprinting at about 80%, 1 min of takedowns, 1 min of wrestling on bottom/top with a partner. Repeat once or twice. alternate your top/bottom positions.

12 minutes of jogging. every other minute sprinting. this can be done on its own or to add to the competitive spirit, you can add this on: everybody in the room find a partner. wrestle for a takedown. everybody who wins stays in, the losers are out. do this until there’s one left. (size/strength might play a factor in the last few rounds). This is a killer.

[quote]WhiteLable412 wrote:
Im thinking of wrestling this year for my school. I have never wrestled before and do not know any kind of moves.

what kind of things are you allowed to do to someone when you are wrestling? [/quote]

When I asked what your allowed to do, I meant can you put your opponent in any kind of joint lock, choke hold, sleeper hold, or any other type of submission technique? Pick them up and slam them into the mat?

Or must you pin the person to win the match?

No submission. All take-downs to the mat must be under control. You CANNOT pick the person up and drop them, you must have control over them through the entire motion. You can still take them down hard, but you have to be in control. You either
win by points or by pin.

[quote]Billmelater138 wrote:
I think wrestling should take care of most of the conditioning in a wrestler’s program. No matter how much running you do, once you reach a certain point, it seems that only wrestling itself can increase your conditioning. I don’t think running should be completely eliminated, wrestling should just take a precedence. Bear in mind i’m not a scientist, i’m just speaking from experience. here are some conditioning programs you can do, that worked great in our room:

3 guys in a group, number off. first 30 sec #1 goes down and #2 on top, #3 watches. second, #2 goes down and #3 on top, 1 watches. continue like this, so the guy on top goes to bottom and then rests. The time can be increased as the wrestlers conditioning improves. Needless to say, all of it should be balls out.

1 min of sprinting at about 80%, 1 min of takedowns, 1 min of wrestling on bottom/top with a partner. Repeat once or twice. alternate your top/bottom positions.

12 minutes of jogging. every other minute sprinting. this can be done on its own or to add to the competitive spirit, you can add this on: everybody in the room find a partner. wrestle for a takedown. everybody who wins stays in, the losers are out. do this until there’s one left. (size/strength might play a factor in the last few rounds). This is a killer.[/quote]

Wrestling technique work and conditioning should be seperated. You train technique to learn your moves well and do them more efficiently and expend less energy doing them and conditioning is to condition. Try to mix both and you may hurt technique. However, if yourwrestling live to simulate a match its ok. This advice I got from an Olympic gold medalist, Kendall Cross.

you should definately make an inner tube bag, like a sand bag but made from a tyre inner tube, get a big tyre tube and fill it with sand and sawdust, they are quite tall when tied up at both ends so you can practice takedowns on it and just general wrestling work. I particularly like it for MMA training. Apart from general strength work things like stair sprints, agility drills and duck walks all work for me plus burpees of course. I also think sandbag dragging is excellent, if i had to pick one exercise that i thought improved my all round strength it would be sandbag work.