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Recently,
the repopularization of professional wrestling has been quite
apparent. Many
people are drawn to the drama, excitement, and fast pace of this
“sport” and enjoy watching it often.
Although certainly athletic, physical, and potentially
entertaining, few people actually view professional wrestling as
a competitive sport. Traditional
wrestling, however, is indeed a true competitor’s sport.
Wrestling is
sometimes considered one of the step-children of sports
medicine. Little
research funding goes into wrestling from a sports medicine
point of view and few practitioners actually specialize in
wrestling injuries. Whatsmore,
athletes and the viewing public in general frequently miss out
on the many entertainment opportunities associated with
traditional wrestling.
Many high
schools don’t even have a wrestling program or incorporate the
techniques into their physical fitness programs.
Many potentially great wrestlers are unaware that the
sport exists or that they may have an aptitude for it
Although the
small details and rules of competition will be left to coaches,
referees, and players, the fundamentals of this sports should be
explored. Wrestling offers a relatively safe way for two similarly
built young people to combat each other.
Unlike some other sports, large size and brute force
aren’t necessarily essential attributes.
Although strength is important, technique is crucial.
Wrestling
allows athletes the opportunity to use all three major forms of
energy utilization: their muscles and strength, their mind,
training, technique, and creativity to compete.
The training to compete in a wrestling match involves
cardiac endurance, muscle training and biomechanical training to
improve technique. Wrestlers
are trained to focus their mind to exact the maximum potential
from their body.
Few sports
(track and field being some of the major exceptions) allow
athletes to use the sport, medium and long forms of energy
during the same sport. Since
it is necessary to use maximal or near maximal strength at all
times during the match and since the match lasts several
minutes, athletes must train all three.
For the
first few seconds of the match, athletes use what is known as
the ATP-PC energy system. This
provides the energy for short bursts of activity initially.
Then, as the match progresses, their bodies switch to
using immediate stores of sugar available in the blood and
muscles. Finally,
towards the end of the match, they must begin to burn fat, which
is an oxidative process.
Another
advantage of wrestling is that kids of all shapes and sizes can
not only participate but may become very good.
Since there are size classes, all wrestlers are matched
against someone near to their own size.
This means that boys too small to excel at football or
too short to slam dunk may be the star of the wrestling team.
As mentioned
previously, little research money is spent on wrestling
injuries. Although this is somewhat of a shame, the reason is that
wrestling is a relatively safe sport.
Few injuries are specific to the sport and athletes may
wrestle for several years without a significant injury.
That is not to say that serious injuries don’t occur in
wrestling, but they are less frequent than some other contact
sports.
One of the
more serious potential sports medicine problems associated with
this sport are athletes doing crazy things to attain a certain
body weight. Since there are weight classes and being the largest one in a
particular class would have obvious advantages, some wrestlers
resort to unhealthy methods of weight loss prior to a match. It has not been uncommon for wrestlers to use diuretics,
laxatives, sweat suits, fluid restriction and intense dieting in
order to qualify for a certain weight class.
These are dangerous activities and should be avoided
completely.
It is also
very important that people not attempt to simulate the
activities of professional wrestlers.
They are specially trained to deal with the impacts,
twists and turns involved in their unique techniques and they
should never be tried by amateurs.
So don’t
overlook traditional wrestling as an excellent way to stay
competitive, in shape and disciplined.
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