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Wrestling season is just around the corner so if you are looking to get yourself into superior condition prior to the first day of practice you better start now. Wrestling workouts need to serve several purposes to get your body into the condition it needs to be a top contender. Here are some of the major things you should be working on right now.

Overall Strength

To really give yourself an edge over the competition it pays to be stronger than your opponents. There are a couple ways to accomplish this. The first way is an overall weight training program with a range of full body exercises that will help you achieve greater functional strength for your sport. Wrestling workouts shouldn’t be setup like a bodybuilding workout.

It isn’t important to really isolate each muscle for complete development like in a bodybuilding workout. It’s better to do exercises that simulate more the demands of your sport. For instance if you are looking to work on your back muscles it’s best to do a standing dumbbell rows rather than a seated cable row. Taking a pair of dumbbells and bending over to perform rows will not only work your back muscles but the many stabilizers in your core as well as your glutes and hamstrings. This pulling motion is much more functional overall than if you were in a stabilized position on a rowing machine. It will bring more muscles into play and burn more calories.

Wrestling workouts should use exercises that work multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at the same time are the best choice. Deadlifts, squats, pull ups, dips are some great core exercises for an overall strength routine. They will build your overall body by putting a greater stress load and the strength you will gain is more functional for the wrestling mat.

Low Body Fat Levels

Low body fat is another part of the equation to being stronger than your opponents. Unless you are in the heavyweight classes it pays to be extremely lean. It is essential to lose the majority of the body fat preseason so that you can focus on maintaining strength and gaining endurance through out the season.

Wrestling workouts should be performed in order to increase your metabolism so that you can burn the majority of fat from exercise rather from calorie reduction. If you spend time during the season cutting calories your glycogen levels will deplete leaving your strength endurance very low. This could cost you the match against a better conditioned opponent. Getting yourself to single digit body fat pre season will give you a huge benefit over your opponents.

So when getting yourself ready for the preseason make sure to include plenty of full body exercises in your wrestling workouts. One program that is perfect for wrestlers or mixed martial artists is How to Get Ripped Abs by John Alvino. It includes strength conditioning, flexibility, heavy anaerobic conditioning, and a nutritional program to get extremely ripped. Following the program for 6 to 12 weeks before practice starts can give you a huge jumpstart on the competition.