Some Planning Tips for Wrestlers (and all Grapplers) + A Big Event This Friday
Right off the bat, I’ll admit today is a grappling-heavy Substack/update. Funny enough, that would be why many of you are here, so no disclaimer should really be needed, huh?
A Professional Jiu Jitsu Promotion Returns to NYC
With the above in mind, I wanted to start off today by recommending all my New York City Metro Area readers that you check out Grapple in the Temple this Friday night in Jersey City, NJ. It’s a live, fully packed card full of local and international talent, all duking it out in a single elimination bracket. It’s at a great venue and it’s right in our backyard.
I am fond of this event for two reasons:
New York City, once a mecca of jiu jitsu in the United States, has suffered a dearth of events coming here or promoters even willing to hold events here since Covid/2020. The ones who stick their neck out, deserve our support. It takes a lot to do this sort of thing.
One of the co-promoters is a close friend, client and my jiu jitsu teacher (full disclosure).
I am among those who are saddened by the fact that we do not see the amount of events and tournaments here that we used to. People like Fabio Lima and Alex Ecklin decided to do something about it, and I applaud that and wholeheartedly support it.
Tickets are on sale now and you can buy them here. I’ll be there, so if you see me, please come say hi.
Tips for Organizing Your Workouts as a Wrestler… or “Periodization”
I’ve spent much of this last year working with a phenomenally talented wrestler and Olympic hopeful, Arian Carpio, as she prepares for the summer games in Paris 2024. It’s been a great experience and reinforces two lessons I learned early in my career:
All athletes are people and you need to look at that first (truly, their sport is irrelevant if something is more generally physically off).
Grappling sports themselves, however similar they may seem to one another- are very different.
Every combat sport presents unique challenges, especially inside of grappling-based ones.
Around 2013-2014, all of the literature on jiu jitsu or grappling would push you to articles on MMA. If you were lucky, maybe you’d find judo or wrestling (courtesy of guys like Zach Even-Esh). The issue with that was that MMA obviously is very heavy in the striking department, and judo and wrestling have way more action standing/on your feet, and way less round time than jiu jitsu. So I spent much of the last 10 years developing the best methods for jiu jitsu players from an S&C perspective.
Well now we are full circle, and I’m reminded again just how different jiu jitsu is from wrestling. I’d point you to my article I sent out last week for just how much more important your shoulder health is for wrestling, and today would like to share a tip on organizing your training, especially as a wrestler. These concepts, true to my #1 observation above, can be applied to any sport, but the importance is really on wrestlers— particularly those with national or international level ambitions, like the Olympics.
Click to read: A Periodization Tip for Wrestlers aka - organize your training like a pro if that’s what you aspire to be.
I hope to see you all in Jersey City on Friday night!
Thanks