If you want to gain a strength advantage over your competition and don’t have a lot of fancy equipment, don’t worry. Here are 3 tried and true “unique” strength training exercises that can help you get strong for the mat – FAST!
1. Lower Squats – Lower squats are amazing for building hip and glute strength. In layman’s terms, that would be working your butt off. Ok, have a quick laugh and then get to work. These are a perfect addition to your wrestling strength training routine. This is what you do. With an Olympic bar, perform a full-depth regular squat. This means that you lower yourself until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the ground. Instead of standing up straight, you stand up only halfway. You pause in the midway position, lower yourself to below parallel, and repeat. I would throw them about once or twice a month, to keep the muscles “confused”. This forces the muscles to respond by becoming stronger. In fact, you may want to perform a regular barbell or machine squat during your first workout. In the next workout, you can perform a barbell or trapeze bar deadlift. The third workout could be a bottom squat. Simply perform each exercise at 100% intensity (with a spotter at all times) and look to improve strength in successive workouts.
2. Negative Only Pull Ups: This one is fantastic for building the kind of upper body strength you need to hit the mat very quickly. Why? Because performing negative reps engages many more muscle fibers than the positive portion of the rep. In other words, you are 40% stronger lowering a weight than raising it. To apply this to pull-ups, do the following: Grasp a pull-up bar with a close, underhand grip. (Using this grip is much more effective than a wide grip for developing the latissimus dorsi muscle. The “lats” work the biceps when performing a single or double leg takedown.) Standing on a high bench or chair, jump up so your chin is on the bar and hold for 2 seconds. Slowly lower under control into a hanging position where the lat muscles are stretched. This reduction should take between 8 and 10 seconds. Jump back to the starting position and come back down in 8-10 seconds. Repeat until it is impossible to lower with control. You may need to wear additional weight around your waist if using bodyweight alone becomes too easy. Keep an arch in your mid-back area when performing to force your back muscles to work harder than your biceps.
3. Negative-Only Dips: Just as the last exercise strongly works your back and biceps muscles, this one works the antagonist (opposite) muscles to them. This will strengthen your chest, shoulders, and triceps quickly. To perform it, lock your arms and support yourself on top of a dip bar. Keep your chin tucked into your chest to force more work out of your chest muscles and less emphasis on your triceps. Lower until the chest is fully stretched. This will take 8 to 10 seconds. Repeat. When you can’t go down for at least 6 seconds, the set is over. At this point, take a much-needed breather and have a drink.
Negative solo training is very demanding on the body. I would do it for no more than 3 weeks at a time, about 4 times a year, to help get past a sticking point in his training. These 3 exercises can be done by any fighter. If a fighter is young and has not reached physical maturity, he squats with only bodyweight. For older and more mature fighters, go all out. If he’s not huffing and puffing and can’t wait to get out of the gym, he didn’t work hard enough.
Discover the power of negative training and watch your performance improve almost overnight.
