- 1). Begin your day with a long run. An early morning mile-long run is more than just a great cardiovascular and leg workout. This is a great way to kick-start your day and prepare for your workout routine. Do this at least four or five times a week. If you can, start every day with a long run.
- 2). Determine you current weight and the weight you hope to wrestle at. This is important since it determines how you will train at the gym. If you're near a weight limit, for example, you should plan to wrestle at the next highest weight limit because you'll be putting on muscle mass and thus weight by working out.
- 3). Go the gym daily to increase strength in every portion of your body. Simply put, a wrestler should live at the gym. It's important that you increase strength everywhere--your legs, arms, stomach, chest, shoulders and back. Vary your workout daily so that you do not injure a body part. For example, you shouldn't perform a bicep workout two days in a row. Your muscles need time to heal themselves. Remember that these workouts should be controlled lifting sessions and not a competition to see how much you can lift. You want to increase and maintain overall body strength, not become a bodybuilder. Excess muscle mass can actually slow you down and impair your ability to wrestle.
- 4). Increase your speed and agility. Wrestlers need to be more than just strong. They need to be faster than their opponents. Obviously, your increased leg strength from lifting will help with speed. That isn't enough, though. Perform sprints and other running exercises to increase your speed. Purchase an agility ladder and perform different routines. Use cones as a way to learn how to pivot and quickly change directions. You must be able to glide while out on the mat. This will enable you to perform a move before your opponent even sees it coming.
- 5). Increase your hand-eye coordination. Much like with speed and agility, better hand-eye coordination allows you to outthink and outperform your opponent on the mat. Two easy ways to do this are to use a speed bag and jump rope. Most people think that speed bags are just for boxers. Hitting a speed bag will increase your hand speed, something that is definitely beneficial for a wrestler. It's also a very basic hand-eye exercise. The jump rope is the exact same thing, except it's for your legs instead of your hands. There are numerous exercises you can perform with a jump rope that will improve leg strength, balance, speed and coordination.
- 6). Take part in wrestling practice numerous times throughout the week. A wrestler must practice the same way that a boxer must spar during the week. These sessions allow you to learn the basics, improve upon your skills, determine what type of wrestler you are and teach you how to escape and avoid your opponent's moves.
- 7). Mentally prepare yourself to wrestle. Any one-on-one competition such as wrestling takes a strong will and determination to become good at it. You need to convince yourself that, no matter what happens out on the mat, your shoulders will never be down on the ground. Visualize yourself against your opponent and picture the moves you will use.
previous post