The Importance of flexibility:

Learning from experience

In this blog post I’m going to touch on what goes into a typical training week of a wrestler, and summarize how yoga has impacted my wrestling. I tend to focus on a list of components including: strength training, flexibility/stability, wrestling technique development, nutrition, rest/recovery, video review, speed/power, endurance, and mental training. I know that seems like a lot, but a number of these factors are combined into one during a training session. For each individual wrestler the amount of focus on any given component depends on the importance of the need for it. Individual and coach assessment is key to develop the precise training plan that produces the best version of each wrestler out in competition. For me personally, my focus the past year has been on flexibility, wrestling technique development, nutrition, rest/recovery, mental training, speed, video review, endurance, and strength (greatest to least important). In each area I have developed different protocols that I’ve learned from coaches, teammates, mentors, trainers, and through reading. I do anywhere between 8-10 training practices (about 1-2.5 hours per session) per week depending on how my body is feeling. I’ll go over the top one on my list, and dive into the impact of flexibility.

The top component of training on my list is flexibility; a component that get’s hugely overlooked in the sport of wrestling. The combativeness of wrestling puts immense stress on the body’s muscles, joints, and ligaments. I never focused on any sort of flexibility when I was young, and I also began lifting weights early in H.S. Looking back, I believe I needed more of a balance between strength training and stretching/mobility exercises. I was lifting heavy weights, which built up my strength immensely, but tightened up my joints and ligaments ever since I was a junior year in high school. It wasn’t until the end of my college career that I focused on mobility/flexibility, after suffering two major injuries that required surgeries (patience learned through injuries blog). After my first injury, I got in concact with a neurologist and chiropractor named Dr. Kelly. He lives in Grandview, and is one of the most genuine guys I know. He highly recommended focusing on my mobility and movement patterns. Fortunately, his assistant Aubrey was in training to become a yoga instructor. She began instructing private lessons for me, while she got her clinical hours in. It was mutually beneficial for both of us. I started to pick up some of the mobility pretty well, but it took a lot of patience early on because my body was extremely tight. I had to communicate with Aubrey some of my restrictions so she could come up with a routine that worked best for me. Now, it is habit for me to do a short routine everyday.

My routine for flexibility starts in the morning when I wake up and get my muscles firing correctly. A short yoga routine in the morning is key for my body to loosen up areas that feel stiff and tight. I typically spend 10-20 minutes on mobility and yoga poses, while foam rolling different areas of my body that I feel are tight/sore. My areas are typically shoulders, hamstrings, spine, and hips. From the beginning of June 2018 until now, Aubrey Robison, who works at Columbus Pain and Performance, has helped me figure out different exercises that worked well to stretch my body. Now, I currently hit the sauna up and stretch about twice per week, and attend a formal yoga/movement class with her 1x per week for 30 mins-1hour. A major component I’ve learned from yoga is the awareness in my body, and feeling when something isn’t “quite right”. She taught me to breath through each position to allow my body to relax in such a position of tension. In any given stretch I spend 15 seconds to 5 minutes. I breathe slowly through my belly, in from my nose for a 4 count, hold for a second, and breath out from my mouth for a 4 count, while trying to tuck belly under my ribs.

I have also incorporated a mobility and stretching routine before and after wrestling practices based on the intensity and how my body is feeling. Usually before practice, I do a lot of foam rolling and active (constant movement) stretching. As a result, I move more fluently, and I am able to get into different positions without tightness inhibiting my movement in practice. After wrestling practice, my focus is on static stretching with breathing, as my body is cooling down. The key in training and yoga is my mental awareness of how my body is reacting to time under stress. My muscles start to relax through focused breathing in stretching/movement patterns, which increases their recovery, so that I can train more effectively the following day. I truly believe that putting an emphasis on mobility/flexibility, has allowed me to get the most out of my training and wrestling practices.