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It was a great weekend for the Big Red. We had a doubleheader on Saturday, starting with a 1 p.m. match at Hofstra, and then culminating in a 6 p.m. Ivy League faceoff at Columbia. Over the course of the day, our guys only gave up eight offensive points.
For those of you who have [...]
This is the forth release of the Section 11 individual and tournament rankings.
We are very pleased to announce that our gym has been featured in the number one Powerlifting magazine in the country. Powerlifting USA’s latest issue has an article about us listed under “Hardcore Gym!” This is a very cool honor and we would like to thank Rick Brewer, House of Pain, and of course, [...]
Teaching Drills for Improving the BIG THREE: Part 3 Deadlift Drills
By John Gaglione
The Stick Good Morning
The Stick Good Morning is a great exercise to teach the deadlift. Many of the principles learned for the squat hold true for the deadlift as well. The athlete wants a tight upper back, brace abdominals, they want to [...]
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You have hit the nail on the head with this article!
Those who use this info wisely will benifit greatly. I am hearing you have something new in the brew? What gives?
Thanks Dawg. reaper, I am putting something together that should be of interest to LI Wrestlers. When I finalize it, I will let everyone know right here at LIGHTHOUSE!
This is great Will. At the weight room where I work we have a bunch of bars,dumbells and weights. We had some machines donated and the girl’s class uses them. The lazy boys in my class sometimes sit on them as well. Since the season ended a few weeks ago we have been doing bench or dumbell bench on Mondays, Parrallel Squatting on Tuesdays, Militaries on Thursdays and Trap Bar Deadlifting on Fridays. We are going to change our lifting up in a week or two. What would you suggest that we alter in an effort to continue to get stronger. We like to change it up every 3 to 4 weeks.
Gardner, I would not change much as you are getting the most out of the time you have. Some things I would do. On your BENCH day I would have kids rotate in incline dumbbells. Try to squeeze in some ROWING exercise. If your more advanced kids are still on the box when SQUATTING, take away the box. Get some back in with Military Press, pull or chin ups. You could do some straight bar deads to mix it up on that day. One other thing is start to manipulate the sets and reps to develop maximum power! GOOD LUCK.
Coach Ellinger,
I certainly agree with the premise of this article and I believe you are genuine in your desire to deliver quality training to athletes. I also think you spend a lot of time putting down a lot of training methodologies and training professionals without offering a real solution to your readers. Personally, I agree with a lot of it, but I would like to see you back that up with more concrete explanations and examples of how to train correctly for a sport like wrestling. The unique mix of strength, power, reactive quickness and high energy demands makes training wrestlers a rather challenging task. Heavy strength lifts are not the answer and in many cases, if performed exclusively, will create serious muscle imbalances and breed out athleticism and coordination from an athlete.
I would love to see a follow up article that addresses a sound training regimen for the wrestler to perform that will truly enhance the physical attributes as it pertains to wrestling performance. I would be happy to write it up for you or contribute content for that article.
All the best,
Craig Galloway
Cornell Wrestling Alum ’91
Owner – CATZ Sports Performance – Wilmington, MA
Craig
I believe if you read all of the articles that coach Ellinger has written you will find that he has given lots of great info on how to train..And I know there will be more. He also offers help to anyone who writes to him with info and programs.I don’t Know how much heavy strength training you did when you were at Cornell but I’m willing to bet the ranch that they do a whole lot more now..Why do you think that is. The Fact is heavy lifting is part of the answer I don’t believe coach Ellinger says its the whole answer.As far as breeding out athleticism you are ALL wrong there..look at the way they train at Iowa..I also visited your web site I dont believe they offer any FREE info do they also your so called sport specific programs does not include wrestling I wonder why..I’ll tell you because you cannot train a wrestler like a volleyball tennis soccer golf basketball baseball or any other player. You being a WRESTLER should no that..training like a wrestler at the top level is not Dynamic and FUN…
I love that you are passionate about your coach and your sport. Obviously the information in my comment is incomplete, and coach Will has graciously offered to review a more thorough response on my training methodologies and recommendations for wrestlers, which I hope to submit to him soon. My goal is to help you and anyone else who is interested to get the most possible out of their bodies as it relates to performance in wrestling. I am very successful at doing that in my facility and with the wrestlers I work with, so I hope to be able to share that with a broader audience. No growth or advancements can occur without the spirited exchange of passionate individuals. It is good to challenge each other and share knowledge and successful practices. Thanks for adding to the exchange.
Craig
Craig, I am glad you “agree with a lot” of what I have written. I must ask though; Have you read ALL my articles? You stated that I “didn’t back it up.” If you read TRAIN and THE PROGRAM this is CONCRETE explanations and examples of how to weight train for wrestling AND ALL sports. Please remember, this is strength training! I am not sure what you mean by “heavy strength lifts are not the answer?” If you are saying that the ‘big’ mutli-joint lifts shouldn’t be done, than I must tell you, you are wrong! If you are trying to say a Wrestler shouldn’t train on an Elite Powerlifters personal program, I would agree and have stated so in my articles. You then say ” Done exclusively will create serious muscle imbalances and breed out athleticism and coordination.” Now I don’t exclusively do only one type of exercise. Still this statement would be incorrect. Here I say, “did you read what Paul Anderson had to say about this?” It is in the article. I would have to say, he was pretty well balanced, coordinated and not a bad athlete to boot! I believe that I have made it know that athletes must work on different aspects of their sports. For example a wrestler must work on conditioning, technique, balance to name a few. We address all of this at the gym. But as I have said, “the most important thing a wrestler can do is lift weights and become stronger!” I don’t think this is debatable as it has been proven over and over again. it kind of reminds me of the baseball players and steroid debates I use to have. EVERYONE would tell me, “steroids would not help the baseball player.” The argument was always, “it can’t make them hit the ball.” You are welcome to try though, this website always welcomes new contributes. So I will be happy to accept your offer and have you write a follow up article with good sound training as you would do it. I would also like to extend back to you your graciousness. I will read your article and offer feedback. Plus I am willing to go to one of your CATZ places and observe your sports performance workouts. You or one of your partners are welcome to come to my gym and view are workouts. We then can compare notes. Thank you for the feedback. I look forward to your article and hearing from you again. Will
Having known Coach Will personally for about 35 years I can say you will find NO other Coach/Trainer (or whatever title you want) as dedicated to the importance of strength training. At times he may come off as a little off the wall, but thats what makes Will who he is today.If you think Will sounds a little crazy, you should meet Mr. Ellinger. The pear doesnt fall far from the tree. I should have listened to both of them back in the 80′s. It would have been the difference from being a good wrestler and a great wrestler in my opinion. Will enjoys nothing more than passing on his great knowledge of strength training. I read all his articles and have a life time worth of Will stories, including living under the same roof at SCSU and wrestling together on the same teams from Junior High, High School, and 3 years of College. He is always offering his knowledge/training at super affordable fees (When compared to what a HEALTH CLUB charges these days). Back in the 80′s when EVERYBODY was sucking insane amounts of weight (before all the health concerns and body fat testing) Will was preaching strength training. He would never suck an ounce of weight. Instead he was fueling the machine and strength training. I never saw Will in a rubber suit. Everyday he was in practice in shorts and a T-Shirt preaching at those (including me) for de-hydrating ourselves and starving ourselves. He loves training (properly) and coaching. He truly wants to EDUCATE. Now, all that being said, its not all about the strength training (My opinion). There is a lot more to it. Some of it being luck, good genes, mental toughness, God given athletic ability, nutrition, family support, great coaching, great programs (Youth Programs) and dedication to name just a few. Now, coming from a guy who had many of these qualities (again my own opinion), the one I was deficient in was PROPER STRENGTH TRAINING. I’ll never know if it would have made a difference but in my heart I believe it would. Here is my endorsement. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. Give the guy a shot. It will not be easy. He will work you and motivate you. Wrestlers are a different breed. I have never met a wrestler that had any type of success who was not slightly off the wall. Thats what makes us members of one of the GREATEST Fraternities. Sure the guy sounds a little off the wall at times, but are not we all.
Gee Roy,
That must have been exciting being on the same teams as Will back in the 80s.
When there are two wrestlers going at it who have the same skill set and the same mental toughness, in all likelihood the stronger one is going to win the match.
Physical strength is huge in the sport of wrestling. I can vouch for this as a coach. My wrestlers all lift with great intensity throughout the spring, summer and fall.
When you are strong you are able to fight through your moves and techniques better than if you did not lift properly.
Roy, losing a few pounds to get down to weight is not a big deal. It is this sacrifice that molds and mentally toughens the wrestler.
few pounds yes, Im talking about the excessive weight pulling. I know a little about it because I lived it.
What’s great about Willie Ellinger’s articles is that they are chock full of valuable content. Testament to this is the amount of comments these articles get…the most commented on artciles on lighthouse. Always look forwrad to reading this stuff. Thanks Willie.
Pete, thank you again! I try to write straight forward articles that are honest and give info that I wish I had when I was competing. The best thing about it is seeing the results. Like a 145lb. state finalist who wrestles for my friend. He now weighs 167 and benched 275 as a sophomore! Or a freshmen training with me who wrestled 125 and just squatted 205lbs. for 5 reps. We even have a 12 year old Baseball Player who just got back from a big tournament where he cracked one out of the park! I love this stuff!!!
Correction: the former 125lber squatted 205 for 10 and he said it was easy!
Coach E. When is this guy gonna tell us his training secrets ? You know I am always looking for an egde!
Mc D ,HA HA ,yea I know. The guy said he would add his wisdom. Like I said- I welcome it! From him or anyone else. I guess we have to keep waiting and see? In the mean time, keep doing what we do.
this is exactly what ive been saying all along… well said ellinger
ohyeah, Good job; if this is what your saying please keep saying it! We need the truth to be told and to keep helping the athletes.
I have to add this link to an article that I found at EFS- http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/iron-brothers/planet-fatness. During the cause of writing, MYTHS 1/2 TRUTHS AND LIES; some felt that I was being to critical.
You will even see now more than ever that some “trainers” who want to steal your money, are proving the facts of this article to be correct. Please take a good look at where you train and the lifts that you perform.
As always you are welcome to come down to the IRON EMPIRE from your current gym and compare. I will take this one step further. If you are training with another trainer or on your own right now. I will guarantee significant strength gains in all your lifts in 12 weeks or your money back! Coach Ellinger