Having a high pace and huge “gas tank” is something that has always been coveted in the wrestling community. Despite it being so sought after, very few wrestlers actually display that style in competition. In this post, I’m going to go over the obvious and the overlooked keys to constantly being on the attack.
- Have the cardio to be able to sustain a high pace
This is the most obvious prerequisite to having a high attack rate. No one wants to attack nonstop in the 1st period just to be completely gassed out in the 2nd and the 3rd. This is why we learn to pace ourselves. Because “slowing down” is the quickest adjustment we as wrestlers can make to make sure we can wrestle all 3 periods, that seems to be the one that we fall in love with. Cardiovascular endurance has to be built up over time and by the time that is done, many wrestlers get stuck in how they’ve already been wrestling up until that point. My best tip to increasing endurance for wrestling matches is wrestling and drilling with a higher pace in the practice room. A lot of wrestlers are hesitant to take themselves to that dark place mentally, but you have to have so much faith in your preparation that when you’re tired in a match you know that the other guy is exhausted
2. Become More Technically Sound
This one has multiple benefits. The first one is lowering energy output in the first place. Wrestling someone who you’re a much better wrestler than for 20 minutes is still a lot less tiring than wrestling David Taylor for 6 minutes. That’s because of the sheer amount of energy and muscle that you would have to use in order to make up for the technical gap. Muscling through sequences for any reason takes a lot more out of you compared to actually knowing what to do in those positions. The second benefit to being more technically sound is that you’re more willing to take risks and put yourself in certain positions because the potential to score is more exciting than your fear of giving up points. Guys like Jason Nolf and David Taylor show this well. Jason Nolf gave up a lot of takedowns during his college career that he did not need to give up, but he was constantly experimenting and he was confident that he would easily be able to get those points back. David Taylor’s confidence in scrambles (combined with his 1% cardio) has allowed him to be able to implement a “just get to his legs” kind of approach. This lowers the threshold of when he believes the opponent is open to attack because he doesn’t have to obsess over finishing “clean”.
3. Get Really Good At Top & Bottom
Being bad at the bottom position will paralyze you from the feet. New wrestlers run into this problem all of the time. They’re scared to shoot and even open up in general because they know that if they give up a takedown then there’s a good chance that they’ll also get pinned. You can not wrestle around this issue. Once other coaches and wrestlers start to notice this deficiency in your wrestling they will just choose top when it is their choice. You also will never be able to wrestle freely even when you’re neutral.
Being confident in your ability to get pins, back points or even just rideouts from the top position will create a certain kind of urgency from the feet. Two great wrestlers to look at to show this are Zain Retherford (nicknamed Zain Train because of his insane pace) and Spencer Lee. Those two are the two best top wrestlers in folkstyle wrestling in the last decade and both were constantly going for takedowns whenever they were standing. Knowing that you’re a takedown away from winning a match at any given time will make you REALLY want to get a takedown
4. Perfect Shot Recovery
If you give up a takedown every time you take a bad shot or you don’t finish your attempt clean, then eventually you will start taking less shots. The risk/reward ratio just becomes more skewed in the negative direction. The first level of shot recovery is knowing how to at least not give up the takedown yourself. David Taylor is amazing at taking bad shots, but almost never giving up go-behinds, so each shot he takes is essentially no-low risk. The second level of shot recovery is still being able to get the takedown. There’s two separate levels within this level. Level 1 is when you’re still in on the leg, but you’re extended. Level 2 is when you don’t have the leg at all, typically stuck in underneath a front headlock or a chest wrap. I have plenty of YouTube videos going over exactly what to do in level 2 (short/sucker drag, dump, peek out, etc.). I will be posting videos regarding shot recovery when you’re still in on a leg very soon.
5. Have A Variety of Attacks/Set-Ups
For most wrestlers, having only one or two takedowns makes them very easy to shut down. Add the fact that they’re usually very limited even with the techniques that are supposedly their “bread and butter”. Let me give 2 examples of what I am talking about. First, we have the “thrower”. Typically, the thrower is not actually a thrower. He’s a “lat dropper”. Not only is he only a “lat dropper”, but he can only do it from one side and he can only do it from the over/under position. His only setup to get to the over/under position is to just reach for it. He doesn’t even threaten leg attacks in order to bait his opponent to pull him up into the hooks. This is an easy guy to coach against and once the lateral drop is shut down his pace will drop. Second, you have the guy who loves double legs (used to be me). Most of these wrestlers can’t get off of the train tracks. Keep them tied up and if space is created, square stance with a hand down to pull them up. Unfortunately, most wrestlers who prioritize double legs completely ignore upper body. DJ Washington from Indiana is a fantastic example of a double-legger who transitions really well to throws whenever he is pulled up from an attempt. Also, most wrestlers will not develop their reattack doubles, shot reshot doubles and level changes from the opponent’s offense which, if they did, would make their double legs so much more dangerous. Expand your offense and you’ll be able to attack more often.
6. Watch Wrestlers Who Wrestle With A High Pace
I started wrestling when Penn State’s Murderer’s Row were dominating the NCAA. I watched every match of Zain Retherford and Jason Nolf that I could. Thankfully Big Ten Network posted everything on YouTube back then. I would actually watch Zain highlights before my matches and I felt like I couldn’t get tired. It was actually pretty crazy how that worked for me. I encourage all of my new wrestlers to watch Austin Desanto matches (because of both the pace and the technique). Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci are more refined and methodical with how they deliver their pace, but they never stop moving forward and just wear guys out. Old school “bully” film of the Brand Brothers and Brent Metcalf are always great to watch.