starting wrestling

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hawkpatriot

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Jul 20, 2004
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I'm a freshman in high school, looking for another sport to play. I've decided on wrestling this winter for the school, but have never wrestled before. Any tips or helpful info on starting wrestling would be greatly appreciated, as I want to know as much as I can about training and beginning this for the firts time. Thanks for your help.
 
cardio cardio cardio. get lean. hydrate hydrate hydrate. do isometrics. You'll be wrestling in weight classes, so the more strenth & less mass you have, you'll be better off. listen to your coaches- they'll give you pointers on nutrition & strength training. Eat right & get plenty of sleep.
 
I wrestled from 7th grade thru college. Endurance is the key. If you don't pin your opponent quickly ride him hard and put him away wet.

A win is a win!!!

and SLAM them cross faces' in there!!!!!!.hard and fast!!
 
the harder you work the better you're going to be. give everything you have during every practice and every match and you'll be much happier in the end. also; don't just wrestle, become a student of the sport. watch film of both your matches and other matches to learn what works and what doesn't.
 
Patience and a good mental attitude are important, because you're going to be eating the mat a lot at first. Don't worry, this is normal. You have to be tenacious: never give up! Your confidence, like your strength and ability, will grow with experience.
 
alot of advice will be given by many of us, like cardiovascular training, etc. but I'll give you a bit of advice (take it or leave it) that is a bit less common. While cardio is well and good, don't neglect weight training either. Strength is important, but technique will be critical.

Ready for the uncommon advice? don't drop weight classes, unless you TRULY have the fat to spare. And even then do it slowly. By the time kids spit, run, starve, and sweat themselves to the next wight class down they aren't any stronger, and often time weaker than they would have been just staying where they were, and can also lose a serious mental edge.

Also don't try to learn every single move out there, especially your first year. go for three basic takedowns, three basic pins, and three basic escapes/reversals. etc. don't overwhelm yourself.

Another pointer- talk is cheap. ignore at least 90% of it. screw what they say the other guy's gonna do to you, think about what you're gonna do to HIM. Everyone is quick to say not to underestimate your opponent, well ya' know what? don't overestimate 'im either.

And finally....don't go out there and get pissed off. it actually weakens you in the long run. the mat is no place for emotions, if someone talked garbage, or whatever, wait 'till after you beat him to get angry.


Listen to your coaches, and never quit trying to find ways to improve yourself. If you find yourself in doubt of what a coach has to say, ASK YOUR PARENTS. I had a few incidences in wrestling I wished I'd deferred to my parents judgement.

and finally....be careful of your knees. that means don't twist or overtorque them. God only gives ya' one set, and once you break 'em, they aint never the same. (learned that the hard way...just before States, my senior year)

Anyhoo, best of luck to ya'!

BTW, what weight class are you looking at?
 
Did wrestling in HS myself...

I was 185lbs, and wrestling guys 200lbs+ since our school didn't have a pile of guys my size. I learned to flow with contact, since that guy with 20lbs on you will land on you harder than the guy thats within 5lbs +/- of you. If you make it that much harder to take down, you spend less time eating mats(and something that's absorbed sweat for some time, doesn't taste too well).

Cardio and strength training are tops. You are going to be going all out for those few minutes in the ring, and it's going to seem hard for the first competition when you do the matches and stay warmed up(we had mats in the other gym to keep practicing on).

I FUBAR'd my right knee in grade 11, last month of school. Twisted it nicely in practice. Hobbled about on a cane for a month, and was still unable to wrestle again in the fall.
Days vary now, from shooting pain on every step, to more or less able to jog... 3yrs later.

Get and wear knee braces, your body will thank you later.
 
Thanks to everyone for the tips and help. One more question: Whats the whole deal about dropping weight classes? I weigh 181, and the closest weight classes are 171 and 189. What are the rules about weight in wrestling? Are you supposed to stick with one class the whole season? And can you weigh less, say, than the 189 lb. class (like 185 or 187) and still wrestle in it? Thanks for any answers you might have.
 
hawkpatriot said:
Thanks to everyone for the tips and help. One more question: Whats the whole deal about dropping weight classes? I weigh 181, and the closest weight classes are 171 and 189. What are the rules about weight in wrestling? Are you supposed to stick with one class the whole season? And can you weigh less, say, than the 189 lb. class (like 185 or 187) and still wrestle in it? Thanks for any answers you might have.
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The theory is that you can dominate a weight class if you're bigger, so you have a lot of guys who cut weight like crazy to get to the next lowest weight class. It didn't really work that well for me, though. I cut weight and then wrestled like crap, because I was too tired to perform well. Then I moved up two weight classes (yup, two) and did a lot better. There's nothing wrong with losing a few pounds, but, unless you're overweight, you shouldn't do more than that. You can seriously mess up your health if you get carried away with it. And, yes, you can wrestle in a weight class even if you weigh less than the maximum allowable weight.
 
Don't try to emulate the "WWF professional wrestling" you see on TV on Friday/Saturday night on channel 13...That stuff isn't real.:rolleyes:.
 
High school wrestler here.

My pieces of advice are as follows....First, ENJOY it! It's a LOT of fun, however depending on where you're at the the level of competition and CAN be very frustrating and to be honest scary starting so late in your life. I was just like you and joined the team my freshman year, the weight class I started in, 160, was JAMMED full of kids that had wrestled almost their entire lives. I wanted to quit the first week, but thankfully my father wouldn't let me. He said I could decided I didn't want to do it the next year, but I had to finish what I started. I'm glad he did, it wasn't long before I caught on and I ended up wrestling all 4 years (of course the next problem I had after that was not taking it seriously and injuring myself). So have fun, you're only going to wrestle in high school once and it's a blast. Best high school sport available.

My second peice of advice is cardio cardio cardio, tempered with functional strength training and flexibility. In my opinion the best thing you can do is starting working on back and neck strength, and I would accomplish that by working on the wrestlers bridge. If you want some good training routines that are in my opinion the best for this sport look up Coach Davies on the web, he's a strength training coach that's focus is core, functional training.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Except for the akwardness of the high school years I almost wish I could go back just for wrestling! :D

Have fun

Jared

PS: Just like Nathan said, pick a comfortable weight class you can work in. There's no reason to make yourself sick or make the experience unenjoyable.
 
Thanks for the great advice Jared.

And Glockman, I aint that stupid... WWE wrestling aint real, and it's kind of dumb... except for the chicks ;)
 
True story here. My Stepson, who I have raised since he was about 9, has always been a good athlete, but is not a big guy. His determination gets him through a lot of stuff, that a normally motivated person couldnt get through. He was a Basketball player in Junior High, and really only made the team due to his never quit attitude. But, the coach would only let him play, if the outcome of the game was already determined, since he was only about 5' 5" and 125 lbs. Still, he wanted to try out for Basketball in High School.

I told him to forget Basketball; why put yourself through it again? Go out for the wrestling team. You are guaranteed to compete, and you WILL get in tremendous shape; plus, the girls love wrestlers.

So, he took my advice. Went into wrestling as a Freshman, with no experience whatsoever, and won about half his matches on guts and determination alone. He put on muscle and girls started to flock around him. He has strong legs, and would get guys in a leg lock around their waist, and a lot of his opponents would scream in pain and some would quit. His next year, he had even more experience and won a lot more matches with better techniques. Still, his attitude and determination took him to another level, I'm sure.

Basically, the advice you have already received here is sound. Remember, that your positive attitude and some never quit determination are always gonna be a big help.
 
hawkpatriot said:
...And Glockman, I aint that stupid... WWE wrestling aint real, and it's kind of dumb... except for the chicks ;)
Click to expand...
Yah...The chicks.:D.
 
hawkpatriot said:
Thanks to everyone for the tips and help. One more question: Whats the whole deal about dropping weight classes? I weigh 181, and the closest weight classes are 171 and 189. What are the rules about weight in wrestling? Are you supposed to stick with one class the whole season? And can you weigh less, say, than the 189 lb. class (like 185 or 187) and still wrestle in it? Thanks for any answers you might have.
Click to expand...
To go into a little more depth about weight classes and dropping... Sometime mid-season (early January usually), you get a 2 pound growth allowance. This means every weight class moves up 2 pounds (for you, that'll mean 173 and 191 instead of 171 and 189). Most people regard this not as a chance to grow, but as a chance to drop another weight class, especially in the middle weights, which are divided by about 5 pounds (119-152). Sometimes that's wise, sometimes it's not. Anyway, for districts (and hopefully regionals and states) you have to wrestle at a weight you wrestled at for at least half of your weigh-ins (in FL the limit is 18 weigh-ins per season, getting 2 weigh-ins for tournaments even if they're only one day). One more note on weight... you get an extra pound the second day of wrestling in a row, even if you didn't wrestle the first day (only one team has to and the whole tourney gets bumped up a pound). My point is, it's rare that anyone stays in one weight class all season because the weight classes are so screwy. Best of luck to you, and stick with it; in my room we had a sign that said "Those who stay will be champions." I entirely believe it to be true.
 
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