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Kody Springsteen
Allison Mossing
HES 332F
November 14, 2012
Athletic Population Program Design: Wrestling
Sports Analysis:
The sport I have chosen to analyze is wrestling. Wrestling is a very physical sport that
tests the body physically as well as mentally. The training, practices, and tournaments that
wrestlers endure are arguably the most grueling and physically demanding of all sports.
Wrestling is a full body sport that requires a great amount of power, strength, and technique to
beat the opponent.
Background Information of Client:
My client is a sixteen year old boy that wrestles in high school. He has been lifting for
four years and has been doing olympic lifts for two years. He has previous history of injury in his
right shoulder, specifically the rotator cuff. Other than that he has not had any serious injuries or
medical problems. We will begin his training a month after his wrestling season is over, in April,
and train six months up until the end of September. We will focus on building the athlete’s over-
all strength and power, as well as muscle endurance.
Movement Analysis:
The main energy system that is used in wrestling is the glycolytic system. This is the
main system because a collegiate wrestling period is three minutes long for the first period and
two minutes long for the second and third periods. Since the glycolytic system focuses on the
time span of thirty seconds to three minutes and moderately high continuous activity, it fits best
for a single period of wrestling. I also believe that the oxidative system applies for an entire

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wrestling match, because an entire match lasts seven minutes. The oxidative system focuses on a
span of time from four minutes to three hours, but is at low intensity. Therefore it is not a perfect
fit for wrestling because wrestling is a sport that is at high intensity and requires a lot of power.
Although the glycolytic and oxidative systems were identified, the phosphagen system also plays
a great role in wrestling because it is the system that generates the most power. Since a takedown
can happen in less than a second and requires a great amount of power, the phosphagen system
applies as well, since it is the energy system that generates the greatest amount of power. Some
of the common movements in wrestling are the single leg, double leg, head lock, and sprawl. The
single and double leg takedown both take place in the sagittal plane and require great amounts of
agility and power to finish the moves and acquire points in the match. The head lock takes place
in both the sagittal and transverse planes and is a move that is used mainly to set up takedowns
and keep control of your opponent. The sprawl takes place in the sagittal plane and requires good
reaction time and agility to defend against opponent takedowns and set up for reversals. These
basic movements require a great amount of strength and power from the hamstrings, quadriceps,
trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, abdominals, and forearm flexors. The single and double
leg takedowns require all of these muscles to start the movement and to finish. The hamstrings
are very important to generate power and finish the move on the opponent. The head lock re-
quires a lot of abdominals and forearm flexors if you are initiating the contact, but if you are de-
fending the head lock then you need a strong trapezius, abdominals, and rhomboids. The forearm
flexors are essential because this helps the wrestler that initiated the contact to maintain control
of his opponent, while the defender of the head lock needs to have a strong trapezius to break out
of the head lock. The sprawl requires a great amount of quadriceps, latissimus dorsi, abdominal,

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and trapezius strength since you are defending yourself against the opponent’s takedown move.
The latissimus dorsi and quadriceps must have a great amount of power and strength to defend
against the takedown, and reverse the opponent momentum and power in the opposite direction.
If a wrestler is weak in these muscles they will have a greater chance of getting injured during a
match.
Injury Analysis:
The common injuries that occur during wrestling are shoulder, neck, knee, wrist and de-
hydration injuries. Shoulder injuries are the most frequent injuries due to the throws and constant
twisting and turning of the shoulder area. The most common shoulder injuries are when the
shoulder joint is moved past its acceptable range of motion. Shoulder separation, shoulder dislo-
cation, and any rotator cuff injury would be examples of the shoulder joint being moved past its
acceptable range of motion. The majority of knee injuries in wrestling are from ligament dam-
age. This would consist of ACL, MCL, and PCL injuries from a wrestler’s opponent going for a
takedown on the knee joint, twisting the wrestler’s knee awkwardly, or a wrestler sprawling and
the knee bending outside of the acceptable range of motion of the knee joint. Common injuries of
the neck are strains, whiplash, and cervical fractures. Since the neck and cervical vertebrae are in
awkward positions during a majority of wrestling moves, this area is susceptible to injury at any
time during a match. The final common injuries occur at the wrist and forearm. Many wrestlers
have wrist sprains or break their bones in the forearm. These injuries occur because of the
wrestler trying to break their fall or the wrist being placed in a vulnerable position during a
move. Although wrestling is a very physical sport, these injuries do not occur as often as people

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think. This is because many wrestlers have a large range of motion in these susceptible joints and
are very flexible compared to your average athlete. The final injury that occurs in wrestlers is
dehydration. Dehydration occurs in wrestlers more often than other athletes because wrestlers are
constantly trying to maintain their weight or “make weight” for a tournament or match. Wrestlers
have to make sure that they are not over their weight division or they are not allowed to wrestle
in that weight division’s matches. Many wrestlers will become dehydrated because they want to
make weight and if they do not drink a lot of water then their body’s water weight will be lower
and make it easier to “make weight” for the specific weight division they are wrestling in.
Wrestlers have many injuries that occur in their sport due to the physicality and training in the
sport, and these common injuries must be taken into account when training a client who wrestles.
Assessment:
There are numerous ways that a trainer could assess a client who wrestles. The assess-
ments that I will use to measure my client’s progress are a weight lifted to body weight ratio, a
body weight circuit assessment, and a combination of total key lifts that have to do with
wrestling.
My first assessment will be the weight lifted to body weight ratio. The weight lifted to
body weight ratio is an assessment where the client will perform a five rep max of four main
lifts. We will perform a five rep max to reduce the client’s risk of injury trying to perform a one
rep max. These four main lifts will consist of bench press, squat, hang clean, and military press.
We will then weigh the client, and create a weight lifted to body weight ratio. This ratio measures
the client’s strength relative to his body size. This is appropriate for my client because in all
matches my client will be wrestling against an opponent who weighs the same amount as he

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does. So if my client has a very small weight lifted to body weight ratio compared to his oppo-
nent, he will have less of chance of winning. If my client has a very large weight lifted to body
weight ratio compared to his opponent, then he will have a better chance of winning. We will
measure this ratio at the start of training, at the three month interval, and at six months.
The next assessment will be a body weight circuit assessment. The body weight circuit
assessment tests the client’s muscle endurance as well as body weight strength. The client will do
pull ups, dips, push ups, sit ups, and squats all with only his body weight. Each exercise goes for
two minutes and has a thirty second break in between each. The client wants to get the highest
total cumulative number, as well as the highest total number for each exercise. This is appropri-
ate for my client because in order for my client to be an elite wrestler, he must be able to wrestle
for all three periods and overtime while still having enough strength and power to beat his oppo-
nent. This body weight circuit tires the athlete’s muscles and encourages body weight strength as
well. A wrestler must have body weight strength and muscle endurance because the wrestler’s
opponent will always weigh the same as the wrestler, so the wrestler must be stronger than his
opponent and be able to last longer with that strength. We will measure this ratio at the start of
training and at every two month interval up until six months.
The final assessment will be a combination of power lifts that are based upon wrestling
moves. This power combination lifts tests the client’s applied strength during a wrestling move.
The client will do Zerker squats, reverse grip bent over rows, power clean, and explosion shrugs
with a fat grip bar. The Zerker squats correlate to a double leg take down and requires a great
amount of leg strength, explosion, and agility. The reverse grip bent over rows correlate to finish-
ing a take down and pulling an opponent’s leg in and requires grip strength and an explosive pull.

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The power clean is a great full body exercise and is great for wrestling and all the explosion and
power needed throughout the sport. The explosion shrug with a fat grip bar works the grip
strength and neck muscles of the client, which is really beneficial with hand fighting and pre-
venting being taken down. All of these exercises are important for my client because they direct-
ly relate to wrestling and benefit one of the common moves in wrestling. We will assess this
power combination at the start of training and at the end of the six month span.
Goals:
With any type of athletic training, there are always goals that the athlete wants to achieve
from the training. My client has decided upon two short term goals and one long term goal. The
first short term goal for my client is to achieve a greater amount of muscle endurance. The sec-
ond short term goal for my client is to strengthen his shoulders and rotator cuffs. The long term
goal my client wants to achieve is to improve his power combination max by fifty percent. My
client and I chose these goals because my client wants to win a state title by his senior year. By
improving my client’s muscular endurance, strength, and power he will improve his chances of
winning a state title. Although these are not the only abilities you need to win a state title, these
are very important in any elite wrestler’s success. Also, improving the stability and strength of
my client’s shoulders will help prevent future injury and make him an overall better wrestler. All
three of these goals will improve my client’s wrestling ability, help to prevent future injury for
my client, and get him closer to winning a state title.

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Exercise Program:
This exercise program will address the specific needs of the sport by focusing on
strength, power, and muscle endurance in two month intervals. The first interval will focus on
strength, the second on power, and the third on muscle endurance. All of the intervals will incor-
porate aspects of strength, power, and muscle endurance while improving the main focus of each
specific interval. Wrestling is a very physically demanding sport that incorporates power,
strength, and muscle endurance through out an entire match. The training that I will have my
client go through will incorporate all of these aspects and will be physically demanding just like
a wrestling match would be. Wrestling also uses all three energy systems. The phosphagen, gly-
colytic, and oxidative systems are used through out a wrestling match and will be incorporated
into my training regimen. I will use my strength interval to focus on the glycolytic system, the
power interval to focus on the phosphagen system, and the muscle endurance interval to focus on
the oxidative system. The strength interval consists of exercises with three to five sets of four to
six reps at eighty-five percent of the client’s one rep max, with two minute rest periods. The
power interval consists of exercises with three to five sets of three to five reps at eighty to ninety
percent of the client’s one rep max, with four minute rest periods. A majority of the exercises for
the strength and power interval will be multi-joint exercises that involve core strength. The mus-
cle endurance interval consists of exercises and circuit training. The exercises will be two to
three sets of twelve reps or more at sixty-seven percent or less of the client’s one rep max, with
thirty second rest periods. The circuit training will range from eight to thirteen stations with thir-
ty seconds a station and fifteen second recovery time at forty to sixty percent of the one rep max.
The circuit training will last forty minutes overall. Finally, my exercise program will focus on

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my client’s injury history with his shoulder. All intervals of my training will have exercises that
focus on strengthening his shoulder and the stabilizers around the shoulder. Many of the exercis-
es for the shoulder will be single joint and focus on strengthening the rotator cuff and deltoid.
The exercise program will make my client work very hard, help him grow as an athlete, and help
him achieve his goals.
Warm-Up: 5 to 10 minutes before every workout of light to moderate cardiovascular activity to
warm the muscles and get the client’s heart rate up. Will vary from bike, running, basketball, etc.
Strength Interval: (0 Month- 2Month; 6 days a week/Sunday rest day)
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Legs
Day 2: Back/Shoulders/Traps
Day 3: Run a 5K for time or row 20 minutes for distance and then Kettle-bell swings or box
jumps for 20 minutes. (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest)
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Barbell Bench Press 6 (1 Warm-Up) 15, 8, 6, 6, 6, 4 65%, 80%, 85%,
85%, 85%, 90%
2 minutes
Barbell Squats 5 8, 6, 4, 4, 6 80%, 85%, 90%,
90%, 85%
2 minutes
Weighted Dips 5 (1 Failure) 8, 8, 8, 8, Failure 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%, Body Weight
2 minutes
Exercise Ball DB
Pec Flyes
3 12, 12, 12 70%, 70%, 70% 1.5 minutes
Lying Hamstring
Curls
4 10, 10, 10, 10 75%, 75%, 75%,
75%
1.5 minutes
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Barbell Military
Press
6 (1 Warm-Up) 15, 8, 6, 6, 6, 4 65%, 80%, 85%,
85%, 85%, 90%
2 minutes
Reverse Grip Bent
Over Barbell Row
5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%, 80%
2 minutes
Wide Grip Pull-Ups 5 (1 Failure) 8, 8, 8, 8, Failure Body Weight 2 minutes
Barbell Shrugs 4 15, 15, 15, 15 65%, 65%, 65%,
65%
1.5 minutes
Internal/External
Rotator Cuff
Rotation
3 Internal
3 External
8, 8, 8
8, 8, 8
Light Weight 1.5 minutes

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Power Interval: (2 Month- 4 Month; 5 days a week/ Thursday and Sunday rest day)
Day 1: Back/Trapezius/Rotator Cuff
Day 2: Legs/Calves
Day 3: Hamstrings/Chest/Triceps
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Power Clean 5 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 3, 3, 3 75%, 85%, 90%,
90%, 90%
3 minutes
Fat Grip Barbell
Explosion Shrug
5 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 75%, 75%, 75%,
75%, 75%
2 minutes
Seated Cable Row 5 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%, 80%
2 minutes
Pull-Ups 5 Failure Body Weight 3 minutes
90 Degree DB
External Rotation
3 12, 12, 12 Light Weight 2 minutes
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Zerker Squat 6 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 75%, 85%, 85%,
90%, 90%, 90%
3 minutes
Leg Extensions 5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%, 80%
Alternate Between
Leg Extensions/Leg
Curls (1.5 minute
rest at end of set)
Leg Curls 5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%, 80%
Alternate Between
Leg Extensions/Leg
Curls (1.5 minute
rest at end of set)
Seated Calf Raises 5 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 50%, 50%, 50%,
50%, 50%
2 minutes
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Romanian Deadlift 6 (1 Warm-Up) 10, 5, 3, 3, 3, 1 75%, 85%, 90%,
90%, 90%, 95%
3 minutes
Barbell Good
Mornings
5 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 75%, 75%, 75%,
75%, 75%
3 minutes
DB Chest Press 4 8, 8, 8, 8 80%, 80%, 80%,
80%
2 minutes
Dips 3 Failure Body Weight 1 minute

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Muscle Endurance: (4 Month- 6 Month; 6 days a week/Sunday rest day)
Day 1: Full Body
Day 2: Circuit Training (40 minutes; 30 seconds work/15 seconds recovery; 40% of 1RM)
Hang Cleans; Squats; Push-Ups; Jump Rope; Pull-Ups; Box Jumps; Leg Raises; Dips; Med Ball
Toss
Day 3: Run a 5K for time or row 20 minutes for distance and then Kettle-bell swings or box
jumps for 20 minutes. (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest)
Cool-Down/Stretching: After every workout there will be a 5 minute cool down consisting of
light to moderate cardiovascular activity. After the cool down there will be 10 minutes of stretch-
ing. The stretching will focus on the rotator cuff and shoulder joint as well as other muscles of
the body. We will try to improve the flexibility and range of motion of the shoulder joint.
Exercise Sets Reps Weight of 1RM Rest Period
Zerker Squat 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between
Zerker/Bench (1
minute rest at end of
set)
DB Bench Press 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between
Zerker/Bench (1
minute rest at end of
set)
Reverse Grip Bent
Over Row
3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between
Row/Dips (1 minute
rest at end of set)
Dips 3 Failure Body Weight Alternate between
Row/Dips (1 minute
rest at end of set)
Barbell Shrugs 3 20, 20, 20 55%, 55%, 55% Alternate between
Shrugs/Pull-Ups (1
minute rest at end of
set)
Pull-Ups 3 Failure Body Weight Alternate between
Shrugs/Pull-Ups (1
minute rest at end of
set)