The whistle that marks the end of the first period of your match has sounded. His heart is racing and he can barely breathe. You’ve been running 2 miles every day, just like your coach and dad told you. So why are you tired after just 2 minutes? Running long-distance conditioning runs the body’s aerobic energy system to use energy for a long period of time, where wrestling requires us to maintain high energy levels very quickly and recover in a short period of time.
As much as a fighter needs to have his heart on the mat to win, he also needs to condition his heart long before the fight begins. A strong and well-conditioned cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels) will allow the body to receive more oxygen and a greater volume of blood with each pump of the heart. It will also allow the fighter to maintain a high level of effort for a long time. Obviously, such cardiovascular conditioning will improve both the health of the young man and his performance in wrestling. In Part 1 of our series on cardiovascular training, we learned how the body is affected during exercise. We learned how our body uses ATP for energy and how aerobic training helps us recover from anaerobic exercise tips. When we talk about training, we are not trying to take away anything that coaches are doing during practice, we are just explaining how training affects the body.
In part 2 of our series on cardio training, we’ve made a change to our program so that we can get deeper into cardio training by digging into the different types of resistance we use as fighters.
What is the goal of resistance training for wrestlers?
In a sport that many spectators characterize as sudden and explosive attacks and counterattacks that are executed repeatedly for a duration of up to 6 minutes or until an opponent has been immobilized, the need for resistance training is simple, to develop the system power production (s) to meet the demands of a wrestling match. The average wrestling match has been documented to have an explosive attack executed approximately every 6-10 seconds. For top athletes, resistance training is just as important as technique training. When it comes to a wrestling match, weekend tournament wrestlers who lack good muscular endurance and aerobic / anaerobic conditioning will start to tire while fighting in the later rounds.
What types of resistance are there?
Endurance is your body’s ability to maintain a high quality of work in the face of fatigue. There are 4 main types of endurance, aerobic endurance, anaerobic endurance, speed endurance, and strength and power endurance. All 4 require a good level of aerobic conditioning to maintain them.
Aerobic resistance
Aerobic means “with oxygen”. During aerobic exercise, the body works at a level where oxygen and fuel demands can be met by the body’s intake. Physiological adaptations to aerobic exercise involve some of the following:
Respiratory system:
Improved oxygen exchange in the lungs
Improved blood flow through the lungs.
Decreased submaximal respiratory rate
Decreased submaximal pulmonary ventilation
Cardiovascular system:
Increased cardiac output
Increase in blood volume, the number of red blood cells and the concentration of hemoglobin.
Decreased heart rate at rest.
The foundation of almost any sports conditioning program is good aerobic capacity. As we mentioned before, a good solid postseason and offseason aerobic conditioning program will be the foundation for the upcoming season. So what does all of this mean for a fighter? Having a good level of solid aerobic conditioning will ensure that your heart beats slower but stronger, moves greater volumes of oxygenated blood (which is important for your muscles), and you breathe slower.
Anaerobic resistance
Anaerobic means “Without oxygen”. During maximal anaerobic exercise, the body works so hard that oxygen and fuel demands exceed the delivery rate and the muscles depend on stored fuel reserves. Few sports show the anaerobic stress that wrestling produces. Most of the body