Things have been swamped here at Diesel. My wrestlers are starting the season
right now and I just put together a profile on one of them. Mike, a high school
junior, has been with me for five months now and has made incredible
progress. He is a great wrestler who wanted to kick his training up and really
dedicate himself to getting stronger, faster and adding size. He joined the
program with the full support of his parents and always gave 110%. I am very
proud of Mike, and he is an example of what hard work and consistency can do.
Here are some pictures of Mike:
As some of you know, I've been training Tom Lawlor. He is currently on The
Ultimate Fighter 8 show, and will be fighting on the December 13th finale
undercard. I provided the strength and conditioning for Mike during his last two
months before his fight. He had some obstacles during training – including
traveling between various gyms and injuring his elbow while training. We worked
on rehabilitating his elbow while improving his conditioning and explosiveness.
Be on the lookout in an upcoming issue of Men's Fitness for my latest
article detailing how to improve punching power for combat athletes. The
exercises are organized into seven categories and various templates are provided
depending on what your specific needs are.
I was fortunate enough to be able to watch Joe DeFranco’s new movie STRONG,
and I was blown away. It’s awesome and really inspiring. I sent Joe a
testimonial, and he has posted it here on Elite and will post it on the
STRONG THE MOVIE website.
Finally, I was fortunate to be a part of the Make a Wish Foundation fundraiser
here at Elite. The Team Elitefts Holiday Tips e-book is a compilation of various
Elite team members’ tips for a strong and healthy holiday season. Buy it now!
Q&A:
I need some general guidelines for how to put together a grip workout
schedule. I follow Joe DeFranco’s
WS4SB, and grip day is Friday.
I would suggest focusing on two aspects of grip, plus some form of
restoration or hand health means, for three week cycles. This will give you a
solid nine training sessions to develop these qualities.
Weeks 1-3
Pinch
Crush
Some Restoration/Hand Health
Weeks 4-6
Crush
Support
Some Restoration/Hand Health
Weeks 7-9
Support
Levering
Some Restoration/Hand Health
Weeks 10-12
Levering
Pinch
Some Restoration/Hand Health
and so on...
If the focus is too broad, meaning you are doing every aspect of grip each week,
you might have a tendency to overtrain and not adapt to your potential. You will
develop a level of overall hand strength, but I’ve found focusing on one or two
aspects to be more beneficial in the long run.
Special Notes:
• The simple answer is, grip training should be done whenever and wherever you
can fit it in.
• The complex answer deals with targeting weaknesses and not affecting your
"primary" training sessions.
• The hands recover very quickly and are very indicative of the stage of
recovery the athlete is currently in.
• Grip training can be implemented during the primary training sessions or
during an extra workout.
• If you want to implement grip-specific training during your training
sessions...
Three techniques:
Prior to the workout - engage and prepare for upcoming demands.
During the workout - isolated approach would utilize grip training between
exercises and an integrated approach would replace standard equipment with grip
enhanced objects for the exercises.
After the workout - to introduce grip training and target weaknesses.
Full-body wrestler’s workout:
Soft-Tissue
Foam Roller
Lacrosse Ball
General Warm-up
Sled Drags - 200 yards forward, with chest presses
Sled Drags - 200 yards backward, with rows and external rotations Kettlebell Combo - swing to squat to overhead press
Specific Warm-up
Light Worksets of Actual Exercises
Workout
Primary Movement Yoke Bar Squats
Super-set with
Jump Stretch band tricep extensions
2a) One Leg Squats to Bench
2b) Power Wheel Lying Leg Curls
3a) Rope Climbs
3b) Hindu Push-ups
4) Shrugs-o-Death
Shrug for 10 seconds
Hold for 10 seconds
Shrug for 10 seconds
Hold for 10 seconds
Keep Repeating until death
5) Ab Roller - 3x10
Cool Down
Stretching Foam Roller
Hip Stretches
Lacrosse Ball
Videos:
Incredible Transformation of a High School Wrestler: 16 lbs in 16 Weeks
How to Bench Press and Add Muscle Without Wrecking Your Shoulders
Kettlebells - Strong Shoulders and Big Deadlift - Part II
