The Hierarchy of Power: Choosing the Lifts That Actually Build Wrestlers

Hear me out. This may ruffle some feathers, but it's not meant to. I see a huge mistake being made in gyms and wrestling rooms all over the country. Well-meaning coaches and parents, in an effort to make their wrestlers stronger, are actually wasting their time.

They're choosing "strength movements" that try to look just like wrestling. They have kids shooting takedowns with rubber bands strapped to their waists, or hitting a granby roll with a weighted vest on. They buy fancy gadgets designed to mimic a specific move.

Let me be blunt: this is a massive, fundamental mistake. It stems from a complete misunderstanding of what the weight room is for.

Here's a simple general rule:

"Do wrestling in the wrestling room. Do strength training in the strength room."

Your wrestling practice is for drilling technique against a live, resisting opponent. The weight room is for forging the raw materials of an elite athlete: overwhelming strength, explosive power, and unbreakable stability. When you try to mix the two, you do both poorly. You can't safely load a wrestling shot to the point where it builds real strength, and you can't replicate the chaos of a live scramble with a barbell.

Building the Hierarchy: Finding the "Master Key"

So if we're not mimicking, what are we doing? We are building a Hierarchy of Movements. We find the foundational strength movements that have the most transfer to the wrestling mat.

Let’s look at the legs, the engine for everything a wrestler does. Every single action—a shot, a sprawl, a lift, a drive—is a combination of triple flexion (loading the ankles, knees, and hips) and triple extension (unloading them explosively). It might be a full range of motion, or it might be a subtle, nuanced shift in position, but that pattern is always there.

So, the logical question is: Is there one strength movement that will make a wrestler phenomenally better at every aspect of triple flexion and triple extension? A single "master key" that will increase their strength, speed, balance, coordination, agility, and accuracy within that exact pattern?

Yes. It's the full-depth squat.

All of its variations—the Front Squat, the Back Squat, the Overhead Squat—are the ultimate teachers of this pattern. By mastering the squat, you are hardwiring the exact motor patterns your body needs to be a dominant force on the mat, and you are loading it to build real horsepower.

Applying the Logic to the Whole Body

We apply this same "master key" logic to the rest of the body to build our hierarchy of "must-do" movements.

• For the Arms: What are the master keys for all pushing and pulling movements? The Bench Press and the Strict Pull-Up. These build the raw strength and stability that make every hand-fight, every clinch, and every frame more powerful.
• For the Core: A wrestler's core needs to be a rock-solid piece of armor, capable of bracing in different shapes under immense pressure. So we train it that way.
  • We do Deadlifts to master bracing a neutral spine under a heavy load—the single most important factor in protecting the back and transferring force.
  • We do "Atlas Stone" style lifts (like heavy sandbag loads) to teach the core how to stay braced in a hollowed or rounded position, just like in a gut wrench or a tough scramble.
  • We do gymnastics movements like Pull-Ups and Toes-to-Bar where we intentionally oscillate between arched and hollowed shapes. This is how the body generates massive power and it teaches an athlete incredible control over their midline.

The Payoff: An Athlete Who is Prepared for Anything

When you build an athlete this way, you're not just giving them strength for one specific move. You are giving them a toolbox of elite athletic qualities. They have more power, better balance, and superior coordination that they can apply to any situation the chaos of a wrestling match throws at them.

An athlete needs technique for power, and they need power for elite performance. And that elite performance is entirely dependent on the foundation of skilled, powerful movement you build in the strength room.

Stop wasting time with gimmicks. Build the foundation. Build the monster.

This is the intelligent, systematic approach we take every single day in the Champion's Circle. We don't just do workouts; we build better athletes from the ground up.

Join the Champion's Circle and get the daily blueprint!

Coach Dane Whitted
Champion's Path