TRAINING JOURNAL

·        October 27^th, 2003 – This is the beginning of the training journal section of this website.  I will be posting both training progress, along with articles pertaining to wrestling written by either myself or others in the wrestling community.  Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

 

I have just returned from the Sunkist Kids International Tournament.  We flew into Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday October 22^nd.  Weigh-ins for the tournament was on Thursday with wrestling on Friday.  My record was 1-1 in my pool, but I advanced on criteria points.  In the quarter-finals I lost to Mo Lawal 11 – 5.  My points placed me at 5^th for the tournament.

 

While I was disappointed with my finish at Sunkist it provided a good starting point for assessing thing to work on to improve my freestyle technique and strategy before the US Open and Olympic Trials next year.

 

The next tournament I will be competing in will be the NYAC Open on December 20^th in New York City.  My current training plan is as follows:

 

Things to work on:

o       Par Terre Defense

o       Shot Defense

o       Setups/Motion

o       Leg Attacks

 

 

 

·        October 29^th, 2003 – The current focus for the week is on Leg Attacks and ramping up the offense.  Roman, the NYAC freestyle coach and world champion has been working with me on re-shot defense.  That is when a guy pulls back on a fake – to follow him in and take a re-shot.  The second key focus point has been to not telegraph shots.

 

 

·        October 31^st, 2003 – Having two months until the next competition – NYAC Tournament December 20^th – 21^st – I have been working on gaining muscle for the 84kg weight class.  There is a possibility for cutting down to 74kg for next season, but competing at 84kg is the plan for competition right now.  Also, it is in the works to make it to some international competitions in the coming months.

 

 

 

·        November 4^th, 2003 – Training is going well in both the weight-lifting and technique areas.  The focus is still on correcting the transition mistakes from the Sunkist tournament.  In the weight-lifting department I have been working on developing a 4-day a week multi-section training program.  Email me at gparker03@alumni.princeton.edu to ask any questions about the program.  This week I’ll be training at the NYAC on Tuesday and Thursday.  I’ll be wrestling with the 96kg world representative from Lithuania.  In the coming weeks, the concentration will be on live wrestling and conditioning (in addition to technique changes) to build a base.  I will be adding a 3-day a week running program to get some solid cross training conditioning in.

 

·        November 6^th, 2003 – Tuesday night I was able to work with a former Iranian World Champion on leg-lace techniques.  Thursday night I worked on the left side clinch.

 

·        November 10^th, 2003 – Approximately a month and half until the NYAC Christmas Tournament.  This weekend saw me working out at Princeton and watching the Ivy League Scrimmage Tournament held there yesterday.  This will I will be continuing focusing on par-terre work, along with creating angles, re-shots and shot defense.  I will beginning to do a lot of running for cross training, along with continued improvement in my lifting and nutrition programs.

 

·        November 19^th, 2003 – Currently I am working on ramping up my conditioning program.  I have added in some roadwork, along with some other cross-training to my regime.  Technique-wise I am still focusing on re-shots and creating angles/setups.  Along with this I am trying to work in my shot off his reaction, for example when he snaps my wrist off his head.  Currently my weight has been around the mid 190s which is a positive step forward.  I am in the planning for taking a trip in February to Kiev, Ukraine for a freestyle open tournament.  Right now the focus is directed on the NYAC tournament on December 20^th.

 

February 10th, 2004 - Just returned from the Dave Schultz International in Colorado Springs, Co. In pool competition I was 2-1, winning to matches by tech-fall and losing 4-3 to Brandon Eggum to advance out of the pool to the semis. I ended up placing 7th. Next tournament will most likely be a European competition in Turkey or Greece in early March, followed by some Olympic Trial qualifiers in the states.

With a month until the next competition and two months until the US Open, I will re-focus on strength building, along with specific technique. I have several points to work on from the matches so far this season . . .