STACK’s Wrestling Summer Training Guide was created by Zeke Jones, head coach of the U.S. freestyle wrestling team, who led the squad at the 2012 London Olympics. Jones is also an Olympic Silver Medalist (Barcelona, 1992) and a 4-time World Cup Champion.

Training Tips

If the summer break is 10 or 12 weeks long, I want a high school athlete spending six to 10 of those weeks in training. The other weeks should be spent on passive exercise—games like basketball or soccer, things that are fun but keep you in shape.

I never used to do that until I went overseas and saw other top teams train. The American mentality is always harder, faster, more. But go to Russia, Bulgaria, Cuba or Iran, and you’ll see sports games are a very important part of their training.

You can get as much running out of a 40-minute soccer game as you can by jogging in a straight line for that long.

Take that first week of break off completely. Then spend a week playing games or occasionally lifting. Then get serious for six or more weeks of running and lifting.

During summer training, your first priority should be building strength. But a very close second is conditioning.

Very few things in wrestling involve a static movement. So train accordingly.

We’ll do Push-Ups on a bar that put you off-balance, or do Med Ball Throws on an instability board. Anything that’ll prepare you for the moment where you’ll be falling down with one arm behind your back but still have to throw a 180-pound opponent.

You can move 800 million ways in wrestling. You’re going to wind up on your side, knees, back, your neck, all fours. You gotta be strong in every one of those positions.

And you’re always working against another force—another human being.

Conditioning is one of the things that can win you matches. Imagine sprinting as hard as you can for 6 minutes. It’s impossible.

You’re going to hit failure, physically. Then you have to continue. That’s what makes the sport unique.

The “work-to-rest ratio” means how much time you spend resting after each run.  In the summer a high schooler would want to go with 1 to 2, so if you sprint for 15 seconds, take 30 seconds of rest.

As the season gets underway, we’ll cut those rest ratios down. Way down.

You get very little recovery when you’re on the mat. It’s not like football, where you run a ball for 5 seconds and then get 45 seconds of rest. You get very little recovery and our running mirrors that.

Recovery is as important as training. We make sure our athletes do hot and cold plunges, sauna sessions, hot yoga for stretching, and massage, to name a few.

Vacation with your family is essential, too. Don’t forget that.

After your weeks of strength and conditioning work, take it easy for a couple of weeks heading into the school year. Give yourself some time to rest and get into the right mindset for the season ahead.

The First Week

Day 1

• Dynamic Warm-Up – 7 minutes
• Speed and Quickness Drills (sprints, cone shuttles) – 15 minutes
• Box Jumps – 3×5
• Med Ball Squat Throws – 3×8
• One-Arm DB Clean – 3×5
• Back Squat – 1×10 (warm-up), 3×5
• Push Press – 1×10 (warm-up), 3×5
• DB Rows – 3×6 each arm
• Superset Dips – 3×10 and Barbell Curls – 3×10
• Decline Sit-Ups – 3×20
• Back Extensions – 3×15
• DB Side Bends – 3×15 each side
• Cooldown Stretching

Day 2

• Dynamic Warm-Up – 7 minutes
• 1-mile run x 1, 1:1 work/rest ratio
• 800m run x 2, 1:2 work/rest ratio
• 400m run x 2, 1:2 work/rest ratio
• 100m run x 4, 1:2 work/rest ratio

Day 3

• Dynamic Warm-Up – 7 minutes
• Speed and Quickness Drills (sprints, cone shuttles) – 15 minutes
• Broad Jumps – 3×5
• Woodchoppers – 3×8
• Clean Pull – 3×10
• Deadlift – 1×10 (warm-up), 3×5
• Bench Press – 1×10 (warm-up), 3×5
• Pull-Ups – 40, doing as many sets as necessary to hit total
• Superset Wrist Curls (palms up) – 3×15 and Wrist Curls (palms down) – 3×15
• Hanging Leg Raises – 3×20
• Back Extensions Iso Holds – 3×20 sec.
• Decline Russian Twists– 3×30
• Cooldown Stretching

Day 4

• Long, slow distance run – 2.5-5 miles

Day 5

• Dynamic Warm-Up – 7 minutes
• Speed and Quickness Drills (sprints, cone shuttles) – 15 minutes
• One-Leg Box Jumps – 3×5 each
• Med Ball Chest Throws – 3×8
• Kettlebell Swings– 3×6
• Romanian Deadlift – 1×10 (warm-up), 3×5
• Walking Lunge – 3×10
• DB Incline Bench Combo – 3×5
• DB Bent Over Row Combo – 3×5
• Superset Hammer Curls – 3×10 and Tricep Pushdowns – 3×10
• Toe Touches – 3×25
• Back Extensions 3×15
• V-Ups – 3×20
• Cooldown Stretching

Exercise Instructions

Photo: AP