learning wrestling at an older age

I really need to work my wrestling because I'd rather not pull guard or go for a sloppy shot, get stuffed then just pull guard anyways. Unfortunately I never wrestled in high school which I regret now. I've looked to a lot of the club but a lot of times there's an age limit of 18. Not sure why people don't want to keep this art going since it seems to be dying out now that more and more colleges are dropping their wrestling programs for better money making sports.
Anyways what I'm looking for is, are there any alternatives for learning wrestling besides trying to find an MMA gym that will prob teach wrestling once a week?

Yeah adult clubs are hard to find... and most clubs are for ranking wrestlers or they're like naked gay clubs. Depending on your age.. if you're in college you can talk to the coaches at your school and they're usually ok with accepting rag dolls for practice :P.. but they won't take outsiders from what I know. If not I know at least sometimes you can go to your local high school and usually the coaches are looking for volunteers for the team etc.. Be an active volunteer :P most wrestling coaches will never have a problem with teaching etc.. and you can practice with some of the people in your weight range as well as help keep the sport alive.

Other then that their is nothing I know of.. If you want to learn through experience lol.. you can look for wrestling opens.. their are more then you would think.. then just compete lol..

That's a pretty good suggestion. Ill have to hit up these high schools and see if I can't convince them to let me help out.
Its just strange to me there's nothing for adults. I can't be the only one looking to learn!

the high school thing is a good suggestion, especially during the summer, before school starts when they are doing their conditioning.

I would suggest that you follow some Judo first, to be exactly the breakfalls (ukemi) before you start wrestling. It has the best structured approach to teaching breakfalls and you are going to need that because Wrestling (especially Freestyle) has got some nasty throws.

From experience with our Chechen inhouse wrestlers and the Americans that visit our club I get the notion that learning breakfalls in Wrestling is more a personal try-and-error approach than a codified system.

I also see that people who have an active wrestling career after their 22nd birthday are prown to injuries, especially of the spine. Maybe that's one of the reasons why wrestling stops after the college years and you can't find "adult" wrestling clubs.

just my $0.02 (or in my case €0,02)

I've got my yonkyu in kodokan judo, so I've taken many throws :) My buddy laughs everytime I slap the mat when he double legs me. Says its silly. I don't care if its silly the impact sucks less when you slap out :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zendokan

I would suggest that you follow some Judo first, to be exactly the breakfalls (ukemi) before you start wrestling. It has the best structured approach to teaching breakfalls and you are going to need that because Wrestling (especially Freestyle) has got some nasty throws.

From experience with our Chechen inhouse wrestlers and the Americans that visit our club I get the notion that learning breakfalls in Wrestling is more a personal try-and-error approach than a codified system.

I also see that people who have an active wrestling career after their 22nd birthday are prown to injuries, especially of the spine. Maybe that's one of the reasons why wrestling stops after the college years and you can't find "adult" wrestling clubs.

just my $0.02 (or in my case €0,02)

---

The majority of my friend’s male/female still wrestle across the country in college and they're all "crippled" coming back from knee surgeries, or having spine injuries... But they still love the sport and compete even though they know they'll damage themselves more. There is really no way to compete at a high level in the sport without crippling yourself in the long run. Of course this isn’t always the case and you’ll have people living injury free for a long time.. another friend going strong in his 80s and he’s been part of the sport sense he was a child.. Of course he doesn’t compete anymore: P

The reason wrestlers are crippled more so then other athletes in their early 20s.. isn't because they aren't taught how to land(you'll teach a 5 year old in freestyle how to land) it's because of the nature of the sport. It’s a very aggressive and abusive sport compared to all others.. especially the training. They abuse their bodies understanding the consequences they will face in their later years. Spine injures, knee injuries, you'll even see shoulder which are all part of the sport and an understood consequence.(there is nothing I love more than wrestling.. that’s why I do jujitsu even though they are completely different especially in approach.. it helps me feel that I still have the connection)

Why adult clubs aren’t prominent whether it be casual-semi competitive which could easily be done without injury, or full on competitive.. In my opinion is because there is almost zero market for it.. It takes a certain type of person to enjoy the sport.. and the aggressive nature of the sport isn’t going to bring older clients who’ve never done it before. But I bet the injury prone ex wrestlers will happily continue their careers after college if there was the opportunity at an adult club.

edit:You are right in saying judo has a much more structured approach to break-falls.. thats just at least in my opinion not even close to the reason wrestlers are injury prone.

Also my apologies for the wall of text.

Brent - you can always ask mike :)

I see that my text is a little bit confusing (sorry, English isn't my first language).

Paragrafe 1 and 2 are together (the do-Judo-breakfalls and trial-and-error approach by Wrestlers).
paragrafe 3: Is more about that there aren't much adult Wrestling clubs because Wrestlers are prown to injuries more than other grappling sports. That was the 'maybe' that I was refering too.
Why Wrestlers are more prown to injuries is indeed because it's a 'brutal' sport that abuses the body and yes, the nature of the game.

That's why I'm re-educating myself from Shoot Wrestling to 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. I'm a recreant sporter with a dayjob and walking around limping for 5 days isn't anymore for me.
Unfortunally I still sometimes go 'ball to the wall' with the Chechen Wrestlers, they are 21,22 en 24, I'm 34 hitting 35 still this year. It's a blast for six minutes, but a hassle for 5 days.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shellby

Brent - you can always ask mike :)

---

Yeah but he likes to wear dresses during the lessons and that just makes me a little uncomfortable

Brent you may want to check out youtube. Look up Cael Sanderson, he has many instrutional offesive/defensive stuff from his days coaching iowa state. I have used a lot of his stuff for years and teach it now in my weekly wrestling class.

http://video.kudda.com/sports/wrestling

http://www.youtube.com/user/scientificwrestling

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zendokan

I see that my text is a little bit confusing (sorry, English isn't my first language).

Paragrafe 1 and 2 are together (the do-Judo-breakfalls and trial-and-error approach by Wrestlers).
paragrafe 3: Is more about that there aren't much adult Wrestling clubs because Wrestlers are prown to injuries more than other grappling sports. That was the 'maybe' that I was refering too.
Why Wrestlers are more prown to injuries is indeed because it's a 'brutal' sport that abuses the body and yes, the nature of the game.

That's why I'm re-educating myself from Shoot Wrestling to 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. I'm a recreant sporter with a dayjob and walking around limping for 5 days isn't anymore for me.
Unfortunally I still sometimes go 'ball to the wall' with the Chechen Wrestlers, they are 21,22 en 24, I'm 34 hitting 35 still this year. It's a blast for six minutes, but a hassle for 5 days.

---

I wasn't really responding directly towards what you said.. I talk a lot and go on random tangents etc.. lol.

http://www.flowrestling.org/ everyone should have this website in their favorites.. you'll have to sometimes know what you're looking for as far as matches(or you can watch random ones.. I'm usually looking for specific matches though).. like friending coaches etc.. to see a teams uploads etc.. so navigation of the site can take getting a hang of. But they also have technical videos etc.. Basically one of my favorite websites.

When I trained up at Randy Coutures in Vegas he taught a low risk common sense safty first approach to to wrestling. (evidence suggests that it can work). I think it's the mind set you approach the sport. I know quite a few 1st generation Gracie guys that have pins in their knees and ankles from going 100% with leg attacks because "that's the way real men train". Then look at Kieth Owen. His style of jiu-jitsu is nicknamed pussey jiu-jitsu because he has a life long focus on his art. Anyone who can beat Marcelo Garcia is no pussey. Same with wrestling it's just very few people do it. I didn't step on to a wrestling mat till I was in my 40's and so far so good. Most of my chronic injuries are from my thai boxing days in my 20's when I trained like I was bullet proof. Turned out I wasn't

The way I see it.. at least from what I know the majority of the injuries are from competition not training. But your body gets abused in training which isn't just wrestling(I would be curious to learn what hes talking about.. but I feel that has more to do with learning and applying the techniques to your own area more than being competitive in the sport itself.).. training including weights/conditioning etc.. constantly. When you're a young kid all the way through high school you have nothing but time.. and that time is filled with training day after day after day.. your body gets abused. Then based on what I observe from my friends in college... their lives revolve around wrestling(like most college sport) so it just compounds the issue. It also doesn't help that the majority of wrestlers have a lack of respect for their body.. and have very abusive practices. But that slowly changing now a days.. which is good to see.

I don't consider one sport more manly/pussy then another etc.. I love both... with a slight lean. At least imo jiu-jitsu's is more of a chess match and wrestling is checkers with your body at peak physical performance.. Of course I have a lot to learn in jiu-jitsu so that could be an incorrect statement.

Also wrestlers are taught to be aggressive which leads to injury... imo the only way to truly be aggressive is to practice aggressively.. practice how you compete.. which doesn't mesh with jiu-jitsu too well. Learned that quickly on my first day drilling jiu-jitsu.. we were supposed to go 60% and thats what I was going in my mind.. I got yelled at pretty good :P and learned to change quickly.

another random wall of text brought to you by me

The whole mind set of wrestling is different. Its about pressure and being aggressive, but that doesn't mean you will end up with injuries. I still use both everyday in the gym, I only change it alittle. To say wrestling is a life thats true, but so is every sport if you want to be good at it. Pourya in my almost 10 years of wrestling I have never been hurt from being aggressive. I got hurt in jj and wrestling from making mistakes. Also "practice how you compete" is still true but in the right times. During drills in beginner class, no way but during rolling yes. If you watch me I train just like I compete, same set ups, same moves, same subs. I just don't force it the sub at the end.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jon Watkins

http://video.kudda.com/sports/wrestling

http://www.youtube.com/user/scientificwrestling

---

Great find, thanks Jon

I agree 100% I was trying to make zero distinction between sports etc.. because every sport is a way of life if you want it to be. I was just trying to say the training between jiu-jitsu(most sports) and wrestling differs and that wrestling focuses more on peak physical performance which in itself damages the body(of course you could disagree with this). But writing isn't my strongest trait and I have a small bias as well. I said earlier its totally possible to wrestle without ever suffering from any injuries.. Just that nature of the sport and the old ideologies behind it that some people still follow lead to injuries etc..

Wrestling destroyed my body. Just take it slow and go with no ego and learn how to take a slam like others said.