This is an off-season workout guide I developed for the United North Central Warriors wrestling program.  It is a combination of two of my favorite programs: StrongLifts and CrossFit.  

Introduction

This is your off-season strength and conditioning guide.  Your goal is to stick to the program as closely as possible.  These workouts will be some of the most brutal workouts you’ve ever done, but in the end, they will make you champions.

The off-season is where you separate yourself from other athletes.  Everyone practices during the season – it’s a given, but NOT everyone trains during the off-season.

Training Philosophy

1. Strong Legs
   Strong legs will give us an immediate advantage. In order to get the strongest legs possible, we will be squatting every workout.Along with squats, we will perform walking lunges 4-5x/wk.  There is no better endurance exercise we can do for sport and GPP (General Physical Preparedness) than walking lunges.  Strong knees, hamstrings and glutes.  We’ll aim to complete 400m of walking lunges each session.
2. Metabolic Conditioning
   Wrestling is like no other sport in that it requires you to constantly recruit large muscle groups while under fatigue. We will replicate this as close as possible in the weight room by utilizing barbells, kettlebells, pull-ups, squats and Olympic lifts along with running and plyometric drills as part of our conditioning.  We will combine these movements in as many combinations and time domains as we can think of.  Routine is the enemy.  We need to be able to be at 100% strength with our heart rate sky-high.
3. Mental Toughness
   These workouts are going to be brutal – it’s a given. But while we’re lying on the floor trying to catch our breath with our lungs burning a hole in our chest wondering how we’re going to walk again, we can be confident that 99.9% of our opponents are not training like we are. This is where we separate ourselves from everyone else.
4. Avoid Injury at all cost
   We want to avoid injuries at all costs. It is better to miss one rep or one workout than to go down with an injury and miss months of training.  Work hard, but be smart and use good form at all times.

Training Program

Monday / Wednesday / Friday (Total Time ~ 50 minutes)

1. Complete StrongLifts workout A or B (depending on your rotation)
2. Metabolic Conditioning: Your Choice (Optional)
3. Lunge University

Tuesday / Thursday – Metabolic Conditioning (Total Time ~ 50 minutes)

1. Pull-Ups – Max reps in 10 minutes (Tue – bodyweight / Thur – Weighted – alternate between over and under hand grips – best your score from last time)
2. Metabolic Conditioning: (Tue – Running / Thur – Thruster)
3. Metabolic Conditioning: Optional / Your Choice
4. Lunge University

Saturday / Sunday – REST Day / Active recovery
You should take the day off from the gym and totally rest or do some light cardio or something active – it’s also OK to get some additional lunges in:

• Run a 5K
• Bike / Swim / Hike
• Play football, basketball or any other sports

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StrongLifts Workout A

• Back Squats – 5×5 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete
• Bench Press – 5×5 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete
• Bent-Over Barbell Rows – 5×5 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete

StrongLifts Workout B

• Back Squats – 5×5 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete
• Military Press – 5×5 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete
• DeadLIft – 2×5, 1×2 – move up 5# from last workout – stay at same weight if you didn’t complete

Lunge University

Complete 100-400 walking lunges.  If you can do 400, you can start adding weight or additional lunges.

I Can’t Make It To The Gym Workout

• 250 air squats
• 100 push-ups
• 100-400 walking lunges

* ensure you do a few warm-up sets prior to beginning the 5×5 work.  Don’t jump straight in to your working weight.

Metabolic Conditioning Workouts