At the local PCYC (pretty much = YMCA from what I understand) where I practise Judo and do padwork/sparring, I recently found out there is a freestyle/greco wrestling coach with a pretty good background.

A lot of the MMA clubs around here come to him for one on one clinch/takedown training.

My friend Yoshi (5th Dan Judoka) also practises wrestling with this coach.

He's an older Japanese fellow, in his mid to late 50's, but is in phenomenal shape and is apparently a well credentialled wrestling instructor.

Anyway, classes at PCYCs are ridiculously cheap, and generally fairly small groups (which = good level of personalised attention from instructors), so I figure why not jump on board and do a couple of wrestling sessions a week for a few months (on top of Judo and kickboxing). I'm considering going back to MMA training in a couple of months as my old shootfighting coach is returning from Japan in a couple of months, and I'd like to pick up some wrestling skills before he gets back and I take up training with him again.

Tonight will be my first class. Any pointers? What should I expect from the session as opposed to a Judo class in terms of intensity, and approach? Anything I should look out for? Any advice/information would be appreciated. The only wrestling I've ever done has been of the "catch" variety.

thanks for your time.

if they are anything like any wrestling classes i have had, they will be far more intense physically and will have a lot more drills cementing escapes, stand ups, sit outs, etc.

the easiest wrestling practice i have ever had was harder then my toughest bjj class.

if they are anything like any wrestling classes i have had, they will be far more intense physically and will have a lot more drills cementing escapes, stand ups, sit outs, etc.

the easiest wrestling practice i have ever had was harder then my toughest bjj class.

I guess my BJJ instructor is a hard-ass.

What to expect...

1.) A lot of groundwork focusing on body control
2.) Emphasis on clean take-downs and take-down defense
3.) Escapes and reversals

Awesome. Good info thus far guys.

I'm hoping there will be a lot of bodyweight exercise, and mobility training.

Takedown training will be good, as I've kinda lost the "shoot" mentality I used to have because of Judo.

I guess my BJJ instructor is a hard-ass.



no. well he might be. but thats not the point mostly. we do all that junk to. i have trained at a few bjj schools, but been at the same one for 5 years.

When i was wrestling (dozen of years total or so) i was not paying to train, i was on a team. if people didnt like the training, they could leave and some one else would fill your space. the coaches job was to make the best possible athletes, not retain students. that might be why the practices were always more difficult then bjjay. however at ymca, it may be more relaxed then national level amateur wrestling practice, our practises would also be 2-3 hours.

well I attended the class.

There were four other guys there, all very experienced. It was surreal practising in the same room I play Judo in.

LOTS of Pummeling, Sitouts, Get-ups, and laps of the room to begin with. High intensity.

The guy I was mostly paired up with was a former national champion. He's gained a bit of weight since those days, but wrestling with him was quite an experience. We did some 2-on-1's and clinchwork, then basically just did rounds of wrestling (in my mind I keep calling it randori)

I got nailed with quite a few takedowns, and often when taking the initiative and going for an arm-in guillotine or other headlock (in a bid to get control - no intention of applying a choke obviously), I got put on my back fairly heavily.

Moment of glory was landing a beautiful drop-seoi nage, but the joy of it was short lived.

My observation of the class (and art) as a whole compared to judo:
Physically it's very gruelling. I can get through the exercises due to judo experience/fitness, but the exercises were quite tiring. The biggest difference for me was the actual mindset of wrestling - it's so... aggressive/assertive/dominant.

It's all go-go-go- never stop pushing - keep coming forward, don't let them push you back... all in all that is what made the "randori" more fatiguing for me than judo randori. Also, no chance to hunch over and get my breath. If my hands were to touch my knees, it's 100 pushups for EVERYONE in the group. So I refrained, though towards the end I felt like I was going to die, I didn't want to make waves.

I think it's going to be hugely beneficial, as I have a tendency to be too much of a counter-fighter. When striking, I often let my opponent dictate the pace, and when rolling or doing tachiwaza, I focus (probably too much) on reversing or countering my opponent. I'm also too comfortable fighting from my back, which means I sometimes don't fight hard enough for position.

If anything can cure me of those bad habits, I'm confident that freestyle wrestling will do the job.