Wrestling
Wrestling
enjoys a long and proud tradition as one of the oldest and
toughest sports known. It employs several disciplines that
revolve around a variety of physical skills and movements.
The main emphasis in wrestling is the ability to sustain short,
explosive bursts of energy during the match to execute offensive
attacks and defensive counters.
There
are several different styles of wrestling--such as collegiate,
freestyle, and Greco-Roman-and they each require not only
speed and strength in short, explosive bursts, but also a
high level of anaerobic-strength endurance, as well as flexibility
and agility.
These
elements are what make wrestling explosive in nature. In fact,
wrestling is very explosive, so improved recovery and tissue
repair plus increased speed and strength are your year-round
training and dietary goals. Nutritionally, this means emphasizing
short-term energy needs and maximizing the muscles' recovery
and tissue-repair processes. In wrestling, the energy output
is primarily anaerobic (without oxygen). This does not mean
that training for or competing in wrestling is easy, however.
You must push, pull, grapple, throw, and perform other lightning-quick
reflexive movements over and over again, repeatedly testing
your tolerance to pain and fatigue, caused by lactic-acid
buildup in your muscles. The training for wrestling is extremely
intensive and grueling. At the highest levels, it forces you
to operate at your anaerobic threshold (the point at which
you must receive oxygen). Muscles grow when they are stressed.
In wrestling, the aim is to make the muscles grow as strong
and as quick as possible. This calls for specialized training.
Furthermore, the incredible force output of wrestling requires
the support of a carefully constructed nutrition program.
In
wrestling, the muscles rely on three major systems to supply
the energy needs -- the intermediate, glycolytic, and oxygen
energy systems. The intermediate energy systems are nonoxidative
-- they do not use oxygen. Instead, these systems generate
energy through the use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and
creatine phosphate (CP). CP is produced in the body and stored
in the muscle fibers. It is broken down by enzymes to regenerate
ATP, which is also stored in the muscle fibers. When ATP and
is in turn broken down, the result is a spark of energy that
triggers a muscle contraction.
For
medium -- term energy for repeated near -- maximum exertion,
the muscles turned to the glycolytic energy systems. In these
systems, which are also nonoxidative, glycogen used produced
energy. Glycogen it is a storage form of glucose. It is stored
in the liver and muscles, and is readily converted back to
glucose when he is needed for energy.
For
a long -- term energy for endurance activities, the muscles
use the oxidation energy systems. In these systems, oxygen
is used to oxidized long -- chain fatty acids, protein, and
glucose, which generate energy. For athletes, getting enough
oxygen can mean a winning performance rather than a second
-- placed showing.
Every
sport involves a variety of skills, and each skill utilizes
a unique combination of these three energy systems. When considering
a nutritional support program to enhance your training for
wrestling keep the following factors in mind:
- All
athletes needed to consume high -- quality protein several
times a day for effective recovery in adequate repair
of damage muscle tissue.
- Athletes
whose muscles relies substantially on the intermediate
or glycolytic energy systems should keep their fat intake
to a minimum because that is not inefficient energy source
for their intensive training, which is almost exclusively
anaerobic in nature. Since the fat calories consumed by
the athletes are not generally used for energy, they are
stored as body fat.
- Athletes
should consume a carefully measured amount of high-quality
carbohydrates several times a day to insure adequate supply
of energy.
- Carbohydrates
in all pre-workout meals should consist of low glycemic
indexes to insure that training intensity does not diminish
and the muscle tissue is not capitalized for energy.
The
aim of your nutrition programs to make your body healthy enough
to accomplish recovery and tissue repair speedily and efficiently
with out adding body fat. Your further aims are to do this
while maintaining a high strength to wait ratio. These aims
alone make diet an important part of your wrestling success.
Eat the wrong foods or the wrong amounts just a few times
too often you'll sabotage your fitness efforts. Even more
important, do not be in a hurry takes years become a great
wrestling player. Rush the nutrition and training process
in you will become fat, your recovery will get to decline,
and your injury rate will increase.
Nutrition
for Wrestling
Wrestling
is a combination power-middle distance and endurance athletes.
A wrestler must obtain energy from each of the three energy
systems. Therefore, as a wrestler, you need to plan your nutritional
intake, from both food and supplements sources, to support
all three systems. In addition, since energy expenditure changes
in the off-season, you need to adjust caloric intake and macro
nutrient ratio to match. Following are the dietary guidelines
for boxers to help you in planning your nutrition program.
In addition to the nutritional guidelines, a supplementation
guideline is also added.
For
more advanced workouts and training methods
E-Mail David
