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Eat this after a wrestling tournament!!

I hope this week finds you well.

With the wrestling season just about here I wanted to share a recipe with you from my new 'Wrestling Performance Cookbook.'

The biggest problem I see with wrestlers after tournaments is that they don't eat a 'recovery meal.' If you don't eat the right food at the right time following an all-day tournament where you are expending a lot of energy, you will quickly overtrain and get weak (or hurt).

The key is to minimize muscular breakdown (catabolism) and replenish your muscle energy (glycogen).

Here is one of my favorite meals that you can eat shortly after a wrestling tournament to get yourself back to top condition for the following week:

Post-Tournament Recovery Chow:
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Ingredients:
1/2 cup whipped cottage cheese
2 cups Organic Banilla yogurt
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 sliced banana
1/2 cup mixed frozen raspberries/blueberries/strawberries
1/2 cup Total cereal

Directions: An hour after finishing your recovery shake, you should consume a meal containing a 1:2 ratio of protein to carbs, with limited fat. This meal will help you replenish your muscle glycogen and assist with your recovery process. It is one of my favorites. You can also use it after strength training during the Offseason for recovery and to stunt the catabolic state that your body is in after you strength train.
This meal is really tasty too... enjoy!!

Eat this after you weigh in for recovery and energy!

I always get asked what the best foods are after you weigh in for wrestling...

Of course a lot depends on if you had to cut weight or not...

For those who have to cut weight, the first thing you want to do is get a recovery drink in you.  (I cover this on this blog)

After that you want to stick with food that will give you a ton of energy, without making you feel tired, bloated or sick to your stomach...

One of the best foods that I can recommend at this point, or for when you have a long tournament is the 'Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich.'  This isn't your usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich though...

It's a combination of whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter and whey protein powder.  The whole wheat bread is a slower digesting carbohydrate that will allow you to have energy without feeling sleepy.  The natural peanut butter serves a dual purpose of slowing down absorption of your carbohydrates to aid in energy production without slowing down towards the end of the match or tournament.  The whey protein keeps your body in a positive nitrogen balance and prevents muscle breakdown to keep you feeling strong.

Here's what you do:

Take 2 slices of whole wheat bread... and lay them on a plate.  Take 2 tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter and add 1 scoop (20-25 grams) of chocolate protein powder.  Mix the peanut butter and protein powder thoroughly with a spoon.  Spread the mix on your bread and you're all set.  

With this super sandwich you will feel full but not bloated, energetic without a 'crash' later and strong as a bull... TRY IT!!  (You can wash it down with a glass of milk if you don't have any intolerance to lactose)

A Perfect Weight-Cutting Food for Wrestling!

If you are a wrestler who cuts weight you must be extra careful to make sure you eat properly. One of the best foods you can eat when cutting weight is cottage cheese.

But I don't mean just eating cottage cheese.  I mean having it as your last meal of the day... right before you go to bed.  

Cottage cheese is a quality source of low-fat protein.

By having it as a pre-bedtime snack when cutting weight, it will give your muscles a steady stream of amino acids while you sleep.  This steady stream of amino acids will feed your muscles while you sleep, and prevent the muscle breakdown and weakness associated with traditional weight-cutting.

If you're not cutting weight, you can mix cottage cheese with yogurt before bed and it will be a complete meal.

If you're cutting weight, you won't want the yogurt due to the sugars in it... and that won't be advised right before bed.

The taste of cottage cheese (lowfat version) can get on your nerves, so I'd suggest adding salsa, or salt and pepper for taste. (sea salt and ground black pepper)

3 Great Exercises for Building Wrestling Strength Fast!

1. 'Negative-Only Reverse Close-Grip Chinups' - That's a mouthful. Let's break it down. You use a chinup bar. Take an underhand grip, with hands about 8-12 inches apart. Use a chair to boost yourself over the bar. Lower yourself in 10 seconds to a hanging stretch. Immediately step up on the chair and boost yourself to the top again. Repeat. Continue until you can't lower yourself in any more than 6 seconds. Use extra weight around your waist with a dipping belt if necessary. Watch your takedowns improve tremendously by getting stronger on this one!  

2. 'Negative-Only Dips' - Hold yourself at the top position on a dipping bar with arms straight. You should be hanging with arms locked straight. Lower yourself in 10 seconds. Immediately climb back to top and again lower in 10 seconds. Repeat. Continue until it becomes impossible to lower in any more than 6 seconds. The use of negative-only training will 'kick-start' some serious strength gains. Just make sure you use it sparingly. No more than 2 weeks straight, and only 4 times a year.  

3. 'Bottom Squats' - Using an Olympic Barbell, perform a regular barbell full depth squat. As you rise up out of the bottom, stop when you are 1/2 way up. Lower yourself to the bottom squat position again, and repeat. These are incredible for working on the hip strength that is so vital in most every wrestling move you perform! Throw these exercises in the mix for about 3 weeks. I promise you your strength will jump up quickly if you're working hard, and using perfect form.

3 Training Tips to Prepare for Your Season FAST!

Wow... just like that the summer is just about gone and school is beginning everywhere...

But you know what that means... wrestling season is just around the corner!!

With that in mind, I wanted to give you 3 'immediately-usable' training tips that you can use to get 'functionally-strong' fast for the upcoming season:

Do 1-Leg Strength Exercises Whether you've been strength training this summer or not, you need to include some strength exercises that require 1 leg at a time. Wrestlers need to have adequate development in the Adductor/Abductor muscles in the legs. These muscles work to stabilize at the knee joint and help develop more mat speed. You can build a lot of 'wrestling-specific' leg strength between now and when the season begins by including exercises such as:

One Leg Pistol Squats
One Leg Pistol Box Squats
Reverse Dumbbell Lunge from 6" Box
Lunge onto 6" Box
One Leg 'Opposite Hand' RDL's

These are some of the best exercises for developing power on the mat as well... and that means faster takedown speed. Try to get stronger on each of these exercises for the next 6 weeks and you'll be amazed at the difference on the mat. The best part is that youth wrestlers, high school wrestlers, and college wrestlers can gain a lot of benefit from them! You can see how I incorporate these in programs for wrestlers in my Ultimate Wrestling Strength Program.

2. No Crunches or Situps That's right... I want you to stop doing crunches or situps for the next 6 weeks so you can work on core stability work that is more 'mat-specific.' In wrestling you need to have core stability before you learn how to incorporate the Internal Oblique muscles for fast wrestling on the mat. Every time you are tied-up on the mat and are going for points, trying to escape, or even reverse your opponent, you need to use the muscles in your core that allow for rotational movement. Try training the following types of core stability exercises 3 times per week for the next 6 weeks to get a jump-start on your competition:

Planks
1-Leg Planks
Bird-Dogs
Pallof Presses
Static Woodchop Holds
Static Reverse Woodchop Holds

Do the same thing here... Choose one or two of the exercises and do them 3 non-consecutive days per week for the next 6 weeks. The results on the mat will be impressive!


3. Do Myofascial Massage Every wrestler knows that in order to be successful on the wrestling mat you must have flexible muscles. You can out-muscle opponents who aren't very good wrestlers, but when the competition gets tougher, your flexibility becomes even more important. Every wrestler knows that your muscles have to be able to stretch. But few wrestlers realize that in order to have the most flexible, most-efficient muscles that allow you need to work on the quality of the muscle. This means that you should work on getting rid of those 'knots' in the muscle so that you can become stronger, more flexible, and reduce injuries.

How do you do it?

Simple... Use a Foam Roller!

I recently discovered these because I was trying to work through a couple of old powerlifting injuries. The roller allows you to give yourself 'the world's cheapest massage' and it takes about 5 minutes before you train. You put the roller on the floor and glide whatever muscle group you are working on over the roller for 20 seconds. After 5 minutes you'll be done and feel prepared for all-out training or practice. They are amazing! Just do a google search if you want to check them out.

That's all for now!

Eat junk food and still make weight for wrestling!

Many of my members at Wrestling Performance like the benefit of having me design meal programs for them so they can gain weight, cut weight or keep their weight the same for wrestling via the members forum...

The meals plans are usually based around whole, natural foods, combined in specific ratios to meet nutritional needs while fulfilling the body weight goals that are desired...

Let's face it... eating perfectly is difficult sometimes... in fact it can really suck to have to eat 'clean' while you watch your friends and family chow down on really tasty desserts, pizza, fast-food etc.

If you're one of those guys who hates to prepare meals and hates to eat like a bodybuilder I have a solution for you...

MEAL REPLACEMENT DRINKS!!

You can drink between 2-4 of these a day (depending on your body weight) and meet your nutritional needs with low calories... then you can eat whatever you want the rest of the day!!

The key is to make sure that whatever foods you consume the rest of the day don't put you over your caloric limit for the day...

For example, let's say I want to cut weight and can have up to 2800 calories per day to allow me to cut weight.  I would drink 3 meal replacement drinks in water for a total of 810 calories.  This would leave me with 1990 calories that I can eat from any source I want to, while still being able to cut the weight without losing strength or energy!  I could eat the pizza I love, and maybe a chocolate milk shake too... without guilt or remorse.

The first thing you'll need to do is find out how many calories you need, and then go from there...

It worked for me back in the early 90's when meal replacement drinks were first created, and it will work for you now!!