by Wrestler and Bodybuilder, Alton Hare

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, a wrestling/bodybuilding article would really help a lot from someone who's been there. So far I've just talked to people individually but so many wrestlers are wanting to bodybuild I decided to write this. It should be short, bodybuilding and wrestling really boils down to a few basic guidelines:

  • Workouts must be as short as possible while working as many muscles as possible, so short and intense.
  • Workouts should be infrequent enough so that your wrestling doesn't suffer and you don't lose muscle, but frequent enough to cause your muscles to adapt and become strongers
  • Don't concentrate on gaining loads on your lifts, focus on stimulating muscle fibers to prevent muscle catabolism, trying to gain on you lifts will only distract from your wrestling which is much more important in seasons
Those are the basic principles, short and intense so you don't overtrain, plenty of rest for the same reason, and focusing on preventing muscle breakdown rather than trying to build yourself up. Those are the principles, but what style of training employs them? Not a traditional bodybuilding approach, something many meatheads don't even discuss because it sounds like a wimpy form of "fitness" not hard-core muscle building. I'm talkin' about circuit training. Where you go between stations without any rest (intensity), do only 1 or 2 sets of an exercise (low volume to prevent overtraining) and you can train the whole body in a short time so you only need to do it once or twice a week (frequency). It also sounds a lot like the HIT philosophy of just 1 or 2 sets to failure of an exercise, with little rest between exercises.

Its simple, a total body routine twice a week if your not under a lot of stress, or if your trying to lose weight to get into you class you should probably just go with once a week. You should try to eat right all the time and stay in your weight class, but I know most wrestlers don't have the discipline for this and just do a "quick fix" the last week or so and crash diet and run constantly, or take diuretics or wear hot clothing to sweat their weight out. That's very unhealthy but I know most of you will do it anyway. The best way to lose weight quickly is to go on a low sodium diet, eat low sodium tuna, plain noodles and rice, etc. I'd go on this diet for about a week, its really strict and very difficult, just read some labels and do some research and you'll find out how much sodium is in most foods. While on this diet I ate a banana or two EVERY day because sodium and potassium play similar roles in the body, except potassium doesn't cause fluid retention, and is much healthier, and bananas contain a lot of potassium. Don't severely restrict your carbs or protein, though you might wanna cut out some fat. You need those carbs and protein so you can concentrate in your match. So, a low sodium, high potassium, low fat diet combined with a total body circuit once or twice a week should help loads with your wrestling strength.

The workout. I'm gonna suggest a workout here but its only a recommendation. Basically you should work the muscles from largest to smallest, in quick succession with each set to concentric failure. Here's what I think is a very good workout for wrestlers:

  • Squat: 2 sets 6-8, 1 minute rest between each set
  • Chins: 1 set to failure
  • barbell rows: 1 set to failure
  • Arnold press: 1 set to failure
  • Lateral raises: 1 set to failure
  • Flat bench: 1 set to failure
  • French Presses: 1 set to failure
  • barbell curls: 21's
  • Calf presses/raises: 2 sets to failure
You probably do plenty of ab work in practice, at least we did, so I won't include that. You should go from one exercise to the next, with no rest. The key is to get in there, hit your muscles, and get out before they start breaking down. You shouldn't ever be so sore during practice that it hinders your performance. You shouldn't get very sore at all unless your just beginning, if you just beginning you might be sore after the first couple workouts but it'll go away so don't worry too much about it. I included calves because strengthening these muscles are important to wrestlers, any time you on your feet your using calves to maneuver and to generate power, so don't throw them by the wayside. You can substitute dumbbell rows for barbell rows, dumbbell presses for bench press, dumbbell curls, skull-crushers for French press, etc. etc. there's a lot of potential for variety so don't get bored. That's about all I have to say about wrestling and bodybuilding, until next time.

- Alton