Health Fitness

Best Wrestling Preseason Strength and Conditioning Program

When writing any training program, it is important to keep in mind the changes based on when the athlete needs which skill the most for their next training event. For example, intermediate and advanced athletes can get into cardiovascular shape for competition in no more than 3 weeks; there’s no point in wasting valuable energy/training time on this at the beginning of the summer, unless you’re training for summer meets/travel teams. While you can get into good cardiovascular shape in 3-4 weeks, it takes much longer to build real physical strength. Unbalanced programs focus on running their athletes to death during the time they could be lifting weights and getting physically bigger/stronger. A good pre-season weightlifting program for wrestlers will spend most of their time strength training with only the last two weeks working directly into hard cardio to gain maximum benefit from all the attributes needed to compete.

Our program divides 12 weeks (+1 week) before the start of the wrestling season into blocks of different types of training to meet the needs of the wrestler as the deadline approaches. The first 4 weeks of our program are designed for power and size, the second 4 weeks focus on strength conditioning, and the last 4 weeks for endurance and cardio. While every four weeks you will focus on a specific attribute, you should also include the others, but at a smaller percentage. For example, during the strength conditioning cycle, a small percentage of power exercises should also be included in the program. If you don’t do this, you’ll still be in good shape for the season, but you may have lost some of the hard-earned strength you gained early on.

During each week, lift weights twice a week (for example, Monday and Wednesday) and add a strength conditioning day (Friday). For weightlifting sessions, choose compound movements like the back squat, bench, deadlift, and/or clean to test for maximums throughout the program. For these main exercises, cycle weeks of 5, 3 then 1 rep schemes followed by accessories for rep work (8-15 reps). During the power phase, choose accessories that help you build the particular exercise for your next one-rep max. During the strength and endurance conditioning phases, choose accessories to help strengthen the muscles used for particular wrestling moves. Keep records of both power movements (single work and reps) and accessory lifts. In our show we use Friday as our strength conditioning day and this is done in our wrestling room. This day is used to develop strength and speed during the wrestling match. When just before a tournament, this day is sometimes used as an extra wrestling day for more conditioning or to cut weight. All sessions, whether weight lifting or conditioning, should not last more than 90 minutes.

For lower body weight lifting, choose a compound exercise to perform first, preferably a variation of some type of squat or deadlift. If you’re following a 5, 3, 1 rep scheme, choose one type of squat (back squat, front squat, or box squat) for 5-rep and 3-rep weeks; choose a type of deadlift for 1 rep max. We do this because most of our lifters are young (10-18), have less developed posterior chains, and single-rep max effort squats represent a high degree of complexity/danger (more so than a deadlift). When performing a one rep max, continue to perform sets adding weight until you reach the max, however try to avoid total failure/missing a weight. When working in the 3-5 rep ranges, do 3-5 sets. After the main compound lift is finished, follow up with 3-4 accessory lifts for 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions. Good accessories include exercises to work the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and quadriceps. Some examples are glute raises, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell deadlifts, Roman deadlifts, good mornings, leg curls, pull-ups, belt squats, reverse hypers, back raises, and sled pulls. Finish lower body sessions with abdominal work preferably done for 8-12 repetitions with weights whenever possible.

For upper body power, choose the bench press as your go-to exercise to test new strength. Choose bench variations for 5-rep and 3-rep schemes, like the floor press, plank press, rack press from different heights, and even the cambered bar. Choose a second type of press for additional triceps work as your first accessory. Choose accessory lifts to help build back portions of your bench max and perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. For example, if you lose your max bench on top of the press, work this move up with reps on planks and rack presses. If you lose your bench max at the bottom of the lift, chain pushups, dumbbell presses, floor presses, and camberbell bench presses will help. After the press attachment, work your lats/back for 4-8 sets of 8-12 reps with all types of pull-ups (+ weighted), chin-ups, barbells, and dumbbell rows. Beyond this, choose 1-2 more accessories and perform 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps focusing on the shoulders, traps, neck, and/or arms. The grip is also extremely important to the wrestling mat and should be trained at the end of every upper body session (and never before).

If you train three days a week, two days will be weight lifting and the third will be a strength conditioning day. During the power phase, make this day another weightlifting session in the gym focused on pulling/rear chain, neck/upper back, and heavy core. During the strength, endurance, and cardio phases, train in the wrestling room with bodyweight or light weight exercises for high reps. Try to choose exercises that strengthen/improve specific movements; for example making shots against the resistance of the band. Also include plenty of body lifting drills, for example shooting for a takedown and then picking up your partner and charging him for 10 feet instead of finishing the shot. Do 5-10 repetitions of this. Superset of band exercises or light weight repetitions with wrestling exercises. For example). Band only good mornings and kettlebell swing superset with carries and/or takedowns after your lower back and hips are exhausted. Exercises like pulling a sled, the farmer’s walk, hitting a tire with a mallet, and flipping giant tires are great for this type of training.

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