Dojo Wrestler Summer Wrestling Camp: Learning Phase

     At our wrestling camp today, we really focused on the concept of skills, (technique), strength, and speed, three elements essential to developing an expert wrestler. When we first learn a new skill we are so excited and ready to implement it into our wrestling that we often neglect the initial step of skills development. I refer to the the initial step in skills development as the learning phase. In the learning phrase the body is being prepped with very little resistance and a very large window of opportunity to execute the technique. The neurons have to be allowed the time to sync with what the eyes have seen and the mind has visualized. This initial learning phase can be seen in other sports as well.

     Take for example the weight lifter. An olympic weight lifter will strip the weights off the bar and devote the first 30 minutes of a training session solely to technique. Lifting the weightless bar may not seem very intense or practical since the goal is to add a few hundred pounds to the bar for competition, but that's not the case. The expert weight lifter knows that having precise form and technique, skills, you can call it whatever you want... But the lifter knows that having precise technique will allow for another 10 or even 20 pounds to be lifted. Therefore it is essential for the lifter to devote time to the learning phase where the neurons are given time to train what the mind is wanting to perform. Knowing that the learning phase will give them the extra boost when the weight is piled on, an expert lifter will spend just as much focus during this training as any other part of training.
     A Dojo Wrestler is expected to do the same. Knowing that their skills will be tested in the heat of battle, a dojo wrestler trains during the learning phase with the same diligence and intensity as live wrestling. Once muscle memory is set and the neurons are firing at the same level as the mind, then it is appropriate to increase speed and resistance to simulate match situations.

Homework assignment: 

Write down technical instruction

Make a Wrestling Poem

Become of Dojo Wrestler this summer! 

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Summer Training = Winter Champions