How Fast Wrestlers Can Run the Mile, the Kind of Endurance Conditioning Work They Do

Competitive wrestlers at high school and college levels regularly go on runs of at least a mile. Apparently the general is that the coach considers that they should be able to run 2 miles in 15 minutes, 7:30 per mile, which extrapolates out to 6:58 for 1 mile (see notes linked to at bottom of page).

Although wrestlers do go on runs of a mile and over, the wrestling world generally considers wrestling to be an anaerobic sport, and so is suspicious of those who are enthusiastic regarding long distance running as a way of conditioning for wrestling. However the wrestling world does believe in aerobic long distance running as a way of "warming up", conditioning to help the body deal with the anaerobic type training they are enthusiastic about, and as a way to help the body recover from anaerobic exertion--such revcovery is said to occur aerobically.

What is surprising is that there is this belief in the wrestling world, that jogging or running designed to build aerobic endurance, must go on for at least 15 minutes at a stretch if such running is to produce improvements in aerobic endurance. The idea is that the heart rate must be gotten up to 150 beats per minute for 15 minutes if real improvements are to be produced. This idea is kind of shocking to me because I have dreamed up this idea that a good way to train is to alternate walking a mile with running a mile (they call such training "Fartlek" training). Seems there is some possibility that the heart beats per minute could stay up around 150 when alternating walking miles with running miles.

Mile times for Wrestling Conditioning Found on the Internet:

2 miles in 15 minutes
4 miles in 30 minutes preparing for amateur No Holds Barred Wrestling
2 miles in 15 minutes found second time

What the wrestling world considers to be more important than running long distance, is running designed to improve anaerobic as opposed to aerobic capacity. The anaerobic endurance building running routines used be wrestlers vary widely, but I have attempted to sort of average them out (hey averaging out several different recipes for a given dish has produced great results for me in cooking). Judging from the info I found on the internet, the jogging-running-sprinting in the typical or average wrestling conditioning routine should be as follows three days per week:

A: 2 mile run in 15 minutes
B: sprint 220 yds, jog 150 yds until cycle completed 12 times
C: sprint 150 yds 10 times with 50 second breaks (not standing still) in between sprints

Some anaerobic endurance training routines for wrestling I found on the internet:

long distance
jog/stride alternates 200 each
intervals 120-220 rest 30-90 secs

2 miles 15 minutes
sprint 30 jog 20 alternating 10-20 times
sprint 1 min jog 2 on down to jog 1

1.5 mile run, 1-2 min rest
5 300-400 yd sprints minute rest
50-100 sprints 5-10 x 15 sec rest
2-3 50 yd piggyback walks

5 min jump rope
2 mile run
followed immediately with 10 100 yd sprints 15 secs rest

run 150 yds jog 20 secs, repeat 30x
sprint minute rest minute
55 yd sprint avg, 20x, twice

50, 100, 200, 400 sprints

180 yd sprint 6x
120 yd sprints 8x 1x 2x breaks 30-60 sec breaks

Notice how with the wrestling training routines the sprints average out to about 150 yards, and with the tennis and football training they averaged out to about 100 yards. I realize I am not a specialist, however, when does a high school or college or Olympic wrestler sprint 150 yards? "Us college wrestlers hafta sprint 150 yards, yo' know. We face some purdy mean tough opponents, so, when someone we is wrestlin' gits angry, we hafta be able t'sprint outta th' wrestlin' area, an' right outta th' dore of th' buildin' jest t'survive. Whuffo' yestiddy one of our wrestlers narrowly excaped serious injury by sprintin' outta th' arena an' into a po-lice car...hey it's th' conservative way, we knows how t'consarve our bodies..."

Seriously, seems to me that conditioning for wrestling should involve repetition of the kind of movements wrestlers make when they are on the wrestling mat. If I was a wrestling coach, I would produce physical endurance in my wrestlers, by having them wrestle someone or many someones one after the other, someones who are several weight classes below them, for an extended period of time. For the wrestlers at the lighter weight classes you could probably dig up significantly weaker volunteers somewhere.

My notes on wrestling conditioning:

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/wrestling_training.htm



@2005 David Virgil Hobbs




@2005 David Virgil Hobbs