T-minus 2 weeks until I begin my journey back to conpetitive wrestling, and I've got a question about strength training: Do I need to do it to be competitive? It was never explicitly reccomenddd at my old club - there was circuit training every Monday and while it seemed to be mainly about endurance, that plus wrestling three times a week certainly made me stronger. The club I'm joining has gym facilities so it's something I could factor in to my training if it was worth it. The caveat is that I've never done any strength training in my life, save playing with some kettle bells when I was 21 (I'm now almost 30). What kinds of exercises would I be looking at? I've tried reading online but I don't know what anything is Is it going to be something that's worth getting a few PT sessions in?
Cheeky answer: This is Aleksandr Karelin. Look at his muscles Real answer: strength doesn't make you good at wrestling (wrestling training does), but it is very likely to make wrestling at your current level physically easier. The basics, always. Squat, bench, deadlift, row are the bare minimum, don't try to make it specific to wrestling as the transfer to it will be far less than dedicated wrestling practice (wrestling other people being itself a form of wrestling-specific training already), and it is likely to reduce the base effectiveness of the basic exercises. Probably, but more for supervision on basic lifting technique. Excellent training programs can be obtained for free on the internet, so unless you have someone who knows both wrestling and lifting to help you out, it's likely best to pay for good instruction. Also, paging @icefield whose advice supersedes mine if conflicting as he does know both wrestling and lifting.
Thanks for the reply Fish, exactly the info I was looking for. So there's a handful of all purpose strength exercises I could do that would help my wrestling....but my priority should be wrestling practice unto itself. Does that sound about right? And yes the PR sessions would just be so I learn how to do the exercises properly and safely. I know literally nothing. For example, are all those exercises you listed done with a....barbell?
Anytime. Yeah, get stronger so you can wrestle harder, but always make sure you can wrestle well so doing it harder is actually useful Barbell is generally best for strength work as you can exert the greatest amounts of force and move more weight, but there are other viable options that can be useful for other things as well.
You certainly need power to be a competitive wrestler (if you want to win, anyway). Strength training lays the foundation upon which power is developed, and like Fish said, barbell training is one of the most efficient methods for achieving this. That said, I would also provide a few caveats here: 1) do not lift weights with the attempt to become a competitive weight lifter - do it to get better at your sport; 2) include plenty of unilateral (single-leg) training, progressive jump training ("plyometrics") and medicine ball exercises.
THanks Van Zandt, I'll keep that in mind when I sort out my plan. I'm only even considering it so that I can wrestle at a competitive level. Lifting etc isn't my cup of tea. If nothing else, I have several tailor made suits that I want to still fit into i.e.; I don't want to get massive or anything lol
Cross-fit has worked best for my kids overall. Particularly for what I call "burst" cardio. Sure you can run for 30 minutes or more, how long can you SPRINT? When my kids do assigned reps for time (usually a pair of exercises where you are trying to do as many reps as possible within the allotted time) the cardio you get from it translates better to wrestling then running for a long period of time. When you fill out the application to train at the Olympic Training Center for Greco Roman two questions are on the application. How much can you deadlift? How much can you power clean? I didn't understand specifically why these two lifts were singled out until my kids started doing them and I watched all of their wrestling get better. The Olympic lifts in general will create strength with explosive power. I recently found these videos and thanks to the way they are presented you don't have to speak Russian to understand them.
It all depends on how you lift, but if you are lifting for functional strength and power, it actually won't make you much bigger. But you will get stronger.
Hey Combat Sports, thanks for the replies man. I've been slack and haven't actually started lifting - partly due to work/domestic time balance, partly laziness. I'll keep those two lifts in mind though, as well as the kettle bells. My club has a decked out gym so I may as well use it. I recently dropped my 3rd wrestling session for sprint training (allows a bit more time with my family) and I've noticed a big difference in my performance. I'm lighter on my feet and I'm a lot more fluid, probably because I'm breathing better.
