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 #13

Medicine Ball Workouts

Workouts with medicine balls and sand bags are great for core strength and conditioning. You can add med ball exercises to a wrestling practice or a lift, you can add med ball exercises into any circuit, or you can make circuits just of med ball exercises. You can do med ball exercises with a partner, or you can use a wall and the floor.

Over Head Throw

Grab the med ball on the sides, lift it over your head, and throw. Use your whole body to propel the ball, not just your arms. You can keep your feet planted shoulder width apart, or take a step as you throw like you would throw a baseball. With a partner, stand 10 to 30 feet apart, depending on how hard you want to throw. With a wall, you’ll want to stand 5 to 10 feet away. The distance you pick depends on how fast you want to go-the faster you throw, the closer you stand. Fast throws are for conditioning, longer distances are for power.

Chest Pass

Hold the med ball at the sides against your chest and throw straight forward to your partner or the wall. You can use your body a little bit to gain momentum, but this exercise is mostly with the arms. You can stand with your feet planted, or you can take a step as you throw like you would a baseball. Use the same guidelines as the over head throw for distance from the wall or your partner according to how fast you want to go.

Twisting Throw

Stand sideways. With a partner, it’s best if you each stand sideways facing opposite directions, because you’ll be throwing across your body. If you stand with your right foot forward, put your left hand on top of the med ball and your right hand on the bottom. Keep your arms out straight in front of your body. Twist your torso as far back as you can, twist your body forward (keeping your arms straight the whole time) and let go of the med ball right before you get all the way twisted to the front. Keep your feet planted shoulder width apart. Once you’ve done a set one way, switch sides so that you are facing the other way. Now your left foot is forward, right hand on top, left hand on bottom. Use the same guidelines for distance and speed as the over head throw. You can use a partner or the wall.

Wood Choppers

Stand with your legs planted a little wider than shoulder width. Grab the med ball by the sides, lift the ball over your head, and throw it down as hard as you can and catch it off of the bounce. Always do wood choppers as fast and has hard as you can. With a partner, your partner tosses the ball up to your hands right above your head. You catch the med ball on its way up, and bring it down hard. Your partner should be ready to catch the ball off of the bounce and toss it up to you quickly. Again, use your whole body to throw the med ball down, not just your arms. It should simulate an exaggerated snap down.

Keg Throw

Stand with your feet planted shoulder width apart, with your back facing your partner or the wall. Dip down with the ball between your knees, and arch your back as you throw the ball over your head. You want to throw the ball straight back so that it would hit your partner in the chest. Don’t let go to early so that the ball goes straight up in the air or makes a big arch. Don’t let go to late so that you throw the ball down to the ground a few feet behind your head. Use the over head throw guidelines for how far you stand from the wall or your partner. Use your whole body so that the momentum of your body sends your arms over your head. Don’t use your arms to throw the ball.

Squat Thrusts

This one is going to be a single person exercise. Stand with your legs planted about shoulder width apart. Hold the ball on the sides. Squat low, and on your way up, throw the med ball as high as you can. You can use an underhand throw-with your hands on the sides, you bring the ball down between your legs and throw. You can also bend your arms with your hands a little more toward the bottom of the ball, and keep the ball about chin level and throw. You can catch the ball on its way down, or catch it off of the bounce, depending on how fast you want to go.

Partner Throw Sit Ups

You sit on your butt with your feet flat on the ground in front of you with your knees bent like a regular sit up. Your partner can stand in front of you and toss the ball to your chest. Catch the ball on your way down, and toss it back to your partner on your way up. Your partner can stand behind you as well. Then, as you sit back into the sit up, your partner tosses the ball to your chest or stomach. You want to time it so that you catch it on the way down, then you sit up, and throw the ball backward over your head on the way up again.

Windshield Wipers

Lie flat on your back with your arms flat on the ground straight to the sides to keep your balance. Then lift your legs straight up, and put the med ball between your legs. Point your toes in, and pinch the ball between your calves. Then you twist at your waist, keep your legs straight, and lower the med ball to the side until your foot almost hits the ground, then twist the other way. This is a slow and controlled exercise. Keep your legs straight, and when you get to the bottom, your body should always make an ‘L’ shape. Don’t get lazy and let your legs slide away so that you make a ‘V’ shape at the bottom.

Decline Bench Partner Throw Sit Ups

If you have a decline bench where you can hook your legs in at the top, you can do this exercise. Your partner tosses the med ball to your chest, you keep the ball close to your chest as you sit back into a sit up, and you chest pass the med ball back to your partner as hard as you can. You should try to knock your partner backward with your throw.

Leg Lifts

Lie flat on your back, and put the med ball between your legs. Point your toes in, and pinch the ball between your calves. Keep your arms flat to the ground straight out to the sides or straight down beside your body. Lift the ball up with your legs until you reach 90 degrees, keeping your legs straight the whole time. Bring the ball down until you almost touch the ground, and lift again. You can also do hip raises by bringing the ball to 90 degrees, and use your abs to lift your hips off of the ground. Always raise the ball straight up, don’t cheat by letting the ball rock forward and back as you lift your hips. You can also do a leg raise, and then do a hip raise when your legs reach 90 degrees, then lower them back down into another leg raise. Finally, you can also do twisting leg raises. As you lift the ball up, twist the ball so that your feet twist 90 degrees by the time you reach the top. Your hips will come off of the ground about an inch as you twist. Lift and twist one way, bring the ball back to the center, lower it almost to the ground, then lift and twist the other way. This exercise can be a little awkward if you don’t control your motions the whole time. You want to make sure that when you’re twisting at the top, the ball goes straight up rather than arching back toward your head each time.

Partner Throw Side-Side Sit Ups

You sit on your butt, knees bent, and feet a few inches from the floor. You can cross your ankles to keep your feet together as you do the exercise. Your partner tosses the ball to your chest, you catch it, keep the med ball close to your chest, and twist as far as yo u can one way, then the other. When you get back to the middle, chest pass the med ball back to your partner as hard as you can. You can also hold the med ball lower near your stomach, and touch the ball to the ground when you twist to each side.

Frog Jumps

Hold the med ball on the sides, or cradle it by holding it to your chest with your elbows underneath the ball. Start with your feet about shoulder width apart, squat down and jump forward as high and as far as you can. You always want to land with both feet hitting the ground at the same time. You can also do squat jumps where you squat down and jump up as high as you can straight up and down. You can also do tuck jumps holding the ball by starting with your legs straight, jump up and bring your knees up as high as you can. With all of the jumps, you want to go right into the next jump without stopping. It should be a fluid motion so that as you land on the ground, you are already bending down into the next jump.

Push Ups

Put your feet together behind you in good push up position. Put the med ball under your chest, and put your hands right on top of the ball or squeezing the sides. You can point your hands forward to make it harder, or point them down on the ball to make it easier. Then do push ups, keeping your back straight the whole time, and bringing your chest down to touch the ball each time. Then do push ups with one hand on the ground at shoulder width, and one hand up on the ball on the other side. Do a set of pushups on one side, then switch the ball under the opposite hand. It’s good to do a set of three so that you do a set of regular pushups, then go right into a set of pushups on one side then the other in a row.

Twisting Lunge

Hold the med ball at the sides, keeping your arms straight out in front of you. Then do forward walking lunges with a twist. As you step forward with your right foot, twist your torso to the right side as far as you can. Keep your arms straight the whole time. Lunge down so that your knee touches the ground or almost touches the ground. You want your bent knee to make a 90 degree angle with the floor at the bottom of the lunge. It’s hard on the knees if you let your knee bent forward over your foot too far. As you step up straight again, bring the ball back to the center, and step forward with the left leg and twist to the left. This should all be a fluid motion. This works the legs because of the lunge, and it works the abs because of the twist, and it works the shoulders because you keep your arms straight. You really want to concentrate on the twist so that you use your momentum to bring the ball around. If you stop in between each step, or you don’t twist hard enough, your arms will start to hurt too much because you aren’t using your abs and core strength enough. You should always have fluid, continuous motion, but always keep control of your motion. You want to be able to step straight forward with your feet always facing straight forward. Don’t let your legs start swinging all over the place to the sides, or let your feet get all twisted as you walk and lunge.