Next season will be upon you before you know it. Have you taken the time to analyze what areas you need to improve on? Have you made a plan for the offseason yet? Or are you the 3 month a year wrestler that hopes to be better next year? Just hoping to be better will not help you jump levels next season. If you want to compete at the highest level in this day and age you must train year-round. That does not mean that you must train and grind like the regular season. But what it does mean, is you have to find ways to improve your wrestling all year round. Below I have listed 4 ways to jump levels in the off-season!
- Go out for other sports
- Strength train on a regular schedule
- Go to Wrestling Camps
- Wrestle Freestyle and Greco Roman
Go out for other sports
There are 2 high school sports seasons before the next wrestling season. Go out for another sport. There is plenty of research out there that says being a multi-sport athlete is very beneficial. I believe the biggest and most important benefit is competing. There is nothing better than competition, whether it is grinding out a tough win or suffering a tough loss. It is not important which sport, just compete! By going out for another sport, you just might get other tough athletes to join the wrestling team. If they know your #1 sport is wrestling but they see you on other teams, they may jump on the wrestling bandwagon.
Strength Train Year-Round
Strength can be a huge advantage in wrestling. If all else is equal in a match, strength can be the determining factor of who wins. Most, if not all, high schools in Kansas now have strength training programs year-round. Schools have strength training in their physical education curriculum, they have strength training sessions before school and after school, and they have strength training in the summer. My point is, if you want and need to get stronger, you have ample opportunities in most high schools to do so. It is important to strength train year-round. Becoming stronger and continually making gains takes discipline and consistency.
Go To Wrestling Camps and Clinics
If you want to improve during the off-season, you should go to as many camps and clinics as you can. In this day and age there are camps and clinics all over and it should not be hard to find some in your area. Summer camps are great opportunities to improve your wrestling skills in a fun relaxed atmosphere. If your team is going to a team camp then GO! This is a great time for team bonding! This is also a great opportunity to hang out with other like-minded wrestlers. As a coach, I loved it when my athletes went to camps and learned from other coaches. Maybe my way of teaching a technique was not getting through but something clicked when another coach or athlete showed the same technique. One word of advice, do not try to master every single thing taught at these camps and completely change your style of wrestling completely. This will only frustrate and overwhelm you. My advice, try to pick only 1 or 2 techniques at each camp to master and add to your arsenal.
Wrestle Freestyle and Greco Roman
It is now only the beginning of April and already the best high school wrestlers in Kansas have competed in several events. They have competed at the Kids State Tournament, in Border War matches against surrounding states, and at Folkstyle nationals just to name a few. It’s not too late to get into the action. Freestyle and Greco Roman (Freeco – new term being used for both styles) are just starting up. Don’t get left behind!
Freestyle and Greco Roman are the international styles of wrestling. The state season runs through the spring with national events running in the summer. I know what a lot of high school wrestlers are thinking, ‘The high school season is such a grind, I don’t want to go through that in the spring and summer as well’. That could not be farther from the truth. The Freeco season is not even close to the grind of the regular season. It is an opportunity to learn new skills in wrestling and test those skills at tournaments.
The benefits of Freeco are immense! I have seen wrestlers make huge gains and jump levels from one season to the next by getting involved with the Freeco season. In my opinion, the largest benefit to wrestling Freestyle (and there are many) is that you must learn to finish takedowns quickly and efficiently. If you do not finish your shots in Freestyle, your opponent can very quickly tilt you and score lots of exposure points. Learning to finish shots in Freestyle carries over to shots in Folkstyle. Likewise, the largest benefit to wrestling Greco Roman is improving hand-fighting skills and staying in great position. In Greco Roman, athletes are not allowed to attack opponents legs or use their legs to trip. You learn very quickly to stay in good position, while still attempting to attack, so you don’t get launched for some huge throws. This again carries over to Folkstyle wrestling in big ways and big wins!
Please help by posting comments below on other ways the 4 ideas above will help wrestlers jump levels next wrestling season that I did not mention. Also, post comments about other ideas to help wrestlers improve in the future.
Remember, If your weaknesses at the end of last season are still your weaknesses at the start of next season, then you wasted your summer!