About to start wrestling..

I just entered high school and I am really interested in wrestling. I weigh about 184 pounds and I am about 5'5". As you can see, I'm not really active but lately I've taken huge interests in sports. I really want to lose weight and also gain some mass. I am taking weight training at the moment and I have noticed some improvements. Anyway, enough of the intro; my weight certification is tomorrow and the first day of practice is on the 15th. I've been going online and watching wrestling videos, tutorials, and first-day-of-practice stories (that's how I found this forum hehe). From what I've read, wrestling sounds extremely tough, not that I thought it was easy at all though. Anyway, I was talking to my coach a few days ago and he was telling me how only the tough survive and what not, but what really bothered me was when he mentioned cutting people. As a first time wrestler, I'm scared of getting cut because I suck and won't really get any chance to learn. Did I misinterpret what he said?

On to my second question...I know that the first week or two are just conditioning. I read that conditioning involves a lot of running. I am not necessarily a slow runner, but I am not fast either. I have been going on the treadmill and running a mile the past 2 weeks or so and have gotten times of 10-11 minutes. I don't get time to run everyday, but I managed to get 6 runs in. How many miles do they usually make you run during practice?

Also, how long is practice? Is it every day after school? I'm afraid wrestling might hurt my GPA. Has it hurt yours? Also, what do you usually do on the first day?

Thanks in advance!

On cutting people: It depends on the program. I went to a school where they didn't cut anyone- their practices did. If you were willing to show up and could make it through practices you were on the team. If the coach is cutting kids after 2 weeks of practice who have never done it before he is not doing his job correctly.

On Conditioning: You don't need to be fast to condition yourself. You need to exert yourself to the point you're about to puke.. or do puke. Wrestling a match isn't a marathon, it is a series of sprints. Endurance running is an excellent addition to conditioning, but sprints and other exercises that mimic a wrestling match are more useful.

On Practice: It's every day. Depending on the school, it can be twice a day. Will it hurt your GPA? If you let it, yes. Wrestling is an excellent character builder and will teach you (often without you even noticing) how to do many things well at once.

On the first day expect everything to be very confusing, but don't let it bother you. You will see that in two weeks you will have it down. Wrestling is a very natural sport and as long as you remain relaxed and listen you will learn and grow very rapidly.

Wrestling actually helped my gpa, because our coach keeps track of all our grades and such.

What did you guys do on your first day?

Thanks for the answers so far guys!

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Originally Posted by mpaul

I just entered high school and I am really interested in wrestling. I weigh about 184 pounds and I am about 5'5". As you can see, I'm not really active but lately I've taken huge interests in sports. I really want to lose weight and also gain some mass. I am taking weight training at the moment and I have noticed some improvements. Anyway, enough of the intro; my weight certification is tomorrow and the first day of practice is on the 15th. I've been going online and watching wrestling videos, tutorials, and first-day-of-practice stories (that's how I found this forum hehe). From what I've read, wrestling sounds extremely tough, not that I thought it was easy at all though. Anyway, I was talking to my coach a few days ago and he was telling me how only the tough survive and what not, but what really bothered me was when he mentioned cutting people. As a first time wrestler, I'm scared of getting cut because I suck and won't really get any chance to learn. Did I misinterpret what he said?

On to my second question...I know that the first week or two are just conditioning. I read that conditioning involves a lot of running. I am not necessarily a slow runner, but I am not fast either. I have been going on the treadmill and running a mile the past 2 weeks or so and have gotten times of 10-11 minutes. I don't get time to run everyday, but I managed to get 6 runs in. How many miles do they usually make you run during practice?

Also, how long is practice? Is it every day after school? I'm afraid wrestling might hurt my GPA. Has it hurt yours? Also, what do you usually do on the first day?

Thanks in advance!

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If the coach sees you doing truly your best effort there is a big chance he won't cut you. Don't worry about that, just go into practice and show I'm how much you care about the sport. If you show him lack of, then you will be cut.

There is no estimate of how much they usually make you run. That is because it is entirely on the coach's plan. you can do absolutely no running for practice but for example you can be climbing up stairs and down for conditioning. Or for conditioning he can make you do constant live wrestling etc. It all depends on the coach and what he wants to do.

All schools are different in terms of how long their practice is. My practice is 5 times a week for 2 hours each. Including Saturday morning.

It only hurts your GPA if you let it too. Also the first few days of wrestling practice can be EXTREMELY daunting and provoke you to quit. Don't. You will get use to the practice as your conditioning and endurance will get much better.

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Originally Posted by mpaul

What did you guys do on your first day?

Thanks for the answers so far guys!

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I'll let you know on this Thursday because that is my first day of practice to come. When is your first practice?

Saturday. I'm really excited but I'm disappointed about my weight class. 160. There are a lot of tough people in 160 right

Also, what wrestling shoes do you recommend? I was looking at MyWrestlingRoom and I found some good ones. I liked the ASICS Matflex Wrestling Shoes mainly because they were cheap. I don't want to go all out and spend $100 on my first pair. I can't post the link here because of my post count, but do you think they're good? If not, what other [cheap] shoes do you recommend?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mpaul

Saturday. I'm really excited but I'm disappointed about my weight class. 160. There are a lot of tough people in 160 right

Also, what wrestling shoes do you recommend? I was looking at MyWrestlingRoom and I found some good ones. I liked the ASICS Matflex Wrestling Shoes mainly because they were cheap. I don't want to go all out and spend $100 on my first pair. I can't post the link here because of my post count, but do you think they're good? If not, what other [cheap] shoes do you recommend?

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I don't know much about shoes. I'm just the type that will just buy 40$ shoes and do my best of my ability on the mat and let the rest get taken care of. I have trouble affording 40 dollars lolz, my dad is going to give me a hard time about it.

Here are the shoes that MyWrestlingRoom & MatFish carry, sorted by price:

http://www.thewrestlingtalk.com/cata...sort=3a&page=1

i always told my kids the first year maybe two depending on the person. It wasn't about winning on the mat, it was about winning that battle in your head. Your gonna have so many moments where that voice in your head tells you to stop ,give up,its not worth it or to coast through the last 10 seconds of a exercise. That's the battle you need to win, thats whats gonna make you successful both at wrestling and life. gl