Strength Training Principles:

1. Overload: To see gains in strength you must always stimulate the muscle more than it is accustomed to. TRAIN …..OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!
2. Progression: The active muscle must continue to work against a gradually increasing resistance in order to meet overload.
3. Specificity: Gains you receive are dependent on the muscle group used, and movement pattern performed.
   • Strength (maximal force): If you are interested in strength gains you want to train with higher weights and closer to your 1 RM.
   • Endurance (sub maximal force that is repeated): If you are interested in gains in endurance, you should concentrate on lifting lower weights and higher repetitions.
4. Arrangement:
   • Warm-up - the warm-up should be "sport specific". In other words, if you are performing the bench press, begin your warm-up with a light intensity and perform 8-10 reps.
   • Stretch - it is important to stretch to promote increased blood flow to the muscles, and to increase flexibility, range of motion and decrease the risk of injury.
   • Workout - work larger muscle groups first, then smaller muscle groups.
   • Cool-down - keeps the body active and prevents pooling of blood in the extremities. The cool-down is done at a lower intensity.
5. Breathing: When lifting weight or working muscles against resistance, exhale through the mouth as you are performing the work. Caution: Failure to breathe correctly during heavy weight lifting may cause drastic increases in blood pressure that may be harmful.

A Basic Strength Training Program:

3 set’s of 10-12 reps for each exercise. Twice a day for 3 times a week!

Goal: To work each of the 9 exercises until you reach muscle exhaustion.

Gradually increase each weight on the exercise a little bit each time you work out.

1.Bench Press

2.Pull up’s

3.Shoulder: Lateral Dumbbell Raise, Front Dumbbell Raise, Upright Row, Bent-over Flys

4.Clean and jerk overhead press

5.Curls

6.Dips

7.Squat, leg press

8.Lunges

9.Abdominal Crunch

III. TACTICAL TRAINING

By Tactical Training, I mean, knowing how to wrestle against an extremely competitive opponent. Tactical Training is more “instinctive tactical training”.

To accomplish your goal, you need to make a commitment to off season wrestling at open mats and open tournaments. You should play football in the fall as a way to develop a different type of toughness, plus take a much needed break from the sport. You will find that you will actually wrestle better after the break. I would however strongly encourage you to drill once a week (usually n the mornings) during the football season.

Try to wrestle competitively as much as possible. Set a goal to wrestle no less than 50 bouts between April 1^st and August 1^st. Wrestling tournaments in Spring and Summer is essential if you want to get to the next level. There is an old saying, “summer wrestling makes winter champions”.