Warm-up to Win Your Wrestling Match!

                Most wrestlers seem to know that warming up before physical training is an important way to reduce the risks of an injury.  But few wrestlers effectively use a good warm-up routine to help them win matches.  When I attend a wrestling event, I can often tell how a wrestler will perform in a match based on what I see in the warm-up. 

                Some of the important physical reasons to warm-up include getting the heart rate elevated, the blood circulating, and the muscles ready for action.  A good warm-up also stimulates your body’s nervous system to release important hormones associated with the “fight or flight” response.  Warming up before a competition has psychological benefits as well.  These are more important than the physical benefits. 

                The more we care about our performance in a match (and the tougher we perceive the opponent to be) the more we tend to think about it.  As a person thinks about things, he begins to draw more inside himself.  In fact, there is a funny stereotype about nerdy people that are socially awkward because their brains are moving 100 miles an hour and they are not really focused on what is going on around them.  When this happens to a wrestler, we say that his “head is not in the game.”  In reality, the opposite is true; his head is TOO MUCH in the game.  The conscious, thinking part of the brain is turned up and the reacting part is turned down. 

                Here are some signs that tell me that my brain is turned up too high:

1.       My feels a little cold and I feel drawn into myself.

2.       I feel tired, even though I am in shape to wrestle hard for a two-hour practice.

3.       I just want to get the match started and “get it over with.”

4.       I feel tightness in my chest—just a little squeezing pressure that makes me want to take a deep breath and get things stretched out.

To a certain degree, these responses are completely normal.  In fact, a certain amount of mental stress is necessary for optimal performance.  When these feelings are on a higher level than usual, it’s time to get your body moving.

A good warm-up that will prepare you physiologically and mentally will take about 15-20 minutes.  Keys to a good precompetition warm-up:

GET WARM! 

The light jog that I see most wrestlers doing before a tournament is a good start, but make sure to actually get warm.  Either jog a little faster or put on extra clothes.  You can cheat this a little by taking a hot shower before you warm-up.  I once saw world champion Dennis Hall jumping rope with a plastic top on (before the days that they were banned).  One your body starts to sweat a lot you can move to specific wrestling activities. 

DO EXPLOSIVE MOVEMENTS

                Prime your body’s fast-twitch muscles by doing explosive jumping movements, clapping push-ups, short bear crawls and spin drills.  Each of these should be short in duration (4-6 seconds).  Because you are already warm, their purpose is simply to prepare yourself to move fast.

SITUATION WRESTLING AT 100% INTENSITY

                You can do some light drills of your favorite moves if you really want, but is that really necessary at this point? Is the 5^th time you hit the move in a warm-up any better than the first time?

                I remember watching two wrestlers warm up about 45 minutes before the NCAA finals one year and what they were doing made a lot of sense to me.  They would wrestle at what appeared to be 100% intensity for about 10-20 seconds in the positions they were most likely to get into in their matches.   They were in shape to wrestle hard for two hours, so they weren’t likely to tire themselves out.

AFTER THE WARM-UP, BEFORE THE MATCH

                After the warm up, change into dry clothes.  Have a clean, dry t-shirt so you don’t develop a chill before your match.  Even a stocking cap or a ball cap is a good idea to help you stay warm.   If you have 30-40 minutes before you compete, it might be helpful to take in about 12-16 ounces of a sports drink like Gatorade. 

Once you have established a good warm-up, all you need to do before your match is elevate your heart rate with a few short sprints, even if you have several matches throughout the day.  Ten minutes before each match do about five or six 10-yard sprints.  Some shadow drilling will keep your heart rate up and keep you in the right mindset.  They key is not to push it too hard in the minutes before the match.  Just stay loose.