How to Design an Exercise Program to Succeed at Wrestling

For those who want to excel at wrestling, intense physical conditioning is a must. Wrestling is an incredibly physically demanding sport that has unique training parameters that differ from most sports. In order to perform your best, building strength and training both the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems is necessary for success.

Compound, Multi-Joint Weight-Lifting Movements

Few factors will have more of an effect on success in the sport of wrestling than raw strength. In order to increase strength as much as possible, weight-lifting is a must. To get the best results in the weight room, compound, multi-joint exercises should be emphasized over single-joint, isolation type exercises. These exercises activate significantly more motor units and are vastly superior at training functional motor patterns, which is essential for those who compete in sports. For most trainees, the only exercises that should be emphasized are variations of the squat, bench press, deadlift, military press, pull-ups, rows, and dips.

Train in the Low Rep Range

In general, most wrestlers tend to see better results when training with relatively heavy weights that can only be completed for 1-5 reps, while avoiding light weight with a large volume of sets and reps. The reason for this is that research in the journal "Sports Medicine" in 2007 has shown that lifting heavy weight for low reps has much more of a neural effect and is better for improving raw strength, while higher volume routines with less weight are better for building muscle (1). Clearly, for a wrestler who wants to build strength but does not want to move up to a heavier weight class, training with heavy weight in the low rep range is the most superior option.

Anaerobic Energy System Training

One aspect of wrestling that makes it relatively unique is that it acts as one of the few sports that place very large demands on both the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. While sports such as cross country tend to be predominantly aerobic, and sports similar to football are typically trained for in only an anaerobic fashion, wrestlers must become proficient in both. In order to train the anaerobic energy systems, interval style workouts that alternate between bouts of high intensity sprints and low intensity jogging should be utilized. Research in the journal "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise" in 2007 has shown that this type of training is superior at improving markers of cardiovascular fitness and should act as your primary form of conditioning (2).

Aerobic Energy System

Along with training the anaerobic energy systems, training the aerobic energy system can also be beneficial in order to prepare yourself for those matches that make it all the way to the third period or overtime. In order to train the aerobic energy system, performing long, relatively slow jogs is the most effective method. While this type of training does not have nearly as much of a carryover to wrestling as interval training, it can be effective for helping you prevent fatigue in those matches that go particularly long and should be employed if time allows.

References

1 Wernbom M, et al. The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-sectional area in humans. Sports Medicine. 2007.

2 Helgerud J, et al. Aerobic high-intensity intervals improve v02max more than moderate training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2007.

This article was written by Zach Cooper, a professional strength and conditioning specialist and fitness coach. For more information about Zach Cooper, check out his website or Facebook profile.

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