martin
Martin,
I have been wrestling for my whole life. I am on my high school team but also a club team and wrestle for pretty much the entire year. Because of this I dont get in the training I would like to like at your school. What are some things that I can do at practice in addition to the wrestling to improve my strength? I dont want to gain weight, but would like to get stronger. Matt L.
Here is Martin Rooney showing off some bodyweight exercises with the Rutgers University Wrestling Team this offseason. Rutgers went on to have its greatest win total ever in school history this year.
Matt,
Great to hear from you and thanks for writing in. I get questions like this a lot from both athletes and their parents because now that sports are able to be performed all year, it is often difficult to make physical improvements because there is never an offseason to do so. Not that all year training is completely a bad thing, but I do believe that you are on to something by having the mindset of figuring out how to make improvement in addition to the constant practice. Wrestling is still the best exercise to improve your wrestling and I do believe that this training will make you a tough, strong athlete, but working on the body is also essential to taking your game to the highest level.
As for things to do, I would suggest a great warmup before the workout at least 3-4 times per week. The Parisi Warmup as demonstrated on our video series is a great start, but I would also recommend a number of different body weight exercises as well. Although you have probably done your share of pushups and situps, there are still ways to increase the tension on your muscles and still keep it wrestling specific at the same time.
3 Great ideas would be:
Chinups (you can use different grips and weights)
Body Squats (you can use the weight of a partner)
Lunges (again you can use the weight of a partner)
These 3 in addition to the warmup, wrestling and pushup/situp routines would really round things out and give you that little extra you might be missing.
I would also finally say that nutrition also plays a role here too. All too often athletes that work out as much as you might think they can get away with eating whatever they want. When you do this, you are holding yourself back as well. Make sure that your preworkout and post workout nutrition is solid as well as your other meals throughout the day too. Get plenty of water and sleep too. All of these suggestions will surely add a little more punch to your practices.
Body Squats with a partner are a great way to work the legs and core!
I hope this helps and wish you the best in your career.
Martin
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