Contents
Coaches Get Bored Without Wrestling Season
Important Muscle Groups For Wrestlers
School Starting Soon
The start of the school year is less than two weeks away for students at SMCC! In wrestling terms, we say, “Short Time!“. Short time to knock out a few more summer activities before everyone gets back to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Also coming with the start of the school year is the return of high school athletics. Good luck to all our wrestlers participating in fall sports this year! From football to cross country to tennis, staying busy in the fall and being a multi-sport athlete will help our wrestlers become better athletes and people.
Photo by Stephanie Hawkins — TLR Photography
Cuccia’s Corner
Well, everyone Summer is almost over. I hope everyone enjoyed their break from school, but now is time to get ready. Not just for school but for wrestling. It is time to start thinking about your goals, ambitions, desires of what you want to do.
This is the time of year to look back at the fun you had and look forward to the things you want to do. What do you want to be known as? What do you want people to remember you by/as? Are you doing everything you can to be a better version of the person you want to be? Ask yourself these questions and if you want to do better, we are here to help you.
May God continue to Bless you all
Coach Cuccia
Coaches Get Bored Without Wrestling Season
Coach Eby and Coach Cuccia have been trying to find things to do this offseason. They haven’t been to any wrestling tournaments this summer and had some extra time on their hands. Coach Cuccia loves lemons and Coach Eby loves bad ideas so they decided to pair the two and take on The Lemon Challenge.
Important Muscle Groups For Wrestlers
A high level wrestler also needs to be proficient in all muscle groups but there are a few areas that should be given extra emphasis.
NECK: A wrestler needs a strong neck to protect in moments when tremendous amounts of weight or force are applied to the head. A strong neck is the key to staying out of the hospital. Strong necks help quite a bit when a wrestler fights for head position, bridges off their back, or even during exciting scrambles where the wrestler finds themself upside down and with no other muscular support.
GRIP: A great grip makes it harder for the opponent to have hand control. The wrestler with better hand control has an advantage over the wrestler with worse hand control. Strengthen your grip.
PULLING: Ever seen a nasty snapdown? The key is pressure and momentum but it also helps a lot to bring some strong back and biceps to the party.
PUSHING: Chest and Triceps represent this muscle group. Want to push opponents around? Do pushups. Do a lot of pushups. Bench works too. You can vary the grips to engage chest and tricep muscles differently. Whatever you do, do it in a way that is hard. Don’t choose the easy road.
LEGS: Legs feed the wolves. Be strong here, be explosive. Enough said.
CORE: The core holds everything together. The core MUST be strong. Strengthening the core strengthens everything. Why did I put this last? I have no idea.
So basically, work on everything. Don’t neglect anything. This list is not in any order. Keep a specific focus on these six areas if you want to improve your strength/endurance/athleticism for wrestling.