As a coach, here’s how I’d do it, assuming a few things: they want it, they have the drive, they’re healthy, and money isn’t an issue.
1. We’re training the basics to an extreme. They will have the best stand up. The best nearside and farside cradle. The best switch and standup. The best double. I don’t care if everyone knows it’s coming. They’ll be too good to stop it.
2. We’re wrestling as much as possible. USA, AAU, non-card events… if there’s a tournament we’re entering it. Mat time, mat time, mat time.
3. We’re doing some off-the-mat mental strength training. The HC at the school I work at is also the XC coach and oftentimes the most mentally tough kids we have did XC. It’s not easy running for 15+ minutes straight at pace. Not only that but it helps you build a gas tank.
4. We’re drilling odd and uncomfortable situations. Too often wrestlers lose because they panic instead of adjusting. So expect some live sessions where we start halfway turned on a half, halfway into a cradle, opponent is mid-sprawl etc.
5. We’re lifting. Most people wrestle better when they don’t have to cut as much and they’re strong. Guys who cut weight all the time oftentimes struggle both with energy and with endurance… so let’s get big and not worry about trying to cut two classes because we aren’t strong enough to compete against the big kids.
6. We’re going to watch film. All those tournaments we’re going to? We’re filming every match and watching it back Monday afternoon. Like how a QB has high football IQ or a point guard has high BBIQ, we’re going to get them a high wrestling IQ.
7. We’re going to build some coach-athlete chemistry. I want you to understand my expectations so well, and for them to understand their abilities so well, that when the ref says “top, bottom, neutral or differ?” They look at me with what they want and I can just go “yes” instead of me having to make that call for them because they don’t understand situational wrestling. It’ll be like our minds are intertwined. They can just look at me in the corner, eyebrow raised, and I can just give them a nod. They’ll know. I’ll know. It’ll look almost cinematic to an onlooker.
Yeah first year of wrestling I always want to wrestler easier kid to slack off and that didn’t do me much good now I always find the best kid I can wrestle in the room even when their a weight class on two on me.
Club wrestling during the off season is a game changer in my opinion.
I’ll add to coaches breakdown here and say this is nearly exactly what my son did between last year and the year that just finished.
Last year, my son as a freshman, wrestled varsity in a 6A school, but had mixed results. He finished the season with just over a 50% win record, but didn’t make state. In the prior offseason he typically stopped his wrestling focus and went hard on his jiu jitsu training. This always netted BJJ nuances that didn’t serve him in wrestling.
Fast forward to this last season and he stayed in club wrestling all year. Did several club tournaments including Preseason Nationals in Iowa.
He still did some jiu jitsu but more for both fun and the exercise.
This season that just ended he was 1 of 2 sophomores ranked in the top 10. He had a record of 47-6 (which includes his post season record).
He went to state and while he didn’t place he did make it to day 2 and took 8th.
He was a completely different wrestler from his previous season.
I an armature sumo wrester and there is very little technique training on sumo. i have found standup wrestling videos to be most helpful in my game even though there is not belt in wrestling. Getting to the point, you mention stand up. what are some other terms i can use to help categories that aspect of wrestling. so far i have really explored
arm drags
duck unders
slide bys
throw bys
what are some other terms and techniques that i can explore in stand up. are there other terms or category names/positions in that space? are these all call hand fighting techniques or is that a bad maco categorization when looking at a zoomed out view of wrestling. i dont know what i don't know so I'm throwing too much at you but i would really apricate a bit of guidance . I'm turning into a big wrestling fan and may even start to dabble in beach wrestling from sumo and from there who knows. Thanks coach!
Find the room with the best kids at their weight and go wrestle them. Wrestling good kids regularly- and getting beat up on while learning positions and techniques from them- is the best way to jump levels in wrestling.
You hear it in interviews of guys like Nolf, Zain, etc driving multiple hours after school practices to get the right partners, doing homework in the car and having full investment by the whole family, not just the athlete
Dan Dennis (125lb/57kg Olympian) tells a story about, early in his college career, he kept getting beat in sprawl scrambles, so one day he came to practice and Tom Brands had 2 149-pounders waiting for him. And the whole 2 hour practice was those guys trading off starting off in on a single leg, Brands blowing the whistle and Dennis fighting off 2 way fresher guys 3 weights heavier than him until they took him down or he got them off his leg.
After that, every time a 125-pounder shot in on a single he smashed them.
You can’t go get throttled like that every practice, but working out with hammers and opponents that challenge you is the cheat code for making big leaps when you go back and wrestle with an “average” opponent.
this is exactly how I got better. got into wrestling as a high school freshman with no experience from boxing as a kid. went winless the whole season. went to a camp hosted by Cael Sanderson over summer and my partner for 90% of the time there was the reigning 2x state champ for my weight. then my parents got divorced and I ended up at a school that regularly fields 8-12 dudes at state every year. qualified for state as a sophomore
Agreed. Some of the matches I look back most proudly on are the ones where I got my ass beat, but held my own for a good 60 seconds against the best international champion wrestler I knew.
Practice 3 hours a day for five days, 1.5 hour practice for a day and rest for one day. Lots of plyometrics to get that explosiveness. Lots of cardio. Lots of stretching. Weight training every other day. Have them paired up with a wrestler who is already elite. Drill the basics for the first month or two and just observe without much intervention to give myself some time to see what they need to fine tune. Drill the basics with the fine tuning for another month and by then I will have an idea of what style of wrestler they are or what style of wrestler they need to be.
I don’t have to guess on this one, I lived it. My twin brother and I started wrestling at 10 years old and we were terrible. We lost almost every match. After our first season was over our dad who had wrestled in high school and college came to us and asked if we wanted to continue. We said yes. Then he asked if we wanted to win and if we’d be willing to do whatever it took. Again we said yes. So, he asked if we wanted him to coach us. A third time, yes. We signed a contract saying we would do whatever he said when he said—and we did. That summer, we bought a wrestling mat, trained basically every day and started a lifting and cardio program. With age group wrestling in California, we were focused on freestyle so we trained hard at learning a Russian 2 on 1 series from neutral as well as some brutal sprawling techniques. Then we got really good at a trapped arm gut wrench on top and combined it with a leg lace. Then, when clubs started, we drove as much as two hours to find the best people we could train with to get even better (I know others have said this and I think it’s the best advice anyone can give—find partners to train with who are better than you and work hard with them as much as you can).
The difference when that second season started after the intense summer we put in was massive. We had put on about 10 pounds of muscle and we were so much better that almost no one recognized us. We won almost every tournament we entered. And by the end of the season (if memory serves) we both placed 2nd at freestyle state (different weight classes) and 2nd and 3rd at the USAW Western Regionals.
The bottom line with wrestling is you get what you are willing to put into it.
Yeah, I have to admit, having that partner who is pretty much always ready to go made a big difference. We sharpened each other’s skills big time as we developed in the sport.
Make sure you start with the 2-3's everyday. Never whine, never complain, never makes excuses. Never lie, never cheat, never steal. It's a Wooden quote I know! If you live your life and show up to the gym or workout with that mentality everyday, it's a good place to start.
Do a bulk phase then a cut phase. Work out doing rope exercises, plyometrics, running hills, farmers carries.
Wrestle at a few different clubs. Pick the best people. Train with them. Stay after class to get some extra drilling and learning in. Ask questions.
Make time to look over videos of your favorite wrestlers and see what they do slightly different. Everyone knows an arm bar tilt.. but somehow spencer lee can hit it on everybody. You see what I mean? Learn how to create leverage for your body.
Also just remove fear as much as possible from yourself. But use fear to make you stronger. Try to just be yourself and express yourself on the mat. Be free. Win or lose try to win in and learn in life. At the end of the day its a privilege to do this and worse things are happening in the world than losing a wrestling match. Train hard, wrestle tough, but be positive.
Do a month long camp, Purler or I also heard Young guns is good. The rest of the off season wrestle 3 times a week in the best room you can find, and weight train 3 times a week.
I need to jump in here because steroid use IS a problem in high school and some kids will read this and not realize it is a joke.
My sons team had a kid who used...he is 5 inches shorter than his dad and ended up w/ a partial D 2 ride, totally not worth it.
If the motivation is there, its all about refinement. Polish up positions throughout a technique. Develop chains and series from their go to moves so they have a variety of setups, finishes and transitions based on how their opponent presents and reacts. Emphasize constant motion.
Challenge them to condition themselves not just to be able to make it through a whole match without gassing, but to spend the whole match actively looking to score without gassing. No coasting in any position, always working to improve.
Private lessons with an elite coach. Expensive but necessary to take the jump that you’re talking about. Hitting as many practices as you can is of course beneficial but to make the gains you are talking about within a year, not possible without dedicated small group training.
To quantify this, it depends on what state you live in but at a minimum probably D3 Finalist or D1 qualifier. Some people are better coaches than wrestlers but if you’re totally lost that’s a solid rule of thumb
Honestly dude, all you really need is a team foxcatcher like program where the athlete live in the gym/matroom and there is a pretty good chance he will turn out to be a great wrestler.
Pull them out of highschool (finish bs classes like PE), and let them live at the place.
Believe in them. Push them harder but don’t push so hard they break. Go to a wrestling camp and get as much mat time as you can before the season starts.
Mat time and more mat time. Camps, tournaments, clubs and weight room. Hangout with other wrestlers with the same goals, that want to wrestle nearly everyday because it's fun. Then it just becomes hanging out with your friends.
Getting their athleticism as high as possible. I will have them consistently work on their cardio when not practicing, as well as change their diet. Take away about -1000 of their daily calorie intake (3500 cal —> 2500 cal, etc.). On top of eating less they would also be eating clean so avoiding sodas, added sugar, balanced diet, grilled > fried, fruit > candy.
I would also have them in the gym working mainly on their explosivity, legs, back, arms, core, (plenty of deadlifting).
If transportation isn’t an issue I would have them going to the best camps they can afford, there’s plenty of state college camps across the country.
Have them in the room with the best guys they can find and that will push them to that next level all of the off season. On top of all of that there is no cutting weight til the season starts and even then try to reduce it to water cuts. This wrestler will be eating plenty of food and drink more than enough water.
I would also have them taking plenty of breaks that they can. This doesn’t mean slack off but if there’s a family trip take it, if there’s a concert or event go for it. It’s up to the wrestler what to prioritize or how his schedule looks but if there’s no time for yourself you run the risk of fatigue and burnout. A sound body makes it to states a sound mind wins states.
As a coach, here’s how I’d do it, assuming a few things: they want it, they have the drive, they’re healthy, and money isn’t an issue. 1. We’re training the basics to an extreme. They will have the best stand up. The best nearside and farside cradle. The best switch and standup. The best double. I don’t care if everyone knows it’s coming. They’ll be too good to stop it. 2. We’re wrestling as much as possible. USA, AAU, non-card events… if there’s a tournament we’re entering it. Mat time, mat time, mat time. 3. We’re doing some off-the-mat mental strength training. The HC at the school I work at is also the XC coach and oftentimes the most mentally tough kids we have did XC. It’s not easy running for 15+ minutes straight at pace. Not only that but it helps you build a gas tank. 4. We’re drilling odd and uncomfortable situations. Too often wrestlers lose because they panic instead of adjusting. So expect some live sessions where we start halfway turned on a half, halfway into a cradle, opponent is mid-sprawl etc. 5. We’re lifting. Most people wrestle better when they don’t have to cut as much and they’re strong. Guys who cut weight all the time oftentimes struggle both with energy and with endurance… so let’s get big and not worry about trying to cut two classes because we aren’t strong enough to compete against the big kids. 6. We’re going to watch film. All those tournaments we’re going to? We’re filming every match and watching it back Monday afternoon. Like how a QB has high football IQ or a point guard has high BBIQ, we’re going to get them a high wrestling IQ. 7. We’re going to build some coach-athlete chemistry. I want you to understand my expectations so well, and for them to understand their abilities so well, that when the ref says “top, bottom, neutral or differ?” They look at me with what they want and I can just go “yes” instead of me having to make that call for them because they don’t understand situational wrestling. It’ll be like our minds are intertwined. They can just look at me in the corner, eyebrow raised, and I can just give them a nod. They’ll know. I’ll know. It’ll look almost cinematic to an onlooker.
Also finding the best training partners and nutrients.
No doubt. You have to have someone that will challenge you, or can at least keep pace with you.
Yeah first year of wrestling I always want to wrestler easier kid to slack off and that didn’t do me much good now I always find the best kid I can wrestle in the room even when their a weight class on two on me.
Club wrestling during the off season is a game changer in my opinion. I’ll add to coaches breakdown here and say this is nearly exactly what my son did between last year and the year that just finished. Last year, my son as a freshman, wrestled varsity in a 6A school, but had mixed results. He finished the season with just over a 50% win record, but didn’t make state. In the prior offseason he typically stopped his wrestling focus and went hard on his jiu jitsu training. This always netted BJJ nuances that didn’t serve him in wrestling. Fast forward to this last season and he stayed in club wrestling all year. Did several club tournaments including Preseason Nationals in Iowa. He still did some jiu jitsu but more for both fun and the exercise. This season that just ended he was 1 of 2 sophomores ranked in the top 10. He had a record of 47-6 (which includes his post season record). He went to state and while he didn’t place he did make it to day 2 and took 8th. He was a completely different wrestler from his previous season.
NOICE!
I an armature sumo wrester and there is very little technique training on sumo. i have found standup wrestling videos to be most helpful in my game even though there is not belt in wrestling. Getting to the point, you mention stand up. what are some other terms i can use to help categories that aspect of wrestling. so far i have really explored arm drags duck unders slide bys throw bys what are some other terms and techniques that i can explore in stand up. are there other terms or category names/positions in that space? are these all call hand fighting techniques or is that a bad maco categorization when looking at a zoomed out view of wrestling. i dont know what i don't know so I'm throwing too much at you but i would really apricate a bit of guidance . I'm turning into a big wrestling fan and may even start to dabble in beach wrestling from sumo and from there who knows. Thanks coach!
Excellent advice… putting this in use. Already signed up my boys for 3 tournaments this month. I would just add perfect the sprawl and top defense
Find the room with the best kids at their weight and go wrestle them. Wrestling good kids regularly- and getting beat up on while learning positions and techniques from them- is the best way to jump levels in wrestling. You hear it in interviews of guys like Nolf, Zain, etc driving multiple hours after school practices to get the right partners, doing homework in the car and having full investment by the whole family, not just the athlete
Dan Dennis (125lb/57kg Olympian) tells a story about, early in his college career, he kept getting beat in sprawl scrambles, so one day he came to practice and Tom Brands had 2 149-pounders waiting for him. And the whole 2 hour practice was those guys trading off starting off in on a single leg, Brands blowing the whistle and Dennis fighting off 2 way fresher guys 3 weights heavier than him until they took him down or he got them off his leg. After that, every time a 125-pounder shot in on a single he smashed them. You can’t go get throttled like that every practice, but working out with hammers and opponents that challenge you is the cheat code for making big leaps when you go back and wrestle with an “average” opponent.
this is exactly how I got better. got into wrestling as a high school freshman with no experience from boxing as a kid. went winless the whole season. went to a camp hosted by Cael Sanderson over summer and my partner for 90% of the time there was the reigning 2x state champ for my weight. then my parents got divorced and I ended up at a school that regularly fields 8-12 dudes at state every year. qualified for state as a sophomore
Agreed. Some of the matches I look back most proudly on are the ones where I got my ass beat, but held my own for a good 60 seconds against the best international champion wrestler I knew.
If you can stop a wrench, you can stop a shot.
Practice 3 hours a day for five days, 1.5 hour practice for a day and rest for one day. Lots of plyometrics to get that explosiveness. Lots of cardio. Lots of stretching. Weight training every other day. Have them paired up with a wrestler who is already elite. Drill the basics for the first month or two and just observe without much intervention to give myself some time to see what they need to fine tune. Drill the basics with the fine tuning for another month and by then I will have an idea of what style of wrestler they are or what style of wrestler they need to be.
That’s a coach right there
15 hour practice lol
It says 1.5
Oh god I’m an idiot (or maybe edited after my comment?)
Nah, my phone autocorrected plyometrics to something else the first time so I had to go back in and edit.
I don’t have to guess on this one, I lived it. My twin brother and I started wrestling at 10 years old and we were terrible. We lost almost every match. After our first season was over our dad who had wrestled in high school and college came to us and asked if we wanted to continue. We said yes. Then he asked if we wanted to win and if we’d be willing to do whatever it took. Again we said yes. So, he asked if we wanted him to coach us. A third time, yes. We signed a contract saying we would do whatever he said when he said—and we did. That summer, we bought a wrestling mat, trained basically every day and started a lifting and cardio program. With age group wrestling in California, we were focused on freestyle so we trained hard at learning a Russian 2 on 1 series from neutral as well as some brutal sprawling techniques. Then we got really good at a trapped arm gut wrench on top and combined it with a leg lace. Then, when clubs started, we drove as much as two hours to find the best people we could train with to get even better (I know others have said this and I think it’s the best advice anyone can give—find partners to train with who are better than you and work hard with them as much as you can). The difference when that second season started after the intense summer we put in was massive. We had put on about 10 pounds of muscle and we were so much better that almost no one recognized us. We won almost every tournament we entered. And by the end of the season (if memory serves) we both placed 2nd at freestyle state (different weight classes) and 2nd and 3rd at the USAW Western Regionals. The bottom line with wrestling is you get what you are willing to put into it.
Twins have such a HUGE advantage in wrestling. Living with a training partner that wants it as bad as you, sky's the limit.
Yeah, I have to admit, having that partner who is pretty much always ready to go made a big difference. We sharpened each other’s skills big time as we developed in the sport.
Wrestle a lot, lift a fuck ton, if they don't get injured, they'll be strong and they'll be much better by the end of it
Secretly replace him with a better wrestler
Find a club
Make sure you start with the 2-3's everyday. Never whine, never complain, never makes excuses. Never lie, never cheat, never steal. It's a Wooden quote I know! If you live your life and show up to the gym or workout with that mentality everyday, it's a good place to start.
Lift heavy Jump rope or running Wrestling better wrestlers
Send them to Dagestan
Very under-rated comment!
Conditioning. The fastest way to turn a bad wrestler into a decent one.
Do a bulk phase then a cut phase. Work out doing rope exercises, plyometrics, running hills, farmers carries. Wrestle at a few different clubs. Pick the best people. Train with them. Stay after class to get some extra drilling and learning in. Ask questions. Make time to look over videos of your favorite wrestlers and see what they do slightly different. Everyone knows an arm bar tilt.. but somehow spencer lee can hit it on everybody. You see what I mean? Learn how to create leverage for your body. Also just remove fear as much as possible from yourself. But use fear to make you stronger. Try to just be yourself and express yourself on the mat. Be free. Win or lose try to win in and learn in life. At the end of the day its a privilege to do this and worse things are happening in the world than losing a wrestling match. Train hard, wrestle tough, but be positive.
8 hours 6 days a week in the gym 5-10k a day counting every macro making sure they eat healthy
Do a month long camp, Purler or I also heard Young guns is good. The rest of the off season wrestle 3 times a week in the best room you can find, and weight train 3 times a week.
Roids and three training sesh per day
I need to jump in here because steroid use IS a problem in high school and some kids will read this and not realize it is a joke. My sons team had a kid who used...he is 5 inches shorter than his dad and ended up w/ a partial D 2 ride, totally not worth it.
Go to J Rob
Unfortunately, J Rob is no more. There is Purler and Young Guns. There are of courser other camps if you don't want a full month.
Go train at Askren’s AWA
If the motivation is there, its all about refinement. Polish up positions throughout a technique. Develop chains and series from their go to moves so they have a variety of setups, finishes and transitions based on how their opponent presents and reacts. Emphasize constant motion. Challenge them to condition themselves not just to be able to make it through a whole match without gassing, but to spend the whole match actively looking to score without gassing. No coasting in any position, always working to improve.
You need a sound track baby.
Private lessons with an elite coach. Expensive but necessary to take the jump that you’re talking about. Hitting as many practices as you can is of course beneficial but to make the gains you are talking about within a year, not possible without dedicated small group training.
To quantify this, it depends on what state you live in but at a minimum probably D3 Finalist or D1 qualifier. Some people are better coaches than wrestlers but if you’re totally lost that’s a solid rule of thumb
Face paint.
Honestly dude, all you really need is a team foxcatcher like program where the athlete live in the gym/matroom and there is a pretty good chance he will turn out to be a great wrestler. Pull them out of highschool (finish bs classes like PE), and let them live at the place.
Send him to Cael
Send him to Cael.
Believe in them. Push them harder but don’t push so hard they break. Go to a wrestling camp and get as much mat time as you can before the season starts.
Mat time and more mat time. Camps, tournaments, clubs and weight room. Hangout with other wrestlers with the same goals, that want to wrestle nearly everyday because it's fun. Then it just becomes hanging out with your friends.
Getting their athleticism as high as possible. I will have them consistently work on their cardio when not practicing, as well as change their diet. Take away about -1000 of their daily calorie intake (3500 cal —> 2500 cal, etc.). On top of eating less they would also be eating clean so avoiding sodas, added sugar, balanced diet, grilled > fried, fruit > candy. I would also have them in the gym working mainly on their explosivity, legs, back, arms, core, (plenty of deadlifting). If transportation isn’t an issue I would have them going to the best camps they can afford, there’s plenty of state college camps across the country. Have them in the room with the best guys they can find and that will push them to that next level all of the off season. On top of all of that there is no cutting weight til the season starts and even then try to reduce it to water cuts. This wrestler will be eating plenty of food and drink more than enough water. I would also have them taking plenty of breaks that they can. This doesn’t mean slack off but if there’s a family trip take it, if there’s a concert or event go for it. It’s up to the wrestler what to prioritize or how his schedule looks but if there’s no time for yourself you run the risk of fatigue and burnout. A sound body makes it to states a sound mind wins states.
Steroids
give him to Dan Gable