The “What it Takes” Series
By Katie Downing
What it takes to excel in wrestling is a love of work, the will to expect more of oneself, and the drive to seek out new ways to push oneself above and beyond the workload that only gets a wrestler through the day. This series is designed for wrestlers who desire a little extra training to reach that next level. Some of these workouts are meant to be supplements to practices or team lifts. They can be done by a group of wrestlers during the season. Some of these stand on their own as workouts, and are meant to be almost the equal of team practices. Wrestlers can use these as a way to keep up their training over the summer when practice schedules are relaxed, or when they are traveling. All of these workouts are designed to require little or no equipment.
Workout #2
Long Functional Series
The functional series can be used as a warm-up, as an addition to a regular practice, an aerobic workout on its own, or a low impact weight cutting workout. Essentially, this workout is like an aerobics class. It is just a series of exercises. As a warm-up, the series should take a total of about 10 minutes. As an addition or a workout on its own, the series can take as little as ten minutes, or as much as an hour. Wrestlers can ask the coach to call out each new exercise, or a group of wrestlers can each take turns calling out the next exercise. The standard amount of time I’d recommend for each exercise is 30 seconds, but wrestlers can go down to 10 seconds if they want to go harder or faster, or they can go up to 1 or 2 minutes for each exercise if they want a slow burn at low intensity. Below I’ll just list a bunch of possible exercises. Wrestlers can choose to do them all, or pick out a certain set of exercises to do each time. Also, if the wrestlers want to select a set of 10 exercises, they can just repeat them as many times as they want to make the series as long as desired.
Exercises:
-jumping jacks
-cross country skiers: just like jumping jacks, except that you move your arms and legs forwards and backwards instead of side to side
-speed skaters: crouch into a stance, hop off of the left foot to the right, then the right foot to the left-hop as far as you can in each direction-you should hop side to side in the same place over and over again
-swivel hips: keeping your shoulders facing forward, hop straight up and down while swiveling your hips left and right
-mountain climbers
-squat, thrust, jumps: some people call these burpies
-jog in place
-butt kicks in place
-high knees in place
-shuffle left and right: three shuffles each direction, over and over
-lunges in place: you can go forward, backward, or side to side
-pushups: regular, arms wide, arms close, hands together, hands out in front of the head, clap pushups, etc.
-squat, thrust, roll, jump: squat down to your hands, thrust your legs back, roll to the right, bring your legs back in, stand, jump up, squat, thrust, roll left, stand up, jump-repeat
-quick feet: in a stance, keep feet wide, and jog as quickly as possible-one person can call out left, right, up, or down- left=keep shoulders forward, twist legs to the left, then center (quick), right=same to the right, up=tuck jump, down=sprawl-after each thing, go right back into quick feet again, every motion is as quick as possible
-up downs: sprawl and stand over and over, you can pick if you sprawl to one hip or the other, or if you sprawl both legs at the same time
-bear crawl: forward and back 3-5 steps each direction
-carioca: left and right, 3-5 steps each direction
-crab walks: forward and back, 3-5 steps each direction
-squats: in stance squat until knees are bent 90 degrees-these can be slow or fast
-squat jumps: squat down and jump up as high as possible
-sprints/suicides: sprint a given (short) distance and back over and over
-walk
-tuck jumps: jump up, bringing knees to the chest, then straighten legs to land
-split jumps: you get in a stance and step one foot forward, then you’ll squat down and jump up and switch your legs in the air (you’ll land with right leg forward, jump, land with left foot forward)
-broad jumps: feet together, jump forward 3 times, turn and jump 3 back-use your arms, and squat your butt almost to the ground in between each jump so that you go as far forward as possible
-shuffle, sprawl, shuffle: in stance, shuffle 3 steps to the left, sprawl, shuffle 3 to the right, over and over-keep your steps short and quick-stay low in stance
-box step up jumps: step one foot onto a box (3-12 inches) thrust opposite knee into the air as you jump up as high as possible, land with the same foot on the box, then switch-use your arms like you would to run or skip (when you step up with right foot, and thrust left knee up as you jump, then your left arm starts up in the air and comes down as you jump, and your right arm starts at your side and ends in the air)
-box jumps: both feet together, jump straight up onto a box (1-3 feet) and back down, or feet together and jump up sideways and down, turn and do the other side
-1 leg box jumps: jump up onto a box with one leg at a time
-1 leg box squats: with one leg on a box, and the other hanging to the side, squat down like you’re sitting down-this is for balance and strength
-1 leg squats: get in a stance, and squat down on one leg with the other leg forward-this one is also for balance
-rope climbs
-think up as many other exercises as you can!