wrestling strength prepare to win by matt brzycki

About the author : Matt Brzycki - prolific writer. Brzycki is an ex Marine and works as the Coordinator of Health, Fitness, Strength & Conditioning at Princeton University. Bryzycki has extensive experience working with wrestlers but has never himself competed in wrestling.

So what would you expect from a book about Wrestling Strength?

Resistance training routines? Perhaps several routines geared for junior, collegiate and national level wrestlers? All illustrated by photos? What about the argument that bodyweight exercises are superior for wrestling? Maybe something on Hindu squats, pushups and rope climbs? How about 'buddy' conditioning exercises like wheelbarrows, piggyback sprints etc? Or maybe even 'Dinosaur' style work like sandbag lifts, farmers walk etc? Medicine ball work? Mental strength perhaps - some visualisation/motivational techniques?

You get none of the above in this book.

So what do you get?

You get basically an ode to HIT (High Intensity Training). Brzycki is a HIT acolyte and a wonderfully articulate preacher of the HIT way. HIT, in case you're wondering, is the training methodology that stemmed from the Nautilus visionary, Arthur Jones in the 1970s, and propagated by Ellington Darden, Mike Mentzer, Ken Leistner etc. HIT is about training hard (to failure and often beyond) and about training briefly.

Wrestling Strength is a compilation of articles from Wrestling USA magazine (from 1986-2001).

Most of the articles are not wrestling specific, rather general advice on weight training and diet. Out of 21 chapters, there are arguably only 5-7 that relate directly to wrestling. For example you get a bench press Q&A, which is really just general bench advice rather than wrestling focused.

Here are the chapter headings:

Strength Training : Set your Priorities
Injury Trends in Wrestling
Protecting the Knee
Protecting the Shoulder
Rehabilitative Strength Training
The Importance of Intensity
The Importance of Progressive Overload
New Perspectives in Strength
Ten Myths in Strength & Fitness
Coach I wanna be Explosive
Adolescent Strength Training
The Trap Bar : A productive alternative
Strengthening the abs
Neck Training : Make an effort!
Bench Press Q&A
Losing fat : High or low intensity
Anatomy of a stretching program
The safe weight room 1
The safe weight room 2
The Creatine Myth 1
The Creatine Myth 2

The chapters that do address wrestling specifically are excellent, especially 'Injury Trends in Wrestling'.

Also great are the couple of chapters warning against the negative effects of creatine - a refreshing change to the rhetoric spewed out by the supplement companies.

Strength versus Wrestling Strength

It's well known that 'weight-room strength' does not necessarily translate to 'mat strength'. Many a powerlifter/bodybuilder has come unstuck on the wrestling mat. So what builds 'mat strength'? - perhaps this book would have the answer?

Brzycki acknowledges this phenomenon, stating "if you lift weights, it does not mean that you will automatically become a better wrestler. By increasing the strength of your muscles, you will be able to produce more force. If you can produce more force, you will have the potential to perform your techniques more efficiently". So in a nutshell, Brzycki believes that getting stronger via the weightroom will make your wrestling techniques easier BUT he stresses that the only way to get better at wrestling is to wrestle.

The Cool

A clear, well reasoned training philosophy.
Very time efficient & safe method of training.
Well written, enjoyable and easy to read.
Nice chapters on common wrestling injuries, being 'explosive' & creatine.

The Less Cool :

What no photos? (not a biggie)
What no routines? (shame)
More of a general weight training book than a focused wrestling strength book.

Critics of HIT say it only works on novice athletes whereas elite performers need multiple sets/ballistic exercises. They believe that the zealous balls-to-the-wall intensity of HIT is overkill and actually drives your gains into the wall. Critics of Brzycki also seem to imply that Princeton University is to wrestling what Victoria Beckham is to singing. There's also been speculation that many of Princeton's best wrestlers don't train using Brzyski's methods at all.

However, there are plenty who love this training method and thrive on it. One undeniable advantage of HIT is it's brievity. Under an hour in the weight room, just 2-3 times a week (many HIT'er train even less, sometimes once every 10 days!). What this means is more time, more time for skill training, more time to eat and more time to rest. That's got to be good news for you time-strapped MMA cross trainers out there.

Conclusion : Brzycki's book is rather like copping off with a girl wearing a push-up bra. When you get it home, it's not quite what you expected.....but quite enjoyable nevertheless. The book is just a bit thin, understandable perhaps as it's just a collection of magazine articles, but you just can't help thinking this could be so much better if he'd added some more (& wrestling specific) content.

Wrestling Strength is a good read on the HIT principles of weight training. However, there are better HIT books (not least Brzycki's own Maximize Training), and for general weight training (which essentially what this book is), there are also better buys. eg. Stuart McRoberts' Brawn series.

*note* Matt Brzycki also has another book in this series (Wrestling Strength : The Competitive Edge ), which may or may not address some of the points above, but we don't have it at the time of writing this review