Wrestling Cardio

Cardiovascular Training For Wrestlers

By Mike Fry-Grappler's Gym

When the whistle blows and the match begins it's too late to wonder if you're cardiovascular training is going to carry you through to the end.  Wrestling is a high intensity sport. Thus, conditioning for wrestling calls for high intensity training.

 In addition wrestling not only requires high intensity power output but an ability to sustain this output for up 6 minutes. Cardiovascular conditioning is one of the most important aspects of a wrestler's training but many times we see wrestlers during the season running for miles only to find themselves tired after the first minute of a match. Many wrestlers ask why this is; the answer is simple, they are training the wrong energy system.

In part 1 of this series on cardiovascular training we will look at the body from the heart, muscles, and lungs. Let's take a look at how exercise affects the body.

When we exercise, our muscles use ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for energy. ATP is the only form of energy the muscles can use. Since this is true, if there was no ATP already synthesized and stored in the tissue cells, you could not perform immediate strenuous work, such as picking up a heavy object, or walking up a flight of stairs.

The following events occur in the cell to produce ATP energy:

First, there are about 4 seconds worth of ATP already stored in the cells. After this period of sustained muscle contractions ATP in the working muscle is exhausted and the cells resort to the use of Creatine Phosphate and ADP to create more ATP which can provide energy for about another 25-30 seconds.

Therefore, the cell has a total combined storage of energy available to last up to about 30-35 seconds during sustained muscle contraction before the cell must resort to the conversion and use of stored muscle glycogen.

When energy is needed for longer than 30-35 seconds, stored muscle glycogen is broken down to produce ATP. The end product of this process is then converted into Pyruvate which can also be used for ATP production in the presence of oxygen.

So what does that mean to our bodies?

Well since the heart and lungs are somewhat slow in delivering oxygen during the onset of aerobic activity, the pyruvate is used for energy until the heart and lungs catch up and can keep up with the oxygen demand.

The rate of breathing is extremely labored at the onset of aerobic exercise because the heart is not yet beating fast enough to provide an adequate volume of oxygenated blood to the working muscles, and the lungs are trying to compensate until the heart does catch up.

Once the heart catches up and can provide sufficient oxygenated blood, the respiration decreases, when this happens its called getting your second wind. With that in mind, as your heart becomes stronger, more oxygen will be transferred through the blood system into the muscles.

This will help prevent early fatigue. As your mind adapts to an increased workload, you will be able to ignore the discomforts that precede fatigue.

The Energy Delivery Systems

During the course of a wrestling match both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems are called upon to supply the energy demand. When an athlete trains by running 2 miles a day they are training their aerobic energy system (also referred to as VO2 Max).

This system is considered to be the basis for all athletic conditioning. For wrestlers a good solid aerobic training program during the off-season will prepare them for the more intense demands of the season.

It's good to remember that recovery from anaerobic exercise occurs through the aerobic system, so that throughout a match, at those times when the intensity may be decreased, the aerobic system will provide the energy to renew the aerobic system.

In part 2 of our series on cardiovascular training we will focus on what exercises provide the best results for wrestlers and how to prepare your training for the upcoming season.


Cardiovascular Training For Wrestlers:  Part 2

The whistle has blown marking the end of the first period of your match. Your heart is racing and you can hardly breathe. You have been running 2 miles everyday just like your coach and dad told you to.

So why are you tired after only 2 minutes? Running long distance conditioning works the body's aerobic energy system to use energy over a long period of time, where with wrestling we are required to sustain high levels of energy very quickly and recover in a short period of time.

As much as a wrestler needs to have heart on the mat to win, they also need to condition the heart long before the match begins. A strong, well-conditioned cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels) will enable the body to receive more oxygen and a higher volume of blood with every pump of the heart.

 It will also allow the wrestler to sustain a high level of exertion for a long time. Obviously, such cardiovascular conditioning will enhance both the youngster's health and their wrestling performance. In part 1 of our series on cardiovascular training we learned how the body is affected during exercise.

We learned how our body uses ATP for energy and how aerobic training helps us to recover from anaerobic bouts of exercise. When we talk about training we are not trying to take any thing away from what coaches are doing during practice only explaining how training affects the body.

In part 2 of our series on cardiovascular training we have made a change to our program so we can take a deeper look at cardiovascular training by going inside the different types of endurance that we as wrestlers use.

What is the objective of endurance training for wrestlers?

In a sport that many spectators characterize as sudden, explosive attacks and counterattacks that are executed on a repeated basis for duration up to 6 minutes or until an opponent has been pinned, the need for endurance training is simple, to develop the energy production system(s) to meet the demands of a wrestling match.

It has been documented that the average wrestling match has an explosive attack executed approximately every 6-10 seconds. For top level athletes endurance training is just as important as training for technique. When it comes to a wrestling match, weekend tournament wrestlers who lack good muscular endurance and aerobic/anaerobic conditioning will start to tire as they wrestle in the later rounds.

What types of endurance are there?

Endurance is the ability of your body to maintain a high quality of work in the face of fatigue.

There are 4 major types of endurance:
--aerobic endurance
--anaerobic endurance
--speed endurance
--strength and power endurance.

All 4 require a good sound aerobic conditioning level to maintain them.

Aerobic Endurance

Aerobic means "With Oxygen." During aerobic exercise the body is working at a level that the demands for oxygen and fuel can be met by the body's intake.

Physiological adaptations to aerobic exercise involve some of the following:

Respiratory System:
--Enhanced Oxygen exchange in the lungs
--Improved blood flow throughout the lungs
--Decreased submaximal respiratory rate
--Decreased submaximal pulmonary ventilation

Cardiovascular System:
--Increased cardiac output 
--Increased blood volume, red blood cell number, and hemoglobin concentration
--Decreased resting heart rate

The basis for almost any sports conditioning program is good aerobic capacity. As we mentioned before a good solid post-season and off-season aerobic conditioning program will be the foundation for the upcoming season.

So what does all this mean to a wrestler? Having a good solid aerobic conditioning level will ensure that your heart beats slower but stronger, moves greater volumes of oxygenated blood (which is important for your muscles), and you breath slower.

Anaerobic Endurance

Anaerobic means "Without Oxygen." During anaerobic exercise at maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles rely on stored reserves of fuel.

Few sports display the anaerobic stress that wrestling does. The majority of the body s musculature is subject to prolonged, short bursts of high intensity efforts during the course of a match.

To ensure that wrestlers have the anaerobic capacity to compete, let's look at what anaerobic endurance is and how it affects the body. Anaerobic endurance (capacity) refers to the maximal amount of energy that can be produced during the first 15-90 seconds of all out effort.

The major limitation on anaerobic capacity is the build up of lactic acid in the working muscles, a by-product of metabolism when the demand for oxygen in the working muscles is not met. Lactic acid causes the muscles to fatigue by disrupting biochemical reactions that produce energy for muscle contraction (The feeling you get in your forearms and lower back during and after a match).

The effect of training for anaerobic endurance is to increase the muscles tolerance to lactic acid so that there is a corresponding resistance to fatigue.

Speed Endurance

Speed-endurance training improves your ability to tolerate increased amounts of lactic acid in your system and lessens your feelings of fatigue as you wrestle at high intensity.

High speed drilling is a good way to develop speed endurance and when incorporated with chain matches or grind matches, will also help develop high levels of anaerobic conditioning. Running, swimming, bicycle riding at high speeds or for a given distance or time will also help increase your tolerance for lactic acid buildup.

Strength Endurance/Power Endurance

Strength endurance is the specific form of strength displayed in activities which require a relatively long duration of muscle tension with minimal decrease in efficiency.

There are two types of strength endurance:
--dynamic strength-endurance
--static strength-endurance.

Dynamic strength-endurance is best known for movement during swimming, running, or rowing, where there is a repetitive motion executed in short rest intervals.

Static strength-endurance is associated with activities where it is necessary to exert isometric tension of varying magnitude and duration.

An example of when strength endurance for wrestling matters most is late in the 3rd period. You shoot a single leg take down and your opponent sprawls down hard on your back.

Pulling the leg into your body and being able to stand up with it to finish your move when your tired requires endurance. You will see many wrestlers slowly start to flatten out and not have enough static strength-endurance to hold the leg and keep their body upright.

Power endurance is another specific form of strength training that involves the recruitment of fast twitch fibers over a prolonged period of time.

As mentioned above, anaerobic conditioning improves resistance to fatigue in a time frame of 15-90 seconds of all out effort; in the same way power endurance training can shorten the recovery time needed to produce explosive movements over a prolonged period.

An example of power endurance in wrestling is the ability to take that last second shot with extreme explosiveness to win the match and avoid going into overtime even though you are dog tired. Another example, outside of wrestling and inside the weight room, is when a person is doing box jumps.

 If you have an athlete perform 40 continuous box jumps, by about 10 or so (depending on the height of the box) that athlete will start to slow down (the extreme opposite of what we are trying to accomplish with box jumps) and probably have cut his shin on the edge of the box because of the inability to produce power past a certain point.

Instead of doing 40 continuous jumps we would rather prescribe 10 sets of 4 or 8 sets of 5 jumps, hardly ever needing to go over reps of 5 unless utilizing a kettlebell, with rest in-between. You could say it's kind of like interval training but with explosive and/or ballistic movements (kettlebell swings, Olympic lifts, plyometrics, etc.)

In conclusion, cardiovascular training for wrestlers is more that just running 2 miles or riding your bike around the block. As you are starting to see, wrestling is about anaerobic conditioning.

Aerobic conditioning plays a major role in providing a good solid foundation for cardiovascular training but it s the anaerobic weight training and conditioning that will carry you to the top of the podium.

In part 3 of our series we will take what we have learned about the body and endurance and use it for designing your own wrestling workouts to help you become the best conditioned wrestler on the mat.

Cardiovascular Training for Wrestlers:  Part 3

It’s the end of regulation time and you have ended the match in a tie. You’ve left everything you had on the mat in the 3rd period and now only have 30 seconds to get ready for overtime.

Your body is tired and your muscles are shaking from fatigue but you need to reach down deep, pool every last ounce of energy you have because this is the time that separates the champions from the winners.

Now you say Mike, separating the champions from winners what are your talking about, champions are winners. Well not exactly, what I mean is if you wrestle long enough you’re sure to win a match or two but unless you have the motivation and intensity to push yourself during your training sessions and wrestling practices you will never reach your true potential.

Many factors are involved in development of champion wrestlers. In addition to skill, ability, and the knowledge of the sport, one must be strong and well conditioned. When two highly talented wrestlers compete for the crown, strength and conditioning are often the variables that determine the difference.

As we have stated in other articles always consult your coach or trainer prior to starting any of the programs that are discussed in these articles. We have tried all of the workouts mentioned and have seen great results from them but understand that not everyone will benefit from them the same as we have. We have talked about them for educational purposes only.

A Quick Review

Before we start the overtime period lets review what we have learned to this point.

• Endurance is the ability of your body to maintain a high quality of work in the face of fatigue.

There are 4 major types of endurance:
--aerobic endurance,
--anaerobic endurance,
--speed endurance,
--strength and power endurance.

All 4 require a good sound aerobic conditioning level to maintain them.

• Aerobic means “With Oxygen.” During aerobic exercise the body is working at a level that the demands for oxygen and fuel can be met by the body’s intake.

• Having a good solid aerobic conditioning level will ensure that your heart beats slower but stronger, moves greater volumes of oxygenated blood (which is important for your muscles), and you breath slower.

• Anaerobic means “Without Oxygen." During anaerobic exercise at maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles rely on stored reserves of fuel.

• Speed-endurance training improves your ability to tolerate increased amounts of lactic acid in your system and lessens your feelings of fatigue as you wrestle at high intensity.

High speed drilling is a good way to develop speed endurance and when incorporated with chain matches or grind matches will also help develop high levels of anaerobic conditioning.

• Strength endurance is the specific form of strength displayed in activities which require a relatively long duration of muscle tension with minimal decrease in efficiency.

There are two types of strength endurance:
--dynamic strength-endurance
--static strength-endurance

• It has been documented that the average wrestling match has an explosive attack executed approximately every 6-10 seconds.

Creating The Total Package
With all this information, how do we go about creating the total package? Many wrestlers just go to practice and wrestle in tournaments and do no type of strength training at all. Many feel that if they do train in-season that it will do more damage than good.

In the article Strength Training and Conditioning for wrestling: The Iowa approach posted in the National Strength and Conditioning Journal talks about “the misconception that wrestling practice and competition alone will maintain strength and power in season is incorrect bases on their experience, in that “hard” wrestling and running without routine maintenance lifting will often result in a loss of muscle mass.

Moreover, wrestling may not stress the explosive capacity of the muscle to the same degree as lifting. Thus wrestling in the absence of lifting will likely lead to a loss of strength and power in an individual who had previously strength trained”.

So you’re sitting at home reading this article thinking to yourself “Ok, I have a weight set and a new pair of running shoes so how do I design my own workout program. Well for starters your need to look at what stage of training you’re in.

This article is being written in October so we will start with the preseason phase of training. In preseason training your goal should be to maintain the strength and power developed during the off-season while increasing anaerobic conditioning levels. Workouts should be limited to 3-4 days per week and consist of total body circuit program or dumbbell complex.



People ask me all the time why do you choose working out with dumbbells over a heavier barbells and that answer is simple.

1. I like to train movements, not muscle groups. Training with dumbbells allows you select resistance training exercises based on their similarity to actual movements that occurs during sports. For example, both squats and leg presses effectively train the quadriceps. However, squats are performed in a sport-specific position (standing) while the leg presses are done from the prone position (on your back)

2. I believe that sometimes it’s prudent to sacrifice maximal increases in strength in order to train sport-specific movements. With the squat, for example, athletes sometimes place too high a priority on how much weight they can lift. For many athletes, exercises such as one-legged squats, lunges, or side lunges provide a good opportunity to train sport-specific movements.

How To Start Training The Four Endurance Systems

Aerobic Endurance training:

The basis for almost any sports conditioning program is good aerobic capacity. As we mentioned before a good solid post-season and off-season aerobic conditioning program will be the foundation for the upcoming season.

Aerobic training can be any activity that keeps your heart rate at 60-65% of max HR for more than 30 mins. Swimming, jogging, bike riding, are all examples of exercises that will help build your aerobic conditioning levels.

Anaerobic Endurance:

To ensure that wrestlers have the anaerobic capacity to compete, let’s look at what anaerobic endurance is and how it affects the body. Anaerobic endurance (capacity) refers to the maximal amount of energy that can be produced during the first 15-90 seconds of all out effort.

The major limitation on anaerobic capacity is the build up of lactic acid in the working muscles, a by-product of metabolism when the demand for oxygen in the working muscles is not met.

Lactic acid causes the muscles to fatigue by disrupting biochemical reactions that produce energy for muscle contraction (The feeling you get in your forearms and lower back during and after a match). The effect of training for anaerobic endurance is to increase the muscles tolerance to lactic acid so that there is a corresponding resistance to fatigue.

Anaerobic training outside the wrestling room can be accomplished by many different means. We will focus on 2 different methods stationary bike and running. Also see the workout listed in table 1 for anaerobic training in the gym.

Stationary Bike
Warm up: 4 mins
Work interval: 20 secs (pedal all out) 
Rest Interval: 10 secs (stop, only move pedal to keep timer going)
Total intervals: 8
Cool down: 4 mins

Total time 16 mins

Running

Visit your local football field.

Warm up: Jog for 4 mins at a slow pace to loosen up and warm up your muscles.
Work interval: starting at the goal line, sprint to the 10 yd line and walk back to the goal line and do 10 push-ups, continue by increasing your sprint by 10 yds each time and walking back to the goal line. Do pushups after each return to the goal line.
Total intervals: 10
Cool Down: 4 min jog

Power endurance:

Training for power endurance involves using loads of 25-30% of ones 1RM (one rep max) and doing 10-30 repetitions consecutively in as powerful a manner as possible. This can be tough at first and you should start off with only 10 reps and work up gradually until you reach your desired rep max. Complete 3 sets and use exercises that will tax the prime movers and are sport-specific.

The use of kettlebells in your training is another great example of power endurance. High rep snatches and cleans and presses (25-30 reps) using kettlebells is a great way to tax your muscular endurance and conditioning levels. Flipping tires and sledgehammer drills are also ways to work your power endurance.

Another good way to build anaerobic conditioning and maintain power endurance at the same time is to perform the workout listed in table 1. This work out will simulate a real match by having you perform a explosive exercise ever 5-10 seconds for up to 3 mins. It has been documented that in wrestling an explosive attack happens every 6-10 seconds so why not train for it as it happens.

When we first tried this workout we quickly realized what was meant by power endurance due to the short break your muscles don’t have time to recover as fast as they would in a normal lifting program. We like to do dumbbell clean and presses when completing this workout but for those of you who are trained and comfortable using Olympic lifts power cleans work just as well.



Table 1

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8

Exercise

Rest between reps 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5

Set time 70 90 110 130 140 155 165 180

% 1RM 40 40 35 35 35 35 35 35

Sets 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Rest between sets 75 65 55 50 45 40 30 20

Speed endurance

Speed-endurance training improves your ability to tolerate increased amounts of lactic acid in your system and lessens your feelings of fatigue as you wrestle at high intensity. High speed drilling is a good way to develop speed endurance and when incorporated with chain matches or grind matches will also help develop high levels of anaerobic conditioning.

Running, swimming, bicycle riding at high speeds or for a given distance or time will also help increase your tolerance for lactic acid buildup.

For this workout we will stick with stationary bike riding.

Warm Up: 5 mins
Work interval: 30 seconds (max speed 135-145 rpm)
Rest interval: 90 seconds (slow speed 80 rpm)
Cool Down: 5 mins

Total Time: 25 mins

As you get closer to the season increase your resistance level and increase your work time by 15 seconds until your working 1:1 with work and rest times.

While in the wrestling room you can perform high rep takedown drills for a set period of time. Try keeping track of how many takedowns you do during that time period that way you the next time you do the drill you can try and top that number.

If you really want to improve on your conditioning and muscular endurance levels, complete your anaerobic / aerobic training prior to practice, this will cause your muscles to tire and fatigue so your takedown drills and wrestling will be conducted using your technique and not your muscle. This will simulate an overtime peroid right from the start of practice.

Dr. John Berardi used a great example for training 4 weeks prior to a season by conducting all 4 endurance exercise groups in the same week.

It looked something like this:

Monday – Plyometrics and Aerobic conditioning
Tuesday – Anaerobic conditioning
Wednesday – weighted power training (30% of 1RM, 4 sets / 4-8 reps)
Thursday – Aerobic conditioning
Friday – Dynamic (ballistic)
Saturday – Power Endurance (30% of 1RM, 10-30 reps based on training level)

You can also create a great total body program using only 2 dumbbells and about 20 mins of your time by completing Coach Javorek’s Dumbbell complex # 1.

Dumbbell Upright Row x 6

Dumbbell High Pull Snatch x 6

Dumbbell Squat Push Press x 6

Dumbbell Bent Over Row x 6

Dumbbell High Pull Snatch x 6

Dumbbell front lunge + side lunge x 10
(complete front lunge each leg 1 rep - side lunge each leg 1 rep)



Perform in a non-stop, continuous order as listed above. Go through the exercises twice for beginner, three times for more advanced athletes.

For different sport the number of repetitions for each exercise and the number of cycles could vary, determined by the coach or personal trainer. For a remarkable cardio-vascular stimulation of this exercise, the number of repetition for each exercise could be gradually increased. Wrestlers could gradually increase the number of repetitions and the weight, to achieve a higher quality specific endurance and power in domain of endurance while reducing the rest time.

The important thing to understand from this article is that it’s ok to train during the season if you understand what and how to train. If you’re looking to keep your strength and become the best wrestler that you can be some times you need to look outside the box and see what others are doing.

Think of this for a moment. What top college programs today do wrestlers look up to? Minnesota, OSU, Iowa, all programs that weight train during the season. So let’s learn from the best and get back into the gym and train.

About The Author

Mike is the owner of Grapplers Gym and http://www.grapplersgym.com/. Grapplers Gym is the home for advanced fitness and conditioning for today's combat athletes. Some of the best grapplers in the world turn to Michael and Grappler's gym when looking to take their game to the next level.

Michael has worked with combat athletes from around the world which include members of The Brazilian Top team, fighters from Pride, UFC, and also Olympic team members. If you're a combat athlete you owe it to yourself to get in touch with Michael and the team at Grapplers Gym today... mike@grapplersgym.com.

Michael Fry is the owner of Grapplers Gym and www.grapplersgym.com. Grapplers Gym is the home of advanced fitness and conditioning for today’s wrestlers. Subscribe to our FREE weekly Newsletter! Each issue is crammed with free training tips, articles, programs, exclusive discounts, strength/conditioning news and many more surprises. Mike can be reached by email at mike@grapplersgym.com