During my last season of wrestling in high school, I “peaked” at precisely the right time. I was conference champion, section champion and district champion. By winning the district tournament, I qualified for the state tournament. They beat me in the first round 5-2 and I never got a chance to fight. However, it had improved from previous seasons. During my sophomore year, I placed fourth in conference and third in sectionals. During my junior year, I ranked second in conference and third in districts. I always ran out of steam and motivation towards the end of the season and never qualified for the state tournament. What was the change during my senior season?

First, I had much better control of my diet during my senior season. I counted calories and slowly lost weight. He never went a day without eating. I was never starving or dehydrated. I didn’t feel weak towards the end of the season. I kept getting stronger. Therefore, my attitude was also different. I was confident and had a real desire to qualify for the state tournament. The previous two seasons I felt weak and I just didn’t want it enough.

How can a fighter reach his peak at the end of the season? Let’s examine things a bit.

Periodization

Periodization simply involves planning your training for the season or even the entire year. The season is divided into different phases. Tudor Bompa states: “Usually peak performance is planned for during the competitive phase and cannot be maintained forever.” Similarly, Mark Ginther states, “Peak condition is impossible to maintain for more than a couple of weeks at most.” Of course, you want to win every match. Also, you want to be in excellent condition. However, it is not possible to be in the best conditions during the whole season. So your coach will likely have you doing a higher volume of work early in the season. Towards the end of the season, you will probably be doing a lower volume of work but with a higher intensity. His ultimate goal is to peak in postseason tournaments as a sectional, district, and state.

Conditioning

As I mentioned, your workload should slow down when you want to peak towards the end of the season. However, your workouts can be more intense. Intensity and brevity is the key. Towards the end of the season, you can start to think more about the strategy of the match. You can start practicing “situations” that might come up in a match. What will you do if you’re ahead by a point in last position with only ten seconds left in the match? You will most likely do a stand up. Obviously, you don’t want to granby roll and try to pin your opponent down. You have to be smart and hang on to that one point lead.

Technical

Drilling is important to reach the maximum. If you practice your moves religiously throughout the season, they will become second nature. Winning those postseason contests will be easier if your technique is impeccable and comes naturally.

Recovery

Recovery encompasses many things. Make sure you get enough rest. Ideally, you should get eight to ten hours of sleep each night. Some wrestlers find contrast showers (alternating hot and cold water) helpful after practice. A warm bath before bed can be relaxing and help you sleep better. Also, do not forget about nutrition.

Intense wrestling and conditioning depletes muscle glycogen and breaks down muscle tissue. Therefore, after the practice, make sure to consume some protein and carbohydrates. A shake made from whey protein and a fast-digesting carbohydrate source can be beneficial after wrestling practice when it comes to recovery.

Attitude

Are you excited and motivated or exhausted from the long season? I hope you are excited and motivated to win. How badly do you want to qualify for the state tournament? Those fighters with an extreme desire to win will most likely fight their best. Winning or losing is not the end of the world. However, if you don’t care if you win or don’t have faith in your abilities, you will be at a disadvantage.

Anyone can be defeated. Dan Gable was defeated in his last college game. Rulon Gardner defeated Alexander Karelin, who had been undefeated for thirteen years in international competition. A wrestler from the University of Iowa named Matt Egeland was seeded eighth in the 1985 NCAA Wrestling Tournament, but placed second. He defeated the number one seeded fighter on the road. I had a teammate in high school who was the last seed in the district tournament, but he beat the first seed and qualified for the state tournament. Anything can happen in postseason tournaments. Be confident.

narrowing

Tapering involves reducing the total training volume. This gives your body an extra break. You can still have short intense workouts. You can still drill and focus on your skills and strategy. But, the total amount of wrestling and conditioning needs to be cut down before that big postseason tournament.

Dan Gable and the University of Iowa

In Mike Chapman’s book hard fight, talks about Dan Gable and the University of Iowa wrestling program. Coach Gable would sometimes have his wrestlers practice twice a day before NCAA championships. This seems to go against the idea of ​​tapering, although I don’t know how long these practices lasted and how intense they were. Coach Gable even had Ed Banach do a third practice at 5 am. Ed Banach won the NCAA tournament that year in large part because of that extra practice in which he drilled his technical takedown. Would he be willing to pay that price to reach the pinnacle of success? Remember what I wrote earlier about piercing? Drilling the country.

The movie socks it’s so inspiring. Before the state finals, the coach tells his team, “Forget the crowds, the size of your school, your fancy uniforms, and remember what got us here. Focus on the fundamentals we’ve gone over over and over again.” Once, and most importantly, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game, if you put your effort and focus into playing to your potential, to be the best you can be, I don’t care what the score says at the end. of this game, in my book, we are going to be winners!”

At the beginning of the film, the coach says: “There is a condition in tournaments; don’t talk about the next step until you have climbed the one in front of you.”

I think that is good advice. Focus on your fundamentals in the postseason championship series. Take one match at a time and be determined to fight to your full potential.

In conclusion, peaking can be tricky. Make sure you get enough rest. Practice your skills slowly. Do your highest volume workouts early in the season and shorter, more intense workouts as the season draws to a close. Make sure you are mentally focused and confident in your abilities.

With the right pickaxe, you’ll be fresh, rested, and ready to fight your best!