My brothers and sisters are getting slammed up on Long Island. Quite frankly, Im jealous as I enjoyed every snowstorm we ever had...as long as I wasnt driving in it! Back in high school, I would march up and down the block shoveling driveways and making a pocketful of money. By late morning, the boys and I were throwing snow balls at cars as we hid behind the piles of snow drifts made by the plows. Once that was completed, we practiced late in the afternoon after trudging to school in the knee high snow. That goodness we lived up the block from the wrestling room and school. In todays times, when school is cancelled, youre not getting into the school. Times have changed and what was allowed back in the day is no longer feasible in modern times. If you open the school for practice you are risking your job as you can be fired for this act of treason. That is why its important to have a home workout regimen that helps you stay fine tuned on those off days from school and practice. The reality is you do not need much equipment or space to keep yourself in shape until the storm passes. By mixing some shadow wrestling, calisthenics, jump rope, exercise bike and light weights you can get the work in that is needed. Shadow wrestling is something that should be done daily, storm or no storm. Movement drills are essential to every wrestler. Stance/motion, penetration steps, sprawls/spinning, back step to toe touch, and bottom work can be weaved into a tidy mat/carpet workout. Add in some light dumbbells or hand weights and you can simulate hand fighting, as well. Do the drills for time or specific number of repetitions. Shadow drills will also help with visualization as you must see things before they can happen. Placing yourself in situational drills will help you learn to react not think when you get in tense situations. Calisthenics have been around long before weight rooms were ever invented. Bodyweight movements are essential to remaining supple and flexible while gaining and maintaining strength through full range of motion. Gymnasts are some of the strongest athletes in the world and their workout is primarily bodyweight, in nature. Ive shared this before in regards to the push-ups workout. My friend and National High School teammate, John Iannuzzi, use to do ten sets of seventy five push-ups every night. I started doing this in high school and progressed to ten sets of one hundred push-ups every night. Trust me, you will build insane upper body strength with this type of workout. Im sure you can do it with air squats and pull-ups, as well. Those people with an exercise bike, of which every wrestler should have at their disposal, can do sprint intervals on the bike. I like bike work as you save your legs from the pounding that occurs with running. You can jack up your heart rate sufficiently without beating up your joints. The message here is clear. Do not let a snowstorm derail you from your training. This storm, like every other storm, will pass. What you do in the interim will help you stay sharp and ready for the impending end of the year competitions. As always, be ready! Tomorrows workout: shoulder press 5 X 5 and push press 5 X 3, then, AMRAP of 15 burpees and 15 pull-ups technique: tabata 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest sprawls hand spinning 180 degrees down block to re-shot sprawl to a broad jump
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:53:08 +0000