I first learned body weight exercises and calisthenics in gym class in elementary school. In gym class, we mainly did push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks. I feel we can have also learned to do burpees and mountain climbers. Our P.E. teacher even had us do bear crawls occasionally.
Once I was a highschool wrestler, we used body weight exercises and calisthenics as a part of our warm-up and for conditioning purposes. We did push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks as a part of our warm-up. Occasionally we’d get into an enormous circle and do calisthenics at the top of practice. We might go across the circle with each wrestler picking an exercise to do. In other practices, we’d do a countdown. A countdown involved doing 10 reps of push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, burpees, and laps across the wrestling room. Then we’d do nine reps of every exercise. Then we’d do eight reps of every exercise and so forth until we had finished the entire countdown.
We did many wind sprints within the wrestling room and within the adjoining gym. Occasionally we did something called hit ’ems. We might run in place until our coach yelled, “Hit it!” Then we’d drop flat on our stomachs and bounce back up as quickly as possible. I remember getting to steer this exercise myself once. Sometimes I’d give us a rest while running in place and other times I’d do a quick succession of hit ’ems immediately after we had just returned to our feet.
Some people make some moderately large claims relating to body weight exercises. Some claim that body weight exercises are superior to lifting weights. Some consider the alternative. Some simply consider that resistance is resistance and that neither option is healthier than the opposite is relating to strength and conditioning. I feel body weight exercises can actually play a component in your overall wrestling conditioning.
Matt Furey
Matt Furey wrote a well-liked book entitled Combat Conditioning explaining the advantages of body weight training. Matt Furey is a former Division 2 NCAA Wrestling Champion and a Shuai Chiao Kung Fu World Champion. Subsequently, it might be an excellent idea to read what he has to say with regards to body weight training. He claims that body weight training is more functional (i.e. strength you need to use). He reminds his reader to think about how much stronger and more flexible animals are compared to humans. He also mentions how his mentor, wrestling legend Karl Gotch, told him that dancers have the strongest legs on the planet. Dancers normally do bodyweight-only squats. Matt has many exercises and routines in his book, but he calls his three favorite exercises the Royal Court.
Matt Furey’s Royal Court:
- Hindu squats
- Hindu push-ups
- Back bridge (when you are a wrestler I assume you already do some back bridging in practice day-after-day)
Videos and descriptions of theses exercises are easily found with a straightforward online search.
Pavel Tsatsouline
Pavel Tsatsouline is a former Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces) physical training instructor. He lives within the U.S. now and trains members of the U.S. military and law enforcement. He wrote a book called The Naked Warrior discussing his views on body weight training. He believes that body weight training will be helpful when weights usually are not available. He mentions the strength and muscularity of gymnasts for example of the worth of body weight exercise. Most of us have seen how well built gymnasts are. Have you ever ever seen a gymnast do a planche? Have you ever ever seen a gymnast do an Iron Cross? They do not lift weights and yet are incredibly strong. Christopher Sommer wrote an interesting article entitled Constructing an Olympic Body through Body weight Conditioning that you simply might give you the chance to locate through a web-based search.
Three of Pavel’s Favorite Body weight Exercises:
- One-legged squats (a.k.a. pistols)
- One-armed push-ups
- Pull-ups
Pavel doesn’t consider in doing sets of infinite reps. He suggests making an exercise harder by manipulating the leverage involved. As an illustration, push-ups done along with your feet elevated are harder than regular push-ups. Pavel also believes in Greasing the Groove (GTG). This involves doing a couple of reps several times throughout the day. All the time leave a rep within the bank. Don’t work to failure. You can do push-ups several times a day, but for less than a couple of reps at any given workout. Pavel believes in doing “ladders” as well. For instance, you do a push-up after which rest a second. You stay in position and then you definitely do two push-ups and rest two seconds. You retain going up the ladder until the reps start getting difficult. Then do one other ladder.
A few of Pavel’s articles are easily found online.
Marcus Fisher Marcus Fisher advises MMA (mixed martial arts) athletes and grapplers on conditioning. He notes that some very successful fighters and wrestlers have used primarily body weight training as a substitute of weight training. He doesn’t claim that body weight training is superior or that weight training is ineffective, but he believes body weight exercises can definitely be of profit. He likes body weight workouts because they train the body to operate as a single unit. Just like Matt Furey, Marcus finds body weight training to be more functional.
Articles by Marcus Fisher are easily found online.
Benefits of Body weight Training:
- Some trainers claim it builds more functional strength
- Will be done almost anywhere
- Requires no weights or machines
Disadvantages of Body weight Training:
- Could also be hard to repeatedly add resistance to some exercises
- Constructing a robust posterior chain is difficult with bodyweight-only routines
Body weight Exercises to Consider:
- Hindu squats
- One-legged squats (pistols)
- Push-ups
- Plyo push-ups
- Hindu push-ups
- Dive bomber push-ups
- One armed push-ups
- Hand stand push-ups
- Sit-ups
- Crunches
- Leg raises
- Jumping jacks
- Seal jacks
- Shuffle jacks
- Mountain climbers
- Pull-ups
- Standing broad jump
- Slalom jumps
- Sprints
- Hill sprints
- Bear crawls
- Burpees
Special Note on Burpees
Many trainers consider that burpees are the perfect body weight exercise an athlete can do. In keeping with Ross Enamait, “Burpees will condition your entire body. This exercise will develop strength, explosive power, and anaerobic endurance.” Burpees will also be combined with push-ups or pull-ups and other variations.
Matt Wiggins has a program called Working Class Cardio that utilizes burpees, jumping jacks, and other body weight exercises. The circuits utilized in his program also use dumbbells and medicine balls. He claims burpees are you able to provide you with an amazing aerobic workout and are extremely versatile. Matt is a little bit of a burpee fanatic.
Conclusion: do burpees!
Body weight training is just not magical. Weight lifting can and needs to be a component of your overall conditioning program. Nonetheless, body weight training can definitely be an amazing complement to your conditioning program. Body weight exercises and calisthenics aren’t only for gym class and warming up. Try to incorporate some body weight exercises in your training and see in case your conditioning and your wrestling performance improve.
