Wrestling Physical Conditioning Tips

Following basic wrestling physical conditioning tips will undoubtedly make you a better wrestler. Though many people think of wrestling as a sport totally devoted to strength and size, it is often the athlete that can outlast his opponent on the mat who wins. Being able to do this requires an exceptionally strong cardiovascular system. If you’re unable to supply fresh oxygen to your muscles quickly enough, odds are you will eventually find yourself in a vulnerable position. Use these wrestling physical conditioning tips to ensure that doesn’t happen.

1. Use high intensity interval training. Wrestling requires an ability to quickly and continually deliver explosive bursts of energy. High intensity interval training, or HIIT, helps condition your body to deliver those bursts. In the cardiovascular realm of this training style, the trainee jogs roughly three fourths of the time, and sprints at maximum speed a quarter of the time. A typical set of high intensity interval training, for example, would be ninety seconds of jogging followed by thirty seconds of sprinting for eight to ten sets.
2. Simple running or cycling is also beneficial. When you’re not using HIIT, jogging and cycling is still beneficial to the wrestler. The cardiovascular exercise will both improve your endurance in a match and help you to lower body fat percentage and drop weight in order to qualify. Some activities that wrestlers employ include jumping rope, using a stationary exercise bike, and using a treadmill in the gym.
3. A good wrestler is both well-conditioned and flexible. Before training with cardiovascular exercise, it is absolutely essential to stretch. Being well conditioned physically and flexible will help you to get out of compromising wrestling positions, and help prevent possible injuries from overextension. Both upper body and lower body stretching before any type of physical conditioning should be performed.
4. Plyometric-style physical conditioning is excellent for wrestling. Takedowns and submissions – the two main match winning moves in wrestling – are highly dependent on explosive action. And while aerobic conditioning improves endurance, doing it alone will not necessarily make you a more explosive wrestler. To improve the performance of fast twitch muscle fibers in your legs, employ plyometric training in your physical conditioning schedule for wrestling. In essence, plyometric style training is aerobic in nature, and involves moves that require specialized jumping. In this way, you are able to work on both the cardiovascular system and the explosive muscles in your legs simultaneously.