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How Wrestlers Can Avoid Burnout, Injuries & Still Peak At The Right Time.

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"In the college level for Division I, practice begins mid-September and ends with the Nationals in mid March, which is just shy of six months of going extremely hard." I find this untrue at many colleges today. The days of "going extremely hard" for six months is less and less the case. We all know, to some degree, the process at PSU, which is becoming more the norm for other programs. Imo the season is brutal, that's true, but the key is working towards a March peak. Anyone going hard in September ain't gonna make it.

"the guys who were achieving higher success were not the best high school guys." There's an abundance of data linking high school success to college success. The blue chippers, overall, still have much college success. Those that don't are not always the victim of burnout, as academics, failure to adjust to college and other factors enter in too.

"These are often called “recovery lounges”. This involves sauna..." The use of a sauna is prohibited during the season at any time and for any purpose, on or off campus. (See Rule 9.7.1.)

I stopped there. A valuable topic, albeit this article didn't appear to me to be completely fact-based.
 
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"In the college level for Division I, practice begins mid-September and ends with the Nationals in mid March, which is just shy of six months of going extremely hard." I find this untrue at many colleges today. The days of "going extremely hard" for six months is less and less the case. We all know, to some degree, the process at PSU, which is becoming more the norm for other programs. Imo the season is brutal, that's true, but the key is working towards a March peak. Anyone going hard in September ain't gonna make it.

"the guys who were achieving higher success were not the best high school guys." There's an abundance of data linking high school success to college success. The blue chippers, overall, still have much college success. Those that don't are not always the victim of burnout, as academics, failure to adjust to college and other factors enter in too.

"These are often called “recovery lounges”. This involves sauna..." The use of a sauna is prohibited during the season at any time and for any purpose, on or off campus. (See Rule 9.7.1.)

I stopped there. A valuable topic, albeit this article didn't appear to me to be completely fact-based.
I believe the sauna rule came in effect after the Michigan death. It was also when they bumped 118 up to 125.
I was friends with a couple of Bloomsburg wrestlers during the 1980s when Bloomsburg was a top 15 team. They actually finished 5th one year at Nationals.
The rain gear suits and garbage bags being worn in sauna was the norm.
 
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"In the college level for Division I, practice begins mid-September and ends with the Nationals in mid March, which is just shy of six months of going extremely hard." I find this untrue at many colleges today. The days of "going extremely hard" for six months is less and less the case. We all know, to some degree, the process at PSU, which is becoming more the norm for other programs. Imo the season is brutal, that's true, but the key is working towards a March peak. Anyone going hard in September ain't gonna make it.

"the guys who were achieving higher success were not the best high school guys." There's an abundance of data linking high school success to college success. The blue chippers, overall, still have much college success. Those that don't are not always the victim of burnout, as academics, failure to adjust to college and other factors enter in too.

"These are often called “recovery lounges”. This involves sauna..." The use of a sauna is prohibited during the season at any time and for any purpose, on or off campus. (See Rule 9.7.1.)

I stopped there. A valuable topic, albeit this article didn't appear to me to be completely fact-based.
There are still several friends of mine still coaching that start in June with a summer training season, and really don't let off the gas, except for a couple week break in August. Then it is right into pre-season until NCAA's in march. Don't necessarily agree with this, and in some cases it works for them--but I will admit the downside is those schools seem to always have multiple kids out on injury.

The 2nd paragraph is relatively true, even though some of you will argue with me on here. A lot of these kids are coming out of HS as finished products, with limited room for growth. I still think a 1 or 2x'er that maybe played 2 sports in HS has more ceiling in this sport, than a kid that maybe has more accolades, but one that wrestles 12mos a year since he was in 6th grade. JMO.
 
The concepts of peaking and periodization are hardly novel. What is amazing is that so many people seem to ignore them. I would imagine that's particularly the case in sports like wrestling which are almost by definition subject to "tough guy" mentality problems.

When I took up bike racing, the most helpful thing I read was Joel Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible. While dated for today in that it was written in a pre-power meter era, it explained key concepts really well:
1. No one can sustain training indefinitely, and we actually have a pretty good idea how long you can before it starts to become counterproductive.
2. Rest and recovery - both for a day of a weekly cycle, and for a week of a monthly/2-month training block -- is critical to getting stronger.
3. Every workout must have a purpose, and that purpose should not always be the same (eg, speed, endurance, burst, etc.)

People laugh at dodgeball, but the reality is it's a perfect example of an incredibly important principle of keeping things fresh.
 
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The concepts of peaking and periodization are hardly novel. What is amazing is that so many people seem to ignore them. I would imagine that's particularly the case in sports like wrestling which are almost by definition subject to "tough guy" mentality problems.

When I took up bike racing, the most helpful thing I read was Joel Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible. While dated for today in that it was written in a pre-power meter era, it explained key concepts really well:
1. No one can sustain training indefinitely, and we actually have a pretty good idea how long you can before it starts to become counterproductive.
2. Rest and recovery - both for a day of a weekly cycle, and for a week of a monthly/2-month training block -- is critical to getting stronger.
3. Every workout must have a purpose, and that purpose should not always be the same (eg, speed, endurance, burst, etc.)
I powerlifted and every 4th week was called a deload week. That involved app 1/2 -60% volume and weight in all exercises. It was almost too easy but while doing it I found myself a little stiff and achy. Most training meet cycles ran 12-16 weeks overall and I would take off almost 2 weeks after a meet.
This meant it was almost 1 month since I had a normal training week and when I restarted training weights were less but volume was higher. As I go closer to the meet weight was heavier, reps lower as a general rule though the actual program was more complicated overall.
 
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I powerlifted and every 4th week was called a deload week. That involved app 1/2 -60% volume and weight in all exercises. It was almost too easy but while doing it I found myself a little stiff and achy. Most training meet cycles ran 12-16 weeks overall and I would take off almost 2 weeks after a meet.
This meant it was almost 1 month since I had a normal training week and when I restarted training weights were less but volume was higher. As I go closer to the meet weight was heavier, reps lower as a general rule though the actual program was more complicated overall.
yep. Sounds like the PL world has meets with 'relative' infrequency. Cycling was interesting in that there was a season with continual races, and you really had to pick the ones that you wanted to peak for and work backwards on the schedule from there.

I've tried to explain this stuff to Mrs. A over and over w/r/t our current cycling, and it just seems like she refuses to believe me that the week off, or the weekly slow ride, or the weekly shorter/high intensity ride, will be good for her. But maybe that's a problem with the 'coach'. ;)
 
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The 2nd paragraph is relatively true, even though some of you will argue with me on here. A lot of these kids are coming out of HS as finished products, with limited room for growth. I still think a 1 or 2x'er that maybe played 2 sports in HS has more ceiling in this sport, than a kid that maybe has more accolades, but one that wrestles 12mos a year since he was in 6th grade. JMO.
At 2022 NCAAs, only 1 finalist was not either a major-state finalist, world team member, or AA at Fargo or Super 32 -- Kizhan Clarke, who was a 2x FL state champ.

Results in other years are likely similar.

I agree that it's better to not be a year-round specialist until at least late in HS, but that's irrelevant to the data, and most of these guys weren't anyway.

Frankly this argument is the same as the football board guys who think the roster would be better off with a bunch of 2-stars because Shane Conlin and John Urschel worked out.
 
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yep. Sounds like the PL world has meets with 'relative' infrequency. Cycling was interesting in that there was a season with continual races, and you really had to pick the ones that you wanted to peak for and work backwards on the schedule from there.

I've tried to explain this stuff to Mrs. A over and over w/r/t our current cycling, and it just seems like she refuses to believe me that the week off, or the weekly slow ride, or the weekly shorter/high intensity ride, will be good for her. But maybe that's a problem with the 'coach'. ;)
2-3 a year maybe, if you add in some tune up meets as a heavy training session with somewhat submaximal weights and you could double that.
 
2-3 a year maybe, if you add in some tune up meets as a heavy training session with somewhat submaximal weights and you could double that.
You could get an idea around the world in fractions of a second but it might take 20-30 years to get it through a quarter inch.
 
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