Lifting weights to become a better fighter

For fighters, strength is secondary on the list of important skills needed to improve their game. In wrestling and competitive wrestling, training should focus on technique and conditioning first, then speed and agility, and finally strength. After skills training, exercises, sparring, and conditioning, there is hardly any time or energy left to even consider strength training in most programs. Some coaches feel that their athletes will become as strong as they need to with the skill training / conditioning they do and reject pure strength training because they fear that it will make their athletes bigger and therefore more difficult to keep them in a certain way. weight. Some coaches also feel that weight training should be avoided because they fear it will make their athletes bulkier and slower. However, when done correctly, this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are many situations in wrestling where strength is the primary attribute used, where the strongest athlete definitely has the upper hand.

As a beginner, just practicing and learning wrestling will significantly improve your overall strength and even more so for specific movements performed repeatedly on the mat.
However, improving the strength of certain muscle groups used in specific movements during the fight will take your game one step further and allow you to dominate your opponents when performing those movements. For example, training your lats, arms, and grip will make you stronger when you’re pulling your opponent’s head down with a head snap. Strong lats and grip are also very useful when you’ve fired for a one-legged takedown and your opponent has collapsed. If you still have his leg in your grip and are strong enough, you can continue pulling his leg towards you and complete the takedown by two points. On the reverse of this situation, if your shoulders and arms are strong enough, you will be able to successfully protect yourself from your opponent’s takedown attempt by pushing your hips after lying down despite your attempts to pull your leg inward.

Strength training for wrestling is not only a great way to gain a performance advantage on the mat, but also an important aspect of injury prevention. There is a lot of written information on the positive effects (on both performance and injury prevention) of posterior chain development. This is the muscle group that runs on both sides of the spine, from the base of the skull to the back of the knees (including the trapezius / neck, the lower-mid-back muscles, the glutes and hamstrings). Posterior chain training works wonders to protect athletes from spinal and neck injuries, particularly in contact sports. There are many common positions in wrestling that can compromise the spine if the posterior chain is weak. The fighter’s stance leans forward in a squat to stay crouched for both offense and defense; this requires the athlete’s posterior chain to maintain this position. A fighter with a super strong back chain may arch out of cradle attempts or hold his bow longer to avoid being pinned down. Along with the back chain emphasis, a fighter will also benefit greatly from developing his core. Training the abs and obliques with weights, timed (sustained contractions / isometrically) and rotationally has great performance when it comes to escaping or lifting / throwing your opponent.

If done correctly, weight training will also make a fighter much faster. When lifting weights using only the repetition method (for example, 3 sets of 12) as bodybuilders do, the only result is a larger size with no improvement in speed. However, there are many other techniques to use when lifting weights that will make a tremendous improvement in both speed and explosiveness, no matter the sport. One method to improve speed is to lift submaximal loads (<50% max) explosively for 1-3 reps / set. For the most benefit, this should only be done with compound exercises (double or triple extension type), such as squats, power cleanings, snatch, bench press, and even overhead press / push press. Depending on the exercise, adding bands or chains is also helpful for more explosive output (best for intermediate and advanced lifters, however). Combining plyometrics with a properly balanced strength training program is also very helpful for speed development and is employed by many high-level / professional athletes and wrestlers.

Weight training is also very beneficial for wrestlers when they have to lose weight. It is true that building muscle will add pounds to a fighter’s build and can cause discomfort with the weight class in which he competes. However, the benefits of building new muscles include more power and explosiveness that will directly affect the performance of the mat. Increased lean body mass built from weight lifting will also increase the body’s metabolism, making it easier to burn body fat. While weight loss for wrestling is often more about reaching a certain body weight to take a spot on the team, limits should be set based on a current measurement of lean body mass to ensure that the loss weight stay healthy. Under no circumstances should an athlete choose a weight class below their LBM measurement, requiring that they lose muscle to reach the desired weight. That being said, it is advantageous for an athlete to aim for a lower weight category, barely gain weight, and then gain / rehydrate to normal to ultimately be the largest athlete in the class. The improved muscle development of weight training ensures greater strength no matter what weight category you enter, as long as the weight cut is healthy.

While most of the top NCAA high school and college fighters train up to 6 or more days a week, it can be challenging to add weight training to an already full schedule. Fortunately, finding a 2 hour block of time 3 times a week to burn out on the weights is not necessary to see big gains in strength to gain an advantage on the fight mat. During your season, keep wrestling and conditioning as your main workout and only add strength-building sessions as an afterthought. You can make significant gains by adding just a few strength exercises at the end of practice 2-3 days a week. Choose two exercises that focus on specific movements you do on the mat during a day; choose two different exercises for another. Perform these same exercises after practicing for no more than 3 weeks and then switch to something different. Keep these sessions intense but no longer than 15-20 minutes maximum. Decide on the day if you have enough left in your tank after practice and skip weight training after particularly hard practice or when cutting weight. That said, consistency is key to improving strength with weight lifting.

Today’s playing field is very different from that of yesteryear; There has been a lot of development and advancement in training systems and ideas of what it takes to become a champion. Proof of this is the fact that athletes are bigger, faster and stronger than ever. With high-level competition, attributes cannot be ignored. Add weight lifting to your fighting program and boost your confidence when intimidating your opponents like never before. When done correctly, weightlifting will improve your strength, power, explosiveness, and speed, resulting in a much more well-rounded athlete. Design a program that strengthens specific movements on the mat so that you can dominate and beat your opponents when the opportunity arises.