WrestlingGear.Com - New ASICS Shoes Available & Strength Training Article (Sent
at Your Request)
July 22, 2004
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Ah the start of a new wrestling season is not that far away. Already the new
Asics shoes are on there way to the store for the up and coming season. Shortly
after that, the new Adidas line will be coming. Look for us to expand our
offerings of youth wrestling shoes, offering the Infinity and Matman wrestling
shoes in kids through mens size 5.0.
Below we have a link about how you go about buying shoes, please take 5 to 10
minutes to complete the survey. Those that would like to enter the drawing
should leave a way to get a hold of them at the end of the survey.
Please forward this survey link to family and friends. They can have a chance to
win one of three sets of 4 VHS Gold Medal Series tapes. Valued over $100...
As always keep in touch, let us know what you think about the new shoes, you can
rate the shoes and all of our products on the site. We do view feedback on the
products...
Take care and good luck the rest of the "off season"
-Jeff Pape
NEW ASICS SHOES AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
We have added new shoes from ASICS for next season! We expect these shoes to be
in stock within the next two to three weeks. Pre-Order yours today! They include
the brand-new Fifty-Four and the new Blue/White/Red Cael!
Click Here To See Our Asics Shoes Page
Olympic Team Contact Information
Want to get in touch with an Olympic Wrestler? Want to give him or her your
financial support? Visit our site for a list of websites and email addresses for
your favorite Olympic wrestlers. If you can afford a gift to these athletes of
$25, $50 $100 or more, your support would be appreciated. As a company, we have
committed to financially supporting 3 of the athletes.
Click Here To See Our Olympic Wrestler Contact Information
COMPLETE A SURVEY AND ENTER TO WIN A PRIZE
I am doing some more research for another graduate school class, please take 5
to 10 minutes to complete a survey about how you buy wrestling shoes.
3 winners will be selected to win a 4 pack of the Gold Medal Series Videos - a
prize worth more then $100.
Click here to complete a survey
ARTICLE: Off Season Strength Training
By Jon McGovern
http://www.jonmcgovern.com
I remember the key transformation in my wrestling came when I began to wrestle
in the Hawkeye Wrestling Club through the years of 1992-1996 with guys like Tom
& Terry Brands. Among the many things I learned was the importance of a year
round strength training program. The wrestlers who had a solid year round
strength training program seemed to have the least likelihood of injury during
the season and were the most successful as well. At this point I realized that
losing weight wasn’t as beneficial to a wrestler as being lean and sometimes
that could include adding muscle. Unfortunately, when I was in high school and
college I placed to much emphasis on weight cutting instead of strength
training. My best years of wrestling and most enjoyable years where on the
international circuit when I was training with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and at
the US Olympic Training Center. It wasn’t because my opponents were any easier,
but that I had the ability to enjoy the sport more with a year-round strength
training program that allowed me to stay injury free, become much stronger, and
still have plenty of energy to train and compete.
Deciding which competition you are peaking for is the key to designing your
strength training program. Depending on your age level and skill level, most
high school wrestlers are training for the state high school tournament. Your
training schedule should work with that date in mind. There are many strength
training cycles in the high school wrestling season (hypertrophy, strength,
power, and competition, etc) Your weight lifting program should change according
to the time of season, age of athlete, strength training needs, location of any
existing injury, and knowledge of strength training lifts. While training for
high reptitions and/or time may be critical for building muscular endurance it
is not the right approach for off-season program.
The off season is a great time of year for building power and strength for the
upcoming season. In general your strength training cycle should last about 2-5
weeks, include sets in the 2-5 range, reps in the 5-8 range, intensity at about
85-90% of your maximum output and include rest periods in the 90-160 minutes
range. Your power cylce should be around 3-4 weeks, incude sets in the 2-5
range, reps in the 1-5 range at 90-95% of maximum output with rest periods in
the 120-240 minutes range. There is no better time to add explosiveness to your
wrestling than during the off-season. With that in mind let me describe a few
basic principles to help you generate more power in your wrestling performance.
Although any exercise can be performed explosively, the degree of explosiveness
depends on the degree of resistance used or that result in high velocity
movements. For this reason you should focus on high weight with low sets such as
2-4, and low repetitions such as 1 to 8 in your workout so you can concentrate
on heavier weight resistance for around 3-4 weeks during the off-season.
The types of explosive exercises that help improve power output in wrestling
include:
Snatch (Squat and power), deadlight, clean (Squat and power), pulls (clean and
snatch), jump squats, speed squats, and jerks (push and split). You may involve
creativity in you lifts especially if you have an injury to work around, such
lifts may include: weighted squat jumps, 1 legged snatches, or 1 arm power
cleans. It is essential to perfect form and technique in these lifts to reduce
chance of injury. Make sure to have a qualified instructor on hand when
performing these techniques.
Ploymetric exercises can also add speed to your wrestling. These exercises
should focus on lower repetitions to help promote maximal speed and explosive
development. Although the intensity of plyometric exercises is not clearly
defined in literature.
Plyometrics should be incorporated into your year round training plan as they
simulate acceleration throughout a movement which is often necessary when
performing scoring holds in wrestling. Remember that you should not perform to
fatigue, but allow for adequate recovery time (this will vary for each
individual – generally speaking recovery should be between 60-120 seconds.)
Plyometric training should be as sport specific as possible and could include:
jump rope, squat jumps, tuck jumps, box jumps, step ups, etc. While a 2000
resident at the US Olympic Training Center US Olympic Coach Bruce Burnett would
often have us do a variation of plyometrics footwork drills every day that would
help to increase our foot speed during a match. The in-season plyometric
exercises can be altered to include higher repetitions to help build power
endurance.
Another off-season training option includes resistance bands which are also
available as higher resistance and can be incorporated into drilling. I like to
incorporate them with a partner rather than a wall so the wrestler learns to
shoot through his double leg attacks etc. The stretch bands also offer some of
the most sport specific training available because they can be incorporated
right into your actual drilling. The use of medicine balls should also be
included in your off-season training program as they aid in the development of
explosive power as well as core strength power. All medicine ball exercises work
the core area either directly or indirectly through incorporating the hips,
shoulders, and abdominals. They are great way to start a workout and can be
added to your warm-up as you progress your body through fuller range of motions
similar to wrestling. Since you may not have training partners available in the
summer the more specific your lifting is to your sport the better. If you don’t
have anyone to wrestle find a medicine ball and realize that rarely in wrestling
are you limited to a bicep curl in your scoring attack. Since the sport involves
full range of motion in your attack – the off-season training program can
simulate this. Sets and reps for medicine balls should range in 3-4 sets with
6-10 repetitions and allow adequate rest in between each.
While I was an Olympic Training Center Resident Athlete living at the Olympic
Training Center in 2000, I noticed the power lifters would keep their lifts
within the 20-60 minutes range. When I asked the US Olympic lifters the reason
behind this they said the copied the system from the Bulgarian Olympic lifters
who were at that time was dominating the sport of power lifting. They stated
that the shorter lifts would increase the most growth hormone release and
allowed for a greater chance of power building muscle. They would train for
short 20-30 minute intervals and stay in an anabolic (muscle building) state
during the lift and then eat and recover. Longer lifts did not seem to help them
build the power they needed. This type of lifting is ideal cross training during
the off-season for the wrestler who needs to add explosiveness and power to his
scoring holds. Many people continue to increase both volume and intensity during
their lifts as they progress, the proper strenth training program should follow
this sound training advice – as the intensity of volume goes up, exercise volume
should go down and vice versa.. Please note the development of proper lifting
technique and following progressions are essential during the learning and
performance of explosive exercises.
As with all strength training programs be sure to consult with a certified
strength training professional before embarking on your power building journey.
You should avoid trying to build power and speed lifts i.e. (power lifts,
plyometrics, medicine ball, etc) at the end of your workout for reasons of
fatigue. While few wrestlers have access to every weight training piece of
equipment in a gym – knowing what types of lifts will help build you power will
give you insight into how to build explosiveness in the off-season. As
incredibly logic as it sounds; each individual may utilize different strength
training components and make gains. With that in mind make sure to not try to
reinvent the wheel, utilize what has worked for successful athletes and
incorporate these ideas into your own strength training program. Many athletes
go through what Coach Dan Gable used to call a “civilian workout”. They were the
ones who just wanted a to-do list for the weight room to check off their list of
to-do’s. Have a purpose when you go into the weight room, think of yourself
winning a state title or beating a big rival, that will keep you focused and
intense in the weight room. Remember to live in the moment and grow in the
strength and power this summer!
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