Don't Practice Too Much! (aka How to Peak)

As counter intuitive as is may seem, there is a point where practicing more brings about diminishing returns.  Yet, many people think that you need to have a grueling two or three hour workout in order to get results.  Especially as the season draws to a close, coaches and athletes are trying to cram as much as possible into each session.  But I'll bet you'd be surprised to know who doesn't practice that long.

In an interview a couple years ago, Penn State Head Coach Cael Sanderson revealed that the number one ranked Nittany Lions usually practice for an hour and a half or maybe two hours.  When they are peaking for a big event, they might practice for 1:15 or sometimes even an hour or less.  If that weren't enough, when I took my Bronze Level Coaching Certification course with USA Wrestling it was stated that practices should be kept to 75-90 minutes, less if working with a youth team.

However, most high schools, including the one I went to and the one that my youth team feeds into, practice for about 2.5 hours!  When I wrestled in college at RPI, our practices were usually 2 hours including warmup, and 1.5 hours on Fridays.  The day before a match consisted of mostly drilling and no live, and it lasted for an hour or an hour and a half.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed wrestling in high school, but I liked my college practices even more.  I believe that it is better to have a shorter, more intense practice than a long, drawn out one.

If the best college team in the country can get away with less time, then there must be something that everyone else is missing.  I agree entirely with the approach of Penn State for a few reasons.  For starters, if a practice is well organized and run efficiently, then you can fit a lot into an hour and a half if everyone is disciplined and stays on task.  And as I first mentioned, your body may not respond as well to increased amounts of practice.  If you were to have three hour practices day in and day out, you would most likely fall victim to CNS (central nervous system) fatigue, which is where you always feel exhausted and can't seem to recover.  An effective workout should leave you feeling invigorated, not feeling like you need to puke or collapse.  Plus, in the case of youth wrestling, it is difficult to keep kids focused for two hours.

At this point in the season, you are definitely looking to peak at each competition.  You want to show up to each match feeling lively and fresh, not tired and sore.  While long, tough practices are necessary once in a while to increase your stamina and mental toughness, the final days before a major tournament is not the time for it.  If you've been managing your weight well, you shouldn't have to work for several hours the night before to sweat off pounds, anyways.

Start Peaking,
Jeff