athlete project

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Kody Springsteen Allison Mossing HES 332F November 14, 2012

Athletic Population Program Design: Wrestling

Sports Analysis:

The sport I have chosen to analyze is wrestling. Wrestling is a very physical sport that

tests the body physically as well as mentally. The training, practices, and tournaments that

wrestlers endure are arguably the most grueling and physically demanding of all sports.

Wrestling is a full body sport that requires a great amount of power, strength, and technique to

beat the opponent.

Background Information of Client:

My client is a sixteen year old boy that wrestles in high school. He has been lifting for

four years and has been doing olympic lifts for two years. He has previous history of injury in his

right shoulder, specifically the rotator cuff. Other than that he has not had any serious injuries or

medical problems. We will begin his training a month after his wrestling season is over, in April,

and train six months up until the end of September. We will focus on building the athlete’s over-

all strength and power, as well as muscle endurance.

Movement Analysis:

The main energy system that is used in wrestling is the glycolytic system. This is the

main system because a collegiate wrestling period is three minutes long for the first period and

two minutes long for the second and third periods. Since the glycolytic system focuses on the

time span of thirty seconds to three minutes and moderately high continuous activity, it fits best

for a single period of wrestling. I also believe that the oxidative system applies for an entire

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wrestling match, because an entire match lasts seven minutes. The oxidative system focuses on a

span of time from four minutes to three hours, but is at low intensity. Therefore it is not a perfect

fit for wrestling because wrestling is a sport that is at high intensity and requires a lot of power.

Although the glycolytic and oxidative systems were identified, the phosphagen system also plays

a great role in wrestling because it is the system that generates the most power. Since a takedown

can happen in less than a second and requires a great amount of power, the phosphagen system

applies as well, since it is the energy system that generates the greatest amount of power. Some

of the common movements in wrestling are the single leg, double leg, head lock, and sprawl. The

single and double leg takedown both take place in the sagittal plane and require great amounts of

agility and power to finish the moves and acquire points in the match. The head lock takes place

in both the sagittal and transverse planes and is a move that is used mainly to set up takedowns

and keep control of your opponent. The sprawl takes place in the sagittal plane and requires good

reaction time and agility to defend against opponent takedowns and set up for reversals. These

basic movements require a great amount of strength and power from the hamstrings, quadriceps,

trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, abdominals, and forearm flexors. The single and double

leg takedowns require all of these muscles to start the movement and to finish. The hamstrings

are very important to generate power and finish the move on the opponent. The head lock re-

quires a lot of abdominals and forearm flexors if you are initiating the contact, but if you are de-

fending the head lock then you need a strong trapezius, abdominals, and rhomboids. The forearm

flexors are essential because this helps the wrestler that initiated the contact to maintain control

of his opponent, while the defender of the head lock needs to have a strong trapezius to break out

of the head lock. The sprawl requires a great amount of quadriceps, latissimus dorsi, abdominal,

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and trapezius strength since you are defending yourself against the opponent’s takedown move.

The latissimus dorsi and quadriceps must have a great amount of power and strength to defend

against the takedown, and reverse the opponent momentum and power in the opposite direction.

If a wrestler is weak in these muscles they will have a greater chance of getting injured during a

match.

Injury Analysis:

The common injuries that occur during wrestling are shoulder, neck, knee, wrist and de-

hydration injuries. Shoulder injuries are the most frequent injuries due to the throws and constant

twisting and turning of the shoulder area. The most common shoulder injuries are when the

shoulder joint is moved past its acceptable range of motion. Shoulder separation, shoulder dislo-

cation, and any rotator cuff injury would be examples of the shoulder joint being moved past its

acceptable range of motion. The majority of knee injuries in wrestling are from ligament dam-

age. This would consist of ACL, MCL, and PCL injuries from a wrestler’s opponent going for a

takedown on the knee joint, twisting the wrestler’s knee awkwardly, or a wrestler sprawling and

the knee bending outside of the acceptable range of motion of the knee joint. Common injuries of

the neck are strains, whiplash, and cervical fractures. Since the neck and cervical vertebrae are in

awkward positions during a majority of wrestling moves, this area is susceptible to injury at any

time during a match. The final common injuries occur at the wrist and forearm. Many wrestlers

have wrist sprains or break their bones in the forearm. These injuries occur because of the

wrestler trying to break their fall or the wrist being placed in a vulnerable position during a

move. Although wrestling is a very physical sport, these injuries do not occur as often as people

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think. This is because many wrestlers have a large range of motion in these susceptible joints and

are very flexible compared to your average athlete. The final injury that occurs in wrestlers is

dehydration. Dehydration occurs in wrestlers more often than other athletes because wrestlers are

constantly trying to maintain their weight or “make weight” for a tournament or match. Wrestlers

have to make sure that they are not over their weight division or they are not allowed to wrestle

in that weight division’s matches. Many wrestlers will become dehydrated because they want to

make weight and if they do not drink a lot of water then their body’s water weight will be lower

and make it easier to “make weight” for the specific weight division they are wrestling in.

Wrestlers have many injuries that occur in their sport due to the physicality and training in the

sport, and these common injuries must be taken into account when training a client who wrestles.

Assessment:

There are numerous ways that a trainer could assess a client who wrestles. The assess-

ments that I will use to measure my client’s progress are a weight lifted to body weight ratio, a

body weight circuit assessment, and a combination of total key lifts that have to do with

wrestling.

My first assessment will be the weight lifted to body weight ratio. The weight lifted to

body weight ratio is an assessment where the client will perform a five rep max of four main

lifts. We will perform a five rep max to reduce the client’s risk of injury trying to perform a one

rep max. These four main lifts will consist of bench press, squat, hang clean, and military press.

We will then weigh the client, and create a weight lifted to body weight ratio. This ratio measures

the client’s strength relative to his body size. This is appropriate for my client because in all

matches my client will be wrestling against an opponent who weighs the same amount as he

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does. So if my client has a very small weight lifted to body weight ratio compared to his oppo-

nent, he will have less of chance of winning. If my client has a very large weight lifted to body

weight ratio compared to his opponent, then he will have a better chance of winning. We will

measure this ratio at the start of training, at the three month interval, and at six months.

The next assessment will be a body weight circuit assessment. The body weight circuit

assessment tests the client’s muscle endurance as well as body weight strength. The client will do

pull ups, dips, push ups, sit ups, and squats all with only his body weight. Each exercise goes for

two minutes and has a thirty second break in between each. The client wants to get the highest

total cumulative number, as well as the highest total number for each exercise. This is appropri-

ate for my client because in order for my client to be an elite wrestler, he must be able to wrestle

for all three periods and overtime while still having enough strength and power to beat his oppo-

nent. This body weight circuit tires the athlete’s muscles and encourages body weight strength as

well. A wrestler must have body weight strength and muscle endurance because the wrestler’s

opponent will always weigh the same as the wrestler, so the wrestler must be stronger than his

opponent and be able to last longer with that strength. We will measure this ratio at the start of

training and at every two month interval up until six months.

The final assessment will be a combination of power lifts that are based upon wrestling

moves. This power combination lifts tests the client’s applied strength during a wrestling move.

The client will do Zerker squats, reverse grip bent over rows, power clean, and explosion shrugs

with a fat grip bar. The Zerker squats correlate to a double leg take down and requires a great

amount of leg strength, explosion, and agility. The reverse grip bent over rows correlate to finish-

ing a take down and pulling an opponent’s leg in and requires grip strength and an explosive pull.

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The power clean is a great full body exercise and is great for wrestling and all the explosion and

power needed throughout the sport. The explosion shrug with a fat grip bar works the grip

strength and neck muscles of the client, which is really beneficial with hand fighting and pre-

venting being taken down. All of these exercises are important for my client because they direct-

ly relate to wrestling and benefit one of the common moves in wrestling. We will assess this

power combination at the start of training and at the end of the six month span.

Goals:

With any type of athletic training, there are always goals that the athlete wants to achieve

from the training. My client has decided upon two short term goals and one long term goal. The

first short term goal for my client is to achieve a greater amount of muscle endurance. The sec-

ond short term goal for my client is to strengthen his shoulders and rotator cuffs. The long term

goal my client wants to achieve is to improve his power combination max by fifty percent. My

client and I chose these goals because my client wants to win a state title by his senior year. By

improving my client’s muscular endurance, strength, and power he will improve his chances of

winning a state title. Although these are not the only abilities you need to win a state title, these

are very important in any elite wrestler’s success. Also, improving the stability and strength of

my client’s shoulders will help prevent future injury and make him an overall better wrestler. All

three of these goals will improve my client’s wrestling ability, help to prevent future injury for

my client, and get him closer to winning a state title.

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Exercise Program:

This exercise program will address the specific needs of the sport by focusing on

strength, power, and muscle endurance in two month intervals. The first interval will focus on

strength, the second on power, and the third on muscle endurance. All of the intervals will incor-

porate aspects of strength, power, and muscle endurance while improving the main focus of each

specific interval. Wrestling is a very physically demanding sport that incorporates power,

strength, and muscle endurance through out an entire match. The training that I will have my

client go through will incorporate all of these aspects and will be physically demanding just like

a wrestling match would be. Wrestling also uses all three energy systems. The phosphagen, gly-

colytic, and oxidative systems are used through out a wrestling match and will be incorporated

into my training regimen. I will use my strength interval to focus on the glycolytic system, the

power interval to focus on the phosphagen system, and the muscle endurance interval to focus on

the oxidative system. The strength interval consists of exercises with three to five sets of four to

six reps at eighty-five percent of the client’s one rep max, with two minute rest periods. The

power interval consists of exercises with three to five sets of three to five reps at eighty to ninety

percent of the client’s one rep max, with four minute rest periods. A majority of the exercises for

the strength and power interval will be multi-joint exercises that involve core strength. The mus-

cle endurance interval consists of exercises and circuit training. The exercises will be two to

three sets of twelve reps or more at sixty-seven percent or less of the client’s one rep max, with

thirty second rest periods. The circuit training will range from eight to thirteen stations with thir-

ty seconds a station and fifteen second recovery time at forty to sixty percent of the one rep max.

The circuit training will last forty minutes overall. Finally, my exercise program will focus on

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my client’s injury history with his shoulder. All intervals of my training will have exercises that

focus on strengthening his shoulder and the stabilizers around the shoulder. Many of the exercis-

es for the shoulder will be single joint and focus on strengthening the rotator cuff and deltoid.

The exercise program will make my client work very hard, help him grow as an athlete, and help

him achieve his goals.

Warm-Up: 5 to 10 minutes before every workout of light to moderate cardiovascular activity to warm the muscles and get the client’s heart rate up. Will vary from bike, running, basketball, etc. Strength Interval: (0 Month- 2Month; 6 days a week/Sunday rest day) Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Legs

Day 2: Back/Shoulders/Traps

Day 3: Run a 5K for time or row 20 minutes for distance and then Kettle-bell swings or box jumps for 20 minutes. (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest)

Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period

Barbell Bench Press 6 (1 Warm-Up) 15, 8, 6, 6, 6, 4 65%, 80%, 85%, 85%, 85%, 90%

2 minutes

Barbell Squats 5 8, 6, 4, 4, 6 80%, 85%, 90%, 90%, 85%

2 minutes

Weighted Dips 5 (1 Failure) 8, 8, 8, 8, Failure 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%, Body Weight

2 minutes

Exercise Ball DB Pec Flyes

3 12, 12, 12 70%, 70%, 70% 1.5 minutes

Lying Hamstring Curls

4 10, 10, 10, 10 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%

1.5 minutes


Barbell Military Press

6 (1 Warm-Up) 15, 8, 6, 6, 6, 4 65%, 80%, 85%, 85%, 85%, 90%

2 minutes

Reverse Grip Bent Over Barbell Row

5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%

2 minutes

Wide Grip Pull-Ups 5 (1 Failure) 8, 8, 8, 8, Failure Body Weight 2 minutes

Barbell Shrugs 4 15, 15, 15, 15 65%, 65%, 65%, 65%

1.5 minutes

Internal/External Rotator Cuff Rotation

3 Internal 3 External

8, 8, 8 8, 8, 8

Light Weight 1.5 minutes

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Power Interval: (2 Month- 4 Month; 5 days a week/ Thursday and Sunday rest day) Day 1: Back/Trapezius/Rotator Cuff

Day 2: Legs/Calves

Day 3: Hamstrings/Chest/Triceps


Power Clean 5 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 3, 3, 3 75%, 85%, 90%, 90%, 90%

3 minutes

Fat Grip Barbell Explosion Shrug

5 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%

2 minutes

Seated Cable Row 5 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%

2 minutes

Pull-Ups 5 Failure Body Weight 3 minutes

90 Degree DB External Rotation

3 12, 12, 12 Light Weight 2 minutes


Zerker Squat 6 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 75%, 85%, 85%, 90%, 90%, 90%

3 minutes

Leg Extensions 5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%

Alternate Between Leg Extensions/Leg Curls (1.5 minute rest at end of set)

Leg Curls 5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%

Alternate Between Leg Extensions/Leg Curls (1.5 minute rest at end of set)

Seated Calf Raises 5 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 50%, 50%, 50%, 50%, 50%

2 minutes


Romanian Deadlift 6 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 3, 3, 3, 1 75%, 85%, 90%, 90%, 90%, 95%

3 minutes

Barbell Good Mornings

5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%, 75%

3 minutes

DB Chest Press 4 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%, 80%

2 minutes

Dips 3 Failure Body Weight 1 minute

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Muscle Endurance: (4 Month- 6 Month; 6 days a week/Sunday rest day) Day 1: Full Body

Day 2: Circuit Training (40 minutes; 30 seconds work/15 seconds recovery; 40% of 1RM) Hang Cleans; Squats; Push-Ups; Jump Rope; Pull-Ups; Box Jumps; Leg Raises; Dips; Med Ball Toss Day 3: Run a 5K for time or row 20 minutes for distance and then Kettle-bell swings or box jumps for 20 minutes. (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest)

Cool-Down/Stretching: After every workout there will be a 5 minute cool down consisting of

light to moderate cardiovascular activity. After the cool down there will be 10 minutes of stretch-

ing. The stretching will focus on the rotator cuff and shoulder joint as well as other muscles of

the body. We will try to improve the flexibility and range of motion of the shoulder joint.


Zerker Squat 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between Zerker/Bench (1 minute rest at end of set)

DB Bench Press 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between Zerker/Bench (1 minute rest at end of set)

Reverse Grip Bent Over Row

3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between Row/Dips (1 minute rest at end of set)

Dips 3 Failure Body Weight Alternate between Row/Dips (1 minute rest at end of set)

Barbell Shrugs 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between Shrugs/Pull-Ups (1 minute rest at end of set)

Pull-Ups 3 Failure Body Weight Alternate between Shrugs/Pull-Ups (1 minute rest at end of set)

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