starting wrestling at 16 years old...

[Jeam]

Hi, in 1 month I'll be starting freestyle/greco roman wrestling having had 3 months of BJJ experience and 6 months of shootfighting experience as my grappling base. What should I expect?

I'll be rather new to all this cutting weight stuff (I weigh 70 kgs, and I'll either be wrestling at 66, 63 or even 60 kgs), and also new to the grappling aspect. I managed to get pictures of their gym and noticed that their weight room is kind of lacking (low weights, high reps type stuff)...so I'm thinking that strenghtwise I'm okay...it's the cardio aspect that bothers me, I've done boxing, shootfighting and BJJ as mentionned before, but I stopped for about a month since the gym closed, and since I went to boarding school, I took up smoking again (4-5 cigarettes a day). For my flexebility, I'm above average due to my breakdancing background and my asian heritage...

Other information: training will be 3 times a week, for 1,5 hours...and I'll probably take up sambo after 3-4 months training wrestling, not to lose my submission base. Surprisingly, wrestling is very popular in the region of my boarding school (and where I'll be training)...and there are competitions almost every week (great for me considering the fact that I love to challenge myself)...it's also one of the best wrestling gyms, they are basically ranked no. 1 in Switzerland, and managed to compete in Slovakia for a the European championship and in Madrid. I'm 150 pounds at 5"6.

So basically my questions are:
-How should I prepare?
-Should I gain/lose weight prior to going there?
-How long will it take me to get into competitions...?
-How big will the difference in levels be (between me & them)?

Thanks!

 

[_All-State_]

So basically my questions are:
-How should I prepare?
-Should I gain/lose weight prior to going there?
-How long will it take me to get into competitions...?
-How big will the difference in levels be (between me & them)?

- You should prepare by upping your cardio. Don't work on wrestling technique other than what you already know from BJJ, that's what practices and coaches are for. Mix long runs of at least 10k, interval training and sprints, etc.

- You shouldn't start cutting weight until you know what weight class you're going to wrestle at. Notice I said cutting weight and not losing weight. You can start losing weight now but making healthy choices in your diet. Complex carbs, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Eat 5 small meals daily.

- You'll get into competitions with the team. I'm not familiar with your European boarding school program but don't worry about it, the coaches will have you competing along with everyone else. You want to compete in every match possible, that's how you get better.

- Differences should be fairly minor. Again, I don't know how it is in Europe but in the US, there are very big differences in skill level. Most of the time however, you'll be wrestling someone your skill level. In the US, there's JV and Varsity in high school. JVs are usually at the same skill level although there might be one or two JVs who are state qualifiers mainly due to their school having such stacked weight classes but those are rare. Varsity wrestlers typically range from mediocre to good. Very few varsity wrestlers are All-State or national/international level wrestlers.

You'll do fine. Don't worry about things, just take things in stride. The coaches will tell you what to do.

 

[_All-State_]

Oh, I only wrestled two seasons in high school (both collegiate and freestyle/greco). First year, I lost most of my matches. Second season, I was all-state and qualified for nationals in Las Vegas. It's what you put into it. Like I said, you'll do fine so stop worrying about things. Even if you happen to lose most your matches like I did my first season, learn from it and drive on.

 

[xinster]

your lower back will take alot of damage. Condition it carefully

 

[largeman]

"breakdancing background "
thats the best base for wrestling u can have

 

[flyingknee16]

asian heritage makes you a better breakdancer? that's incredibly foolish logic (no offense, i asian myself but it doesnt make you more flexible than the next guy)

 

[Jeam]

If you're interested in statistics, I've got a few that back up my point on view on asians being naturally more flexible than other people...and by that I mean, asians can touch their feet, or be in a lotus position easier than a European man for example.

Thanks for the advice everyone...