Wrestler's physique

Koopa_ · 09-07-2008, 06:09 AM

Thank you so much for your encourage oc, I try to keep in mind that it's no matter of your muscles or what's your bench press is when you are wrestler.

oc · 09-07-2008, 12:14 PM

In my humble opinion one reason Americans may underperform in International Wrestling is, too much lifting. "Russian" wrestlers look to me like they are trained like boxers use to be. Trained so the lose weight and compete at their best weight, many American wrestlers lift so much they're carrying around an extra cople pounds of muscle, this can easily push you up into the lower end of an upper weightclass, especially at the lighter weights. When this happens they lift even more! Why not, I can't make the weightclass below, too much muscle, so they put on more muscle! Don't get too much into lifting, I can't believe Saitiev is that strong, he seems to do real well.

grecowrestler13 · 09-07-2008, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by oc

In my humble opinion one reason Americans may underperform in International Wrestling is, too much lifting. "Russian" wrestlers look to me like they are trained like boxers use to be. Trained so the lose weight and compete at their best weight, many American wrestlers lift so much they're carrying around an extra cople pounds of muscle, this can easily push you up into the lower end of an upper weightclass, especially at the lighter weights. When this happens they lift even more! Why not, I can't make the weightclass below, too much muscle, so they put on more muscle! Don't get too much into lifting, I can't believe Saitiev is that strong, he seems to do real well.

Exactly. Not only that, but lifting weights overall is just bad for wrestling. By lifting weights you make your muscles bulkier thus making it hard for you to breathe during matches. So you will have to spend like maybe a month or two just to get your conditioning back in order; so for the first month or two into the wrestling season you won't even be in shape. Also, doing weights for a long period of time makes you lose the feel for your moves. So I would just drop the weights and stick to stuff like calisthenics, resistance training, and kettleball work. But that's just me. You do whatever makes you happy.

oc · 09-07-2008, 04:15 PM

I've been doing a lot of odd lifting, chins on towels, deadlifts using the torgue athletic "baseballs," catching and palmng dumbbells. I even just signed up for Dennis Rogers strongman course. I really believe there is too much emphasis on powerlifting and bodybuilding in wrestling conditioning. Most young kids would do better training like an old time strongman.

grecowrestler13 · 09-07-2008, 08:21 PM

Odd lifting is good too. Run with like logs on your back or something like that.

Zoran · 09-08-2008, 01:55 AM

Odd lifting is amazing and irreplaceable due to its stabilizer strengthening and balance benefits. I've seen people do odd lifting while standing on a swiss ball, looks great. I read somewhere that Karelin did only odd lifts, zercher deadlifts and resistance bands strengthening. And ofcourse his famous running in the knee-high snow for an hour or two

grecowrestler13 · 09-08-2008, 05:16 PM

If you asked any of Russia's former Soviet wrestlers and thier present wrestlers if they trained with resistance bands, they all would say yes. Band training was extremely popular during the Soviet Union. Every wrestler had it in thier repertoire. Great for strength. Also, kettleball training was one of the training methods the Russians used every day. Russia first invented the kettleball and it was used by the military for strength, agility, balance, and all that stuff needed for war combat. The wrestlers picked it up and have never stoped using it. If you are looking for some serious strength gains, train with kettleballs.

wires · 09-09-2008, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Zoran

Hi, everyone! I had a small debate with a friend of mine about the "minimal" weights a wrestler should be able to lift accordind to his competing weight class. The thing is that I stopped doing bench press because I read in Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength that a normally built person should bench press and power jerk the same weight, and my bench press is 120kg and my power jerk is 95kg (btw, I'm an endomorph so I don't have any "inborn" explosiveness). But my friend said that it's normal thing for a wrestler to have a stronger bench than a power jerk. I still don't have an intension to do bench press until I can power jerk 110 kg (I compete in 84kg). What are your opinions about this?

Strength helps a lot. But it isn't all about strength. And it is definitely not about "this number" or "that number."

buckeye125 · 09-09-2008, 08:56 PM

I like to keep it pretty basic. You just have to find what works for your body. I feel that a good balance between strength and conditioning made the real difference in my matches.

gjfovf · 09-11-2008, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by buckeye125

I like to keep it pretty basic. You just have to find what works for your body. I feel that a good balance between strength and conditioning made the real difference in my matches.

Agreed 100%. Just gotta do what works for you.

Wrestler's physique

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