Wrestling Drills For Strength And Conditioning

Get Into Shape While Improving Your Wrestling Skills

Wrestling is a sport based on shoving, grabbing, slamming, pinning, and otherwise controlling an unwilling opponent. Although many other sports, such as football or rugby, incorporate these strategies to some degree, it is the primary goal of the wrestler. It is easy to see then these guys are some tough SOBs. In fact, wrestling has been one of the primary means of demonstrating manhood across cultures and throughout history. From Icelandic glima to Japanese sumo to Turkish oil-wrestling almost every culture has had some indigenous form of grappling. A quick read through anything written by early European and American physical culturists such as Hackenschmidt, Leiderman, and Sandow will reveal a consensus - that wrestling, like lifting heavy weights, is necessary for a strong, healthy, virile body. However, at some point this connection between strength, physique, and wrestling was severed leaving many guys with buffed-out beach body muscles they couldn't use to defend themselves if they had to.

The intent of this article is not to make anyone feel insecure or start some sort of physical culture revolution. My goal is to reintroduce some exercises and training methods were lost to the strength and bodybuilding world when lifting and wrestling parted ways. These exercises are designed not only to build strength and endurance, but also to add some mental toughness and competitiveness to a possibly stagnant training program. Incorporating some of these drills into your program will work your muscles in ways you didn't know possible - and also to reconnect with your inner barbarian. So read this article, watch Conan, and then give these exercises a try.

Pummelling

Wrestlers use this drill to practice getting into position to pick their opponents up and put them down hard. Begin with an over-under grip on your opponent as shown in photo A. You must maintain chest-to-chest contact with forward pressure as if you were trying to push your opponent back. Next both people will swim their right arm under the opponent's left arm. Their heads will switch sides and the result is another over-under position. Practice this motion slowly until it becomes fluid then gradually speed it up.

The point of the drill is that both wrestlers are simultaneously trying to achieve the double underhook body lock shown in photo D. This is a basic wrestling position known as the bodylock and is used for lifting the opponent. Since it is cooperative it becomes a smooth pattern in which both people try but never actually get to the bodylock. This version makes a great warm up drill or can be done for several minutes to train arm endurance. For competitiveness, toughness, and hardcore conditioning make it a contest. Both wrestlers start in the over-under position and try as hard as possible to swim both hands in and get the bodylock. During the drill they must be careful to pinch their arms in tight to prevent the other guy from getting the inside position. Once someone gets a bodylock release the grip and start again. It is amazing how much endurance it takes to go live on this drill.

   

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Kettlebell.com staff writer Brian Jones has been involved in strength and conditioning for over a decade. His formal education in the field includes a master's degree in exercise physiology and certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and USA Weightlifting. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in exercise physiology at the University of Kentucky .

Click here to read more about Brian Jones and to read his other articles.