as a high school wrestler whose weight is near the top of his weight class, i am unable to put on lean body mass this winter. this being said, i’d like to continue weight training throughout the winter with an emphasis on legs and back. any ideas on types of workouts that will help build strength while keeping body mass relatively stable? in case this makes any difference, i am between 8-10% body fat and am wrestling 189, while i weight about 190 right now.
thanks in advance,
kevin
I suggest you keep the reps and volume low.
Pavel Tsatouline in his book Power to the People he outlines a principles that will focus on strength gain with minimal muscle hypertrophy.
Do 2 or 3 working sets of 3-5 reps with 80-95% of your one rep max. The high intensity of work stresses your nervous system, which will make you stronger and the low volume will not stimulate your muscles to grow, thus allowing you to stay within your weight class.
Thats a very basic description of what will work. I or others can fill you in more if you want and can give more info.
Run some 800m, or just run for 2 minutes. Do you have no interest in 215?
I too wrestled and found that one sport to be the most challenging that I have ever done! I was fortunate enough to wrestle four years in High School and also wrestled two years in College (had to work to stay in college so I had to stop wrestling). I was competitive at my division 3 school finishing first in our league during the two years that I wrestled. There were better wrestlers than I but no one was in better shape! No one!
I feel a wrestler needs strength in four main areas:
- Neck
- Grip
- Biceps
- lower back
Not that he can be weak in any area but I feel that these are the four most important areas.
I would train each of these areas like a mad man! Three times per week for each area. Some good exercises that I used when I was wrestling were the following:
NECK- They say bridging is the best thing for a wrestler and I know it is good. However, I liked using a neck harness. 4 sets of high reps, as you need endurance and strength. 15 to 25 reps. Throw in 3 sets of bridging both front and back for 1:00 each.
GRIP-I love to train grip and have closed the Iron man number two gripper 6 consecutive times. I like ending my grip work with two sets on the hand grippers for reps in the 30 range. I also like hanging from a chin-up bar for time-one set. I love the farmers walk as it teaches you to hang on as you become winded. I used 80lb dumbbells and walked until they fell from my hands.
BICEPS-You need strong biceps that also have endurance. I like Chin-ups for biceps, and you will hit your back as well. 4 sets (each workout). do as many as you can, perhaps stopping one or two before failure. (Go for as many as you can do on one set once per week). If you feel you need more than this for your biceps, do strict straight bar curls in the 12 rep range. 3 sets is plenty. Another favorite is rope climbing. I can still climb a rope with no legs. Go up as fast as you can 3 times during the session. If you have a rope skip the barbell curls.
LOWER BACK-I liked to simulate going for a take down with a weighted dummy. Lifting with my lower back (and legs). I did this at the end of my back training day. I also liked doing good mornings 4 sets 8 to 12 reps. They did not have a Glute Ham machine when I was wrestling (if they did I never heard of it). I think that machine is outstanding! I would add one or two sets.
Naturally, pay attention to your cardio. Without gas in the tank the muscular frame you build is almost worthless! I found that running for 3 miniutes all out with a 2:00 walk in between to be helpful in this department. I used to do 4 to 6 intervals like this 3 times per week.
take care train hard and have a great season!
Zeb
Pm Sturat, He’s a strength and conditioning coach and a wrestler as well. He’ll be able to offer some sport training.
definately talk to the strength coach. I am a CSCS myself and was a two time DIII all american for trenton state (2nd in 1996 at 177lbs, 4th in 1998 at 177lbs). I have taken my fair share of bad advice from strength coaches (as you can see by my record). It is late and I need to go to bed (that is tip #1 for you, be in bed before 10:30 every night) but I will mail you back tomorrow with some more info. You have one problem, however, you need to give all of us a better idea of your biological, not chronological age. Do you shave everyday, how tall are your mom and dad and how tall are you etc. Some guys can be 18 and have the physical development of a 14 year old while some 14 year old’s have the physical development of an 18 year old. unfortunately, at the high school level, physical maturity regardless of age, is a major determinant of success. that is not to put you down or bum you out, just realize that it is a fact. when you get to college, physical maturity becomes much less of a factor, but can still apply. Tom brands (3 time DI national champ for Iowa) was close to his mid twenties when he graduated. There was a guy named john peterson who never even was an all american in college or a state champion who won two olympic medals (gold and silver in 1972 and 1976). In new jersey we had a guy who wrestled for rider u. named adam derenkowski. He had a losing record his junior year in high school but his senior year went undefeated and beat the two time defending state champ. So understand that physical maturity is a big factor in your success at your age as well as determining the type of program you go on. Either way, let us know more about you and don’t get bummed out that if at the high school level you train hard and don’t accomplish all of your goals.
thanks for the responses.
to clintpatty: although 215 is a viable option for next year, i don’t think i would be able to be competitive against some of the better wrestlers i would face just due to the size advantage they would have over me this season.
i have been asked for more information about myself, so here it is:
this will be my second year wrestling, and i am ranked #4 for the preseason for virginia independent schools. my goal, of course, is to be #1 at the end of the season. i’m just coming off football season, where i played guard and defensive end. during football season i was able to get a solid workout 2-3 times per week after practice. my bench max is currently 240 and my squat max is 280. i am 17 years old and have been 5’11" for 4 years, so i think i am probably done growing. i have been shaving every day for three years.
-kevin
Nice, he’s a man child.
Im glad you take physical maturity as a factor. It is huge, especially in high school.
from what it sounds like you have physically matured so almost anything is open to you in your training program. the key things to remember about wrestling is that it is a sport of high intensity sprint, attack, and rest. So one of your first priorities is to shitcan the distance running and work a lot of 200, 400, and 800 meter repeats to stress the proper systems. I repeat, really minimize any distance running in favor of sprints. Sprints will help you develop leg power (good for your double legs just like Iowa’s joe williams) and increase your sport specific conditioning. You should probably train your sprints in 8 week cycles and perform the # of reps based on your conditioning. If you are in good shape start with 4 or 5 reps of a 400 m run and take enough rest between reps so that however long it took you to run the sprint (ex. it takes you 60sec) multiply that time by 2 or 3. Every week up to week 7 add another rep and/or reduce your rest until week eight in which you will back off and cut your volume in half (go from 8 reps to 4 reps). After 8 weeks re evaluate your progress and determine if you need more late match endurance (make the sprints longer) or you need more explosion (make the sprints shorter distances with higher reps). Do this once a week, twice a week max (however it is highly not recommended unless you have freaky recovery ability).
As far as your lifting I will have to disagree with one of the other posts. Being in season you will be getting enough sport specific conditioning and could easily overtrain if you include too many wrestling specific exercises. Your in season routine which should be performed a minimum of once every 5 days should include at least two exercises for opposing muscle groups to the primary movers in wrestling. I would choose to do an exercise for the external rotators of the shoulder (aka cuban press) and a posterior chain exercise (deadlifts, power cleans from the floor, power snatches from the floor). Keep the volume of these lifts low (around 1 to 3 sets each) and the intensity high (around a 3 to 6 rep rm for the cleans/deads, around 6 to 10 for the cuban presses). You can then include one or two specific exercises for wrestling like maybe a split jerk (closely resembles the double leg) and a weighted lateral lunge (to help you your all important lateral movement on the mat). YOu can then include one core movement which should involve some type of rotation. on all these lifts still keep the volume low (maybe a little higher for the core exercise).
A good sample routine could be for 6 weeks perform.
3 sets of 3 to 5 reps of the power clean
3 sets of 3 to 5 reps of the split jerk
3 sets of 6 to 8 reps of the cuban press
3 sets of 6 to 8 reps of the full contact twist.
In all lifts prioritize acceleration and but weight on the back burner. after 6 weeks re evalute your performance and whether or not you think the exercises are helping your wrestling. If not evaluate what you do need (more gripping strength, more explosive strength, greater flexibility) and modify the program based on your needs.
your success as a wrestler will be largely determined on your relative strength and explosive ability. For that reason stay away from largely bodybuilding routines unless you are moving up a weight class. Learn the olympic lifts which will be invaluable to you as you progress to college. Christian Thibaudeau has an excellent chapter in his book on learning these lifts. The olympic lifts are just what the doctor ordered for you. Buy christian’s book. If I told you I could hand you all of your wrestling dreams for 40 bucks, you would be an idiot not to take it. If you don’t get his book you will be doing just that. Apply his chapter on the olympic lifts and even his football program and there will be little to stop you on the mat next year.
To conclude this lengthy post, also understand that a large amount of your success on the mat will be determined by what you do off the mat. Be in bed before 10:30 every night (that is straight out of the mouth of tom brands 3 time DI national champion, world and olympic champion). Drink at least half your bodyweight in ounces of water every day. consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (to maintain your muscle from strenous wrestling workouts). Eat a minimum of 4 servings of vegetables a day (2 salads and 1 cup of veggies with lunch and dinner, get some frozen broccoli or the california mix and micro it, put on some sea salt or hot sauce and you are good to go). Also have written goals. YOu must write your goal of being number one in the state down on paper (write it down or it doesn’t happen) and put it everywhere you reasonably can. 100 times a day you should look at that goal in writing and repeat to your self that you have the killer instinct to achieve it. You must litterally brain wash your self into believing that you will be number one in the state (the brainwashing comment is directly from tom brands also).
I am sorry this post is so long, it is just this is a topic I am very passionate about. I never achieved my goal of being a national champion and there is not a day that goes by that it doesn’t tear out at my guts. I would not want to see the same thing happen to you since you obviously have the maturity and the caring enough to ask for help on this web site. If you have anymore questions PM me. P.S. Buy christians book, don’t be a fool, get it and get it now, it could make all of the difference to you.