Strength & Conditioning for Wrestling [HOME WORKOUT Edition] By Dustin Myers, CSCS Page 1 Strength & Conditioning for Wrestling By Dustin Myers, CSCS © Copyright 2020 by Dustin Myers & Old School Gym LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Old School Gym 11091 National Rd Pataskala, OH 43062 www.oldschoolgym.com Page 2 who is coach myers? . .4 introduction........................................5 THINGS TO CONSIDER . .6 WEEK 1: FULL BODY BUILD UP 1.0 . .8 WEEK 2: FULL BODY BUILD UP 2.0 . .11 WEEK 3: LOWER/PUSH/PULL 1.0 . 15 WEEK 4: LOWER/PUSH/PULL 2.0 . 19 WEEK 5: FULL BODY BEAT DOWN . .23 EXERCISE LIBRARY . .27 6 KILLER VARIATIONS OF COMMON AB EXERCISES. .42 TIME UNDER TENSION . 43 MISDIRECTION METHOD . .44 FOLLOW ME . .45 MAX EFFORT MUSCLE . .46 Page 3 WHO IS COACH MYERS? Coach Myers is a 2002 graduate of The Ohio State University. A self described workout addict, he became certified and started training clients part time in 2000 at T3 Personal Training Studio, eventually opening the original Old School Gym with Cory Gregory in 2003. The Old School Gym moved to it’s current location in 2008 and has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Muscular Development Magazine, Bodybuilding.com, and is consistently ranked in the Top 10 most hardcore gyms in the United States. In addition to successful stints as a competitive power- lifter, bodybuilder and amateur boxer, Dustin wrestled in high school and was always drawn to training athletes in the worlds oldest and toughest sport. In 2012, Coach Myers accepted the position of Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Ohio Regional Training Center at Ohio State. Through the RTC, Coach Myers helped the Ohio State Wrestling team win its first NCAA Championship in school history. In addition to the Buckeyes, some of the athletes he has worked with thru the RTC include 2x NCAA Champ Tommy Rowlands, 3x World Team member Reece Humphrey, Olympic Champion Kyle Snyder, and top MMA World Champion Lance Palmer. He has also worked extensively with UFC welterweight contender Matt Brown and former Ohio State football stars “Training and lifting weights is in my blood. Growing up in Chris “Beanie” Wells, Antonio Pittman, Maurice Clarett, and rural eastern Ohio, I watched every day as my Dad came Dan “Boom” Herron. In addition to The Old School Gym, home from his shift at the local steel mill and headed Coach Myers is also a founding partner of the supplement out to our detached unheated garage to pump iron and hit the heavy bag. In the summertime he would teach company Max Effort. He has appeared on the cover of Natural football players from the local high school how to lift Muscle Magazine (June 2016), is a regular contributor to the weights in our gym. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait until Muscle & Strength website and is the resident strength training I was old enough to get started. I remember him showing expert for Flowrestling.. me the ropes at age 12 and I was instantly hooked. Today my gym and training style is patterned after that same blue collar work ethic that I learned in Dad’s garage. Here’s what others have to say: The real keys to progress are consistency, intensity and “I highly recommend Coach Myers’ Strength and Conditioning plan. I have toughness, and my coaching style reflects that. I feel known him since coming to OSU and he has helped me and countless elite fortunate to be in a position to help people reach their athletes reach their goals on the mat through improving their strength and endurance. If you are looking to take your wrestling to the next level this is the goals by bringing out the best in them.” book you need.” - Logan Stieber, 2016 World Champion, 4 x NCAA Champion, 4 x Big10 Champion “Coach Myers has found a good mix of toughness and science. He has created a great system that allows wrestlers to make functional and sport specific strength gains” -Tervel Dlagnev, 2 x Olympian, World Bronze Medalist “Whether I was cutting weight for 61kg or bulking up for 65kg, Coach Myers had my strength at an all time high! I’ve never felt stronger and more “It’s been a dream of mine since I first started lifting conditioned on the mat.” -Reece Humphrey, 3 x US Open Champion, 3 x USA Wrestling weights to be on the cover of a muscle magazine. This World Team Member past June (2016) that dream became a reality as I was featured on the cover of Natural Muscle Magazine. It “Coach Myers is one of the hardest working people I know and has helped was fitting that this was my first cover feature since I myself and countless others achieve goals through a solid structure of strength take great pride in being a life long natural (no steroids) and conditioning. He has a lot of knowledge in many areas and is able to athlete. Besides the obvious health risks I have always relate to many things an athlete goes thru in life. He gives extraordinary effort viewed steroids as a shortcut - if you truly love the and is a very reliable coach.” grind and hard work then you don’t need them.” -Nathan Tomasello, NCAA Champion, 4 x All American, 4 x Big10 Champion Page 4 introDUCTION ver the past 4 years, my “Strength and Conditioning for Wrestling” e-book series has been utilized by coaches, athletes Oand parents around the globe. While this ebook series contains the ideal advanced training protocols for wrestlers, I recognize the need to have programming available for athletes that do not have access to a standard weight room for whatever reason. With that in mind I have created this 5 week program to be used by wrestlers (or any athlete for that matter) at home and with minimal equipment. This is not meant to replace my existing programming, but rather to act as a stop gap during your absence from school, the gym, or team workouts. Due to the time sensitive nature of the recent school and gym closings during the COVID-19 pandemic, this ebook will be relatively straight forward containing the 5 week workout program, technique descriptions, and little else. The most important thing is to continue to train, challenge yourself in new ways, and stay committed to improving your strength Page 5 things to consider Equipment? How can I make the workouts I designed this workout program to be used with a pull up bar harder? and a single pair of dumbbells. If you do not have a pull up bar, For some of you, doing a goblet squat or RDL with a single find a rafter in your basement or a tree branch outside. If that dumbbell or other household item will be incredibly easy. The is not an option, you can still do the majority of the workouts best way to make these movements more challenging AND and substitute another exercise for chin ups. If you do not have lead to strength/muscle gains is by incorporating Time Under a pair of dumbbells, you can do everything bodyweight and Tension (T.U.T.). T.U.T. is utilized at specific points during get creative on the isolation movements. Cans of soup make the 5 week program, but you can utilize it on any exercise a good replacement for plates when doing a Superman Press. that is too easy rather than simply increasing the rep count. Gallon jugs of water can be used in place of light dumbbells. Typically T.U.T. is denoted in a manner of eccentric/isometric/ concentric - so an exercise listed as having T.U.T of 5/3/1 would Rep Counts? have a 5 second negative, a 3 second pause at the transition Where as in my other ebooks, the rep counts listed are very point, and a 1 second (normal speed) contraction on the way specific parts of the periodization, the rep counts listed in this up (concentric). See the section on Time Under Tension for book are estimates. Whether the reps are appropriate and a full explanation. Concentrate on full range of motion and challenging will depend on if you have dumbbells and whether quality reps, rather than rushing thru your sets. You will be they are “light” or “heavy”. Adjust the reps accordingly based surprised at how tough these workout can become when you on your ability. Don’t be afraid to do extra! make every rep count. Page 6 Variety/Substitutions? Rather than jam a thousand different exercise variations into this program, I wanted to keep the programming relatively simple. I have ebooks available on Core Strength and Bodyweight training that have hundreds of variations of exercises from beginner to advanced. But since most of you will be training without the normal oversight and guidance of a coach, I wanted to stick with the basics and fulfill all strength needs without over complicating things. With that being said, feel free to add additional exercises where it makes sense. Want to include some DB shoulder presses with one of the “push” workouts? Go for it. Legs feel like they need some additional work? Throw in some extra DB Lunges after the sets of Split Squats. You can always add additional core exercises, but keep the structure of the workouts intact.