ExRx.net

My wrestling season was recently ended, and I have one more chance to win everything, however, I feel like my main shortcoming is not that of strength or technique, but rather endurance.

I often find myself fine throughout the first two-minute period, during the second one I start to slip, and by the third one I'm pretty much done. Heaven forbid if I have to go into overtime, I just have to pray for the best. I can will myself through the first two periods, however, by the middle of the third my mind always seems to succumb to the fact that I'm just not up to the challenge of wrestling full-out for six minutes (or 7, if overtime is needed).

I've been reading things, and what I've seen most people agree upon is this : No amount of aerobic training can really help you reach an elite level of fitness when it comes to a short, intense anaerobic sport such as wrestling. I myself witnessed it, as I could run at a moderate running pace, 8-10 MPH, for extended periods if time, however, I would always feel much more winded and exhausted after only 4 minutes of wrestling, regardless of the fact that I could run for 40 minutes and feel less tired.

So, I've come to ask whether any of the fitness gurus on here could help me with my problem, so I won't have it for next year. Obviously, wrestling year-round, every day, in match conditions, would be the best way to increase my durance, but this is not an option. Is simply sprinting all-out on a track for six or seven minutes the best thing to do? Any help would be appreciated,

Brad

Hi Brad. Ex-wrestler here, although it was a long time back. Coach didn't buy into the slow moderate runs at all. He had us doing fartlek training, (sorry, don't have it bookmarked, but a search on "fartlek training" will pull up various sites) which are basically unstructured intervals, along with the usual regular wind sprints, Round Robins with 3 wrestlers, (2 going at it, 1 resting, changing every 30 seconds).
Now, seeing that you're going to start over, I would suggest you look into Crossfit for an offseason, non specialization type of training. They combine pretty much every thing; i.e strength, strength endurance, some cardio, but mostly in intervals, etc, and it lends itself nicelyto MA and wrestling.
http://www.crossfit.com
Another good source of info would be to go to http://www.athletes.com
You will find a separate section on wrestling, with articles, routines, and a forum. You should be able to find lots of info there as well.
Good training.
Tim

Forgot another excellent source, complete with articles, and a forum, by and for, wrestlers.
http://wwwgrapplersgym.com
Tim