Michael Martin & former NCAA Champion Wayne Boyd cover a few cool Arm Drag set ups that can be used for Ankle Picks, Trips & Throws.

Weight-cutting is to wrestlers what Kryptonite is to Superman.  It’s draining, and makes you weak… especially when it’s done by purely destructive methods such as starving, dehydrating and not strength training.  (This brutal combination is what so many wrestlers resort to, and it quickly leads to burnout and injuries).

Here is a little checklist I made to help you stay on track with weight-cutting:

SUPPLEMENTS (important for muscle preservation while cutting weight):

• L-Glutamine
• Branched Chain Amino Acids
• Meal Replacement Formula

STRENGTH TRAINING:

• 2 days per week OR 3 days every 2 weeks (ex. Monday – Friday for week 1, ONLY Wednesday on Week 2)
• Full Body workouts during in-season and weight-cutting
• 1 or 2 sets to failure on each exercise (except for plyometric or speed exercises)
• Specialization Workouts if you need work on any aspect of your technique

NUTRIENT-DENSE FOODS:

• Pecans, Walnuts
• Almond Butter
• Sweet Potatoes
• Ezekiel Bread
• Lean Red Meat (Buffalo is my favorite)
• Non-fat yogurt
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Whole Eggs (free-roam)
• Chicken Breast (free-roam)
• Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries

WATER:

• Double daily intake for 3-5 days before weigh-in (up to 2 gallons)
• 2 days out from weighing in, cut in half (1 gallon)
• 1 day out from weighing in, drink 6-8 oz every 3 hours until 3 hours prior to weigh-in

This Thursday, January 12th is the OFFICIAL RELEASE of my NEW Workouts for Wrestlers Program

FOR a FREE Copy scroll down to see how…

www.workoutsforwrestlers.com

During the wrestling season, you’ll find a bazillion wrestlers all over doing countless numbers of situps (with a partner holding their ankles), pushups and pullups (and variations).

Yes, these exercises are awesome for wrestling… well, except for partner-assisted situps.  They suck!  (when someone holds on to your ankles for fast situps, you are putting a huge amount of torque on the psoas muscles, which lead to disc issues in your back).

But so many times training is done for the “show” muscles on the front of the body with these exercises… chest, arms, abs.

So… it’s time to consider the most important muscles to train for wrestling and fighting… the Posterior Chain.  The Posterior Chain (the group of muscles comprised of the hamstrings, glutes, low back, mid back and even calves) is responsible for your mat speed and power (along with your Internal Obliques).

One of the best exercises to train the Posterior Chain group is the Glute/Hamstring/Gastroc Raise.  Generally, it’s done on an apparatus designed specifically for this exercise.  It’s my personal favorite and a MUST in all of the programs I design for wrestlers and fighters.

However, if you don’t have the apparatus and you need a substitute for them, do a Partner-Assisted Glute/Ham/Gastroc Raise:

Have your partner hold your ankles as you kneel on a towel for knee comfort.  Clasp your hands behind your head.  Use your glutes, and hamstrings to pull yourself upright.  Lower as slowly as you can and repeat.

I like this exercise during the Inseason because it can be done in the mat room along with other Inseason exercises.

** Remember**  During the Inseason you should cut your strength training back to 2 days per week to allow rest and recovery… BUT, it should be intense training to compensate.  In other words, keep the intensity high but the volume and frequency of training slightly less during the season.

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FREE Copy of the new Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength ebook!

This Partner-Assisted Glute/Ham/Gastroc Raise is just one of dozens of wrestling/MMA specific exercises in my new Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength manual.

I’m giving away this manual ($57 value) to the next 17 people who join me at Wrestling Performance!

Since 1994 we have been using a certain “unconventional” meal plan for many wrestlers who needed a daily meal plan when cutting weight…

We realized long ago that wrestlers are very concerned about the “weight” of the food being eaten, and don’t often care about what kind of nutrition they are getting.

So, we came up with a simple system that worked like a charm. It helped guys who needed to cut their weight down, didn’t have a lot of time for food prep, and wanted to eat foods that wouldn’t weigh a lot.

But it was controversial…

It even had some guys challenge if we knew what we were doing…

It caused some arguments…

But it worked!

What was it?

The Weight Gainer Weight Cutting System

Let me explain…

You get a weight-gainer powder.  (We always recommended “Heavy Weight Gainer 900″ by Champion Nutrition).  Then you mix a serving of it in water.  You then split the serving into 3 smaller, equal servings.  This gives you approximately 300 calories per serving instead of 900.  These 3 mini-servings are consumed throughout the day along with a small meal.  The small meal is usually a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, with lettuce and tomato.

The reason we started doing this was because there are a lot of nutrients in a good weight-gainer powder.  It is only food remember.  It becomes lethal when consumed in full serving sizes at once.  However, when split up into mini-servings it winds up giving you just the right amount of calories, with a perfect ratio of protein to carbohydrates.

Basically, you get a high nutrient/calorie ratio when you use a weight-gainer to cut weight.

To many wrestlers and coaches who haven’t thought “outside the box” this method is too much to handle.

But believe me, it works.  It’s worked for all sorts of wrestlers.  Obviously, with different weights (heavy weight vs lighter weight for example), there would need to be some tweaks.

——————————— IMPORTANT—————————————————–

Also… as with any other nutritional or training changes that you may want to try, do this when it “doesn’t matter” first.  In other words, try it for a couple of days when you don’t have to weigh in.  Get an idea of how YOUR body reacts.  Then curtail your plan to suit your needs.  BUT… you have to eat when you cut weight.  You have to drink water when you cut weight.  Don’t EVER let anyone tell you otherwise.  It’s not like a mixed martial artist who weighs in the day before a fight, once every 6 months.  Wrestlers do this multiple times each week for months at a time.  You MUST be smart about it:)

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After your wrestling practice or an intense workout you need something to jump-start your recovery.  This helps you recover from the workout or practice and most importantly, it prepares your body for the “next” practice or training session…

This is where a lot of wrestlers and coaches go wrong.  They don’t eat or drink the right foods after intense practices or training, subjecting the wrestler to the inevitable overtraining syndrome… where loss of strength, energy and injuries start to occur.

One way to halt catabolism (muscle break-down that occurs during intense training and practices…and which leads to overtraining if carried too far) is to consume foods that have a higher glycemic index.  These foods help replenish your muscle-glycogen storage (muscle energy).  Some of my favorite post-training/practice foods are:

• bananas
• rice cakes
• bagels
• corn flakes
• white rice
• pretzels
• “chocolate” milk
• gatorade

The key is to consume these foods within 2 hours of training/practice BUT it works much better when consumed within 20 minutes.  As far as quantities, this differs from individual to individual but usually 50-80 grams of high-glycemic carbohydrates should suffice.

You would then eat another meal within an hour or two.

Now, I know some guys are thinking this so I’ll just say it… “even if you’re cutting weight you STILL need a recovery meal after practices/training or you will get weak so fast your head will spin!”

Hope this helps…

Steve

PS.  I’m going to offer my complete “Wrestling Nutrition” system next week… It is the solution for all wrestlers nutrition programs… whether you’re cutting weight, trying to gain weight or staying the same!  Keep your eyes peeled…

Think about how you feel before a wrestling match…

Excited?

Nervous?

Hyped?

These types of feelings require you to get your pre-match meal right or you will hinder your performance, slow yourself down, and actually “reverse” the desired mental and physical hight you want to reach for your match.

First, let’s go over the rules of pre-match nutrition:

1. Your pre-match meal should be about 3 hours before you wrestle This is the amount of time it takes to digest and utilize a meal.  The last thing you want is to have stomach upset when you’re due to wrestle.
2. Stay away from high protein foods Protein is comprised of molecular strands of amino acids.  These amino acids strands are very complex in nature and require more energy to break down and digest.   Because of this you should avoid proteins before matches.  The increased digestive requirement causes you to feel sluggish and tired.
3. Stay away from fatty foods Fatty foods are never ideal before a match either.  They don’t do anything to settle your stomach and they are also a burden on your digestive system prior to wrestling.
4. Avoid foods that increase your level of blood-glucose When you eat these types of foods that increase your blood-glucose (sugar) level, your body increases blood-insulin levels to maintain homeostasis.  This causes your body to reduce its level of blood-glucose, resulting in low-blood sugar.

The trick is to consume foods prior to a match that don’t elevate your blood-glucose and don’t cause you to incur an insulin spike.

Some of the best foods to eat prior to a wrestling match are:

• milk
• peanuts
• cheese pizza (as long as it’s not too greasy)
• honey
• pasta
• oranges
• oatmeal (my favorite)
• apples

It’s also important to “like” the food you choose as your pre-match meal.  It must satisfy your digestive system AND your taste buds or it will cause you to stress your body out and negate the purpose of eating the food in the first place.

I hope this helps you guys out.

Now, on to the foods that you should eat before you wrestle…

I’ve found that when you stick to foods

When you break down a takedown into steps, you take a big step with your lead foot.  Because this is basic to initiating a takedown, it makes sense to include Lunges in your training program.  A traditional Lunge mimics the first step in a takedown.

But there is a variation of the traditional forward Lunge that most wrestlers don’t do… and SHOULD!  Let me explain…

On Monday, October 10th I’ll be releasing the NEW ”Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength” Program.  It’s a downloadable ebook that’s over 100 pages of jam-packed training and nutrition to prepare wrestlers for total strength and conditioning in ONLY 8 weeks!

In this new ebook you’ll learn:

• The best exercises to increase your strength to dominate the competition
• How to convert your strength into speed for lightning-fast takedowns
• How to eat depending on your body fat level… (this is a completely unique approach to wrestling nutrition)
• How to mix strength, speed, power and conditioning training into an 8 week program
• The best way to increase your cardio without losing muscle
• The Advanced 6 Minute Conditioning for wrestling program… a cutting-edge Kettlebell program to improve takedown speed and takedown defense
• Meal plans to follow for ultimate results in only 8 weeks. (WARNING:  This is the secret to making outstanding strength and conditioning progress for the mat in just a few short weeks)
• … and so much more!

But before I release the program to the public I want to give you an opportunity to get it FREE!! Plus, I’m giving away the original “Ultimate Wrestling Strength” package.  (total value over $100)

All you need to do is leave me a post telling me “how you got into wrestling” and “why the Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength 8 Week Program is something you should have”!

That’s it…

Just leave a post answering these 2 questions and I’m going to go over all the answers this Saturday, October 8th.  I’m going to choose 5 winners, and will post the winners HERE on Saturday night!

Good luck!

Steve

PS.  This program is by far the best, most-effective strength and conditioning program I’ve ever created for wrestlers.

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…And the Winners Are…

First, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to tell me your story.  It’s great to hear how you all got into the great sport of wrestling as well as why my new Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength program would benefit you…

As you can imagine, it was brutally tough to decide who the 5 contest winners should be… especially because everyone’s story is unique and important.

So… what I did last night was gather my 25 favorite posts.  I then put the names into a hat (my good luck Penn State cap), and pulled out the 5 winners.

The Winners of the Ultimate Wrestling Strength Platinum Package that includes the NEW Advanced Ultimate Wrestling Strength are……… drum roll……………………………………..

1. Jayson Kim

2.  Greg Evershed

3.  Zachary Fenton

4.  Steven Neeley

5.  Russell Smith

Congratulations to all the winners, and a huge thanks for all who entered.  If you are one of the 5 names above, send me an email to:  webmaster@wrestlingperformance.com and I’ll respond back with a download link!

How To “Prepare” For The Hydration Test is the nature of this post…

Notice that I didn’t write How To “Beat” The Hydration Test or How To “Cheat” The Hydration Test, or How To “Trick” The Hydration Test.

This is because the hydration test is actually your best friend as a wrestler. It forces a wrestler to come in at a hydration level that is acceptable for health. It also forces you to be as strong as you should be for the wrestling mat. Let me explain…