Wrestling is a combat sport that depends heavily on your ability to execute power and strength over your opponent as the main purpose of the sport is to be able to overthrow, push and pull your opponent without any difficulty. Although this support requires you to be able to use your complete body strength, have a strong grip, excellent stamina, core strength, and grounded footwork, in this article we are going to be focusing on leg and lower body exercises that will assist you immensely when you are wrestling in the ring.
So put on your wrestling shorts, get comfortable in them and let’s begin our workout!
1. Back Squats
Back squats are considered one of the best exercises for building strength, increasing size, and executing power. Although back squats are extremely efficient they should be performed only in stages, when you are properly trained and almost always under supervision because of how dangerous they are considered.
When observing someone doing back squats one might think they can be done easily, however a lot of effort and practice is put into them so they can be done properly and safely. Back squats are performed by withholding a significant amount of weight on your back and then pushing upwards by using force from your legs.
Although you can wear any kind of activewear that you feel comfortable in, we advise wearing your wrestling singlets because of the kind of stretch and flexibility they provide. Wrestling singlets are also excellent for providing that extra boost and elasticity that one needs while doing back squats because they can cause a bit of friction that will force you to use a little bit more strength.
Squats work on your shoulders, back, glutes, hamstrings, and quads and there are two variations of back squats that can be done; high bar back squats and low bar back squats and it depends on your mobility and comfort which type you decide to do.
How to do back squats:
- Position the barbell on the rack
You need to position the barbell on the rack and then come around to see whether you are comfortable with the height of the barbell. Ideally, it should be positioned so that you can easily adjust it to rest on your shoulder muscles and be able to lift it without having to raise your toes. The placement of the barbell depends on which variation of the back squat you’re doing; however you should be comfortable, the barbell should be straight and aligned
- Get comfortable with the barbell
This is important before you completely lift the barbell off the rack you should do a few reps by just lifting the barbell off the rack a little, straightening your back; all of this will allow you to get a good feel of the weight of the barbell, position of the barbell on your back and the prepare you for the kind of strength you need to do a back squat.
- Move away from the rack
Now that you are sure that you are comfortable with the weight and position of the barbell, lift it off the rack and take enough steps back so that you don’t hit the clips on the rack and so that you can easily go back to the rack if the weight gets too much.
- Get into the squat position
Now that you are at a safe distance, begin by going in a usual squat position, balancing and holding the barbell at one steady point. Dig your feet into the ground as you come down and then gradually go back up and straighten your back.
We suggest doing at least reps of this exercise as a beginner and under supervision.
2. Ball Exercises
Many trainers who have been active in training young athletes have sworn by medicine ball exercises; just because of the kind of variations that can be done with medicine balls and because of the kind of lower body strength you can do with them. The two medicine ball exercises that we will be discussing are:
- Vertical medicine ball toss:
You begin by going down in a squat position and holding the medicine ball between your hands at the same level as your chest. As you dig into the ball with your hands, extend your arms and straighten your back mimicking a jump position, and then throw the ball upwards for maximum height.
This movement will help work on your legs as you’ll be in a squat position, and also help strengthen your core and back muscles.
We suggest doing 30 reps of this exercise to get maximum results.
- Medicine ball bomb toss:
The basics of this exercise are the same as the vertical medicine ball toss, however, in this exercise, you position yourself in a hinge position like you would for deadlifts. Again the ball will be in your hands as you come into a hinge position, arms extended and then you begin by extending your hips forward as you throw the ball over your head.
We suggest doing 30 reps of this exercise to get maximum results.
3. Jumping Exercises
Jumping exercises are again considered to be a full-body workout as they build your stamina and also help strengthen your leg muscles. Many athletes and trained wrestlers swear by jumping exercises claiming it has helped perfect their form. The two variations of jumping that we will be talking about are:
- Box jumps:
Box jumps are quite easy to do; all you need is an elevated surface, begin by choosing a bench, ply box of a height you are comfortable with, and then just jump on it with both feet and then back to the ground. As a beginner, you can start by just putting up one foot at a time of your chosen surface of height, and then gradually continue to jump with both feet.
As you continue to build your stamina and improve your balance you can keep increasing the height of the surface you want to jump on.
As a beginner, we advise doing 20 reps of this exercise.
- Broad jumps
As the name suggests, this jumping exercise is not based on height but on length, how far you can jump from a stationed position. Begin by marking a safe distance that you want to jump till and then slowly begin by increasing the distance of your length.
Again as a beginner, we advise doing 20 reps of this exercise.
