In-Season Wrestling Conditioning

For backround: I coach the better guys on the team(there are 8 that I coach); and currently have them conditioning 3 days per week in the morning(MWR), and evening practices.

I have them lift monday wed and thur b/c tournaments are on saturday’s and don’t want them to be too sore, not to mention have to worry about cutting weight on friday’s.

For the past four weeks; their morning workouts have consisted of…

monday EDT (15 mins)
Squats- Start out with sets of 10 until you can’t reach 10 anymore with good form than drop it to whatever and keep going
Pull-Ups: keep reps same as squats

Tabata Intervals (4 mins per exercise)
DB Swings/Sprints (20 secs on, 10 secs off 8 sets of each)

Wednesday EDT
Power cleans- same parameter as monday
Push press

Tabata Intervals (kind of)
Buddy Carries (Carry partner 20 secs with Dbl leg, single leg, on back, like a baby, etc…)
Partner lifts (10xeach, head inside single, hi c, dbl,lift and returns, etc)

Thursday
Bleachers
Circuit lift 3 sets (5 stations 1 minute each)

Starting today, I switched their workout to barbell complexes. I was thinking…

Monday
8x3 heavy front squats w/30 secs rest
Complex 5 sets (backward lunges, push press, rows, power cleans, deadlifts, followed by 10 burpees…45 secs rest and repeat)

Wednesday
8x3 push press
Tabata Intervals (1 arm snatches and 1 arm DB swings)

Thursday
8x3 Deadlift
Sandbag Complex 5 sets (overhead squats, rows, shrugs, power cleans, 10 burpees) same protocol as monday

Open to all suggestions and ideas. Also, your opinions and any other ideas that you think would work. Please be sure to let me know when you’d fit them in. i.e. don’t just say “add in xyz,” let me know where you think i should place it or what you think i should replace with it.

Xen if your still around, your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.

bump please. come on guys, give me some feedback.

Ok yeah. One thing that I’ve seen and heard (from JB)before that prevents soreness but makes guys stronger than autistic kids is same-day-every-day type training.

The idea is that doing new random stuff makes soreness. Doing the same lifts over and over allows your body to get used to it. You pick like 5 essential lifts. For wrestlers (I am) I’d say:

front Sq
Push press
pull up
horizontal cable row
floor press elbows tucked

And then they do these lifts 3-4 times per week with only the rep range changing from day to day. Start at 6 and work to 3 or which ever. change movements every 4 weeks. The weight you can push goes up quick when you train this way (how my O-lift coach trains me now pretty much. my Fr Sq has shot up like a nerds dick on a prom date).

Then just run your Energy systems work and they will likely be able to put more into it because they won’t be as sore from EDT (which is very soreness inducing). I find that reducing soreness is the key to having good training sessions more than once per day (as you need your wrestlers to do and I need to do as well for MMA etc).

Because fatigued muscles do not learn as well or well at all. And learn is exactly what you need your team to do during practice. Neural patterns always learn better when they are not fatigued.

So that’s my bit. keeping things the similar everyday makes you strong in those moves and keeps the soreness at bay.

Have fun training

-chris

That is unless your team is a bit/very fat. It seems from the training that you are doing that you might be trying to work a little flab off the buggers. And if that is the case then I’d say you have a sound method going.

But HS kids in general and esp wrestlers can be a bit skinny and in need of muscle esp given the propensity to “cut” weight poorly.

That or you just like to see the little shits suffer from all those complexes/EDT/tabata

-chris

hmm…well, the EDT was perfermed during preseason conditioning for the goal of increasing their work capacity.

I use tabata intervals for their main conditioning(besides live wrestling of course). I’m trying to work them up to two separate tabata’s for 7 mins each(simulating a live high school match including overtime).

I had them do EDT for 4 weeks so i figure their work capacity of pretty high right now, and i like complexes for muscle endurance as well as building mental toughness. The main style i incorporate with my guys is the beat em’ up, break them down style.

Considering this is my first year with the program, and most of the guys haven’t wrestled in the off-season, it seems that style will work best making up for their technique(or lack there of). I’ve been debating using strongman training for the tabata intervals(tire flips, sledge hammers, etc) once the season progresses further and they’re in better shape.

And yes, many of the guys are overweight(not what most would consider overweight but for a wrestler overweight), so these morning complexes and tabatas will really help in that category.

The main thing i’m concerned with is overtraining and if there are any signs i should be looking for? Most of the guys don’t bring breakfast and although one day/week I bring them all breakfast, I just don’t have enough money to do it 3x/week.

Anyway, does this seem like too much? If I notice them sluggish at practice(which i haven’t yet) should I cut the conditioning down to 2 days/week?

[quote]copper0521 wrote:
hmm…well, the EDT was perfermed during preseason conditioning for the goal of increasing their work capacity.

I use tabata intervals for their main conditioning(besides live wrestling of course). I’m trying to work them up to two separate tabata’s for 7 mins each(simulating a live high school match including overtime).

I had them do EDT for 4 weeks so i figure their work capacity of pretty high right now, and i like complexes for muscle endurance as well as building mental toughness. The main style i incorporate with my guys is the beat em’ up, break them down style.

Considering this is my first year with the program, and most of the guys haven’t wrestled in the off-season, it seems that style will work best making up for their technique(or lack there of). I’ve been debating using strongman training for the tabata intervals(tire flips, sledge hammers, etc) once the season progresses further and they’re in better shape.

And yes, many of the guys are overweight(not what most would consider overweight but for a wrestler overweight), so these morning complexes and tabatas will really help in that category.

The main thing i’m concerned with is overtraining and if there are any signs i should be looking for? Most of the guys don’t bring breakfast and although one day/week I bring them all breakfast, I just don’t have enough money to do it 3x/week.

Anyway, does this seem like too much? If I notice them sluggish at practice(which i haven’t yet) should I cut the conditioning down to 2 days/week?[/quote]

From all I have learned about sport specificity the one thing that sticks out the most is that The sport should be the conditioning part. For example if you a training them to live wrestle for 7 min rounds then a good conditioning drill would be to have one guy take down 4 different guys, one after another for 3.5 mins then defend the takedown with sprawls/sit outs for the last 3.5 mins.

What this does is it not only allows your guys to develop more coordination, sensitivity, muscle memory, speed and mental toughness (nothing is harder than defending after having to shoot or throw for 3 mins straight) but it also jacks their ‘wrestling specific’ conditioning way up. If you can keep the conditioning sport specific then you can kill two birds with one stone. conditioning and mat time. This way you can focus on strength during their ‘gym time’.

The thing is that it’s not that TDwn drills are better or worse at conditioning your men but that doing tabatas with barbell movements won’t make them any better at wrestling. It will make them better at which ever move they are doing. I find that in the fighting sports the fighter with the most repetitions and sport specific time under his belt usually will take the throw or get the better of a striking exchange. That seems to be the difference between the guy that wins and a guy that absolutely smokes his opponents, more mat time.

I noticed that you had wrestling move incorp in your conditioning. This is a good call but you can also replace most of their other conditionig time with wrestling drills and use the lifting time for developing grip and hip power.

Also if they have a lower heavier rep scheme when not conditioning it gives them time to learn the moves for use later on in life. Also by using mostly structurally fatiguing methods (EDT complexes etc.) you can really drain the energy out of your guys. But if they have a chance to relax and lift heavy (considering they are HS kids) without worrying about busting their sack on a complex it almost becomes a pleasurable part of their training.

It’s complex stuff. especially with gainly HS kids. There is no wrong way. But I really like to keep conditioning sport specific and there already is some element of that in your methods.

-chris

Also, you should make breakfast mandatory. damn kids.

-chris