Every season you'll hear it from coaches, trying to make sense why their team isn't winning, "if only we were stronger as a team." Coaches see it all the time. Their kids have the technique, the conditioning, maybe even the mental toughness, but physically they just aren't there yet.     It's always a challenge for a coach to find a way to build strength training into a workout. Many coaches are reluctant to take the draconian step of having 6:00 a.m. lifting sessions. Other coaches just don't have the access to weight room facilities, and little or no budget to make strength training a priority.     If this sounds familiar then your team might need the leadership from the coach to take control and fix the strength gap that exists. With three simple solutions your team can avoid having to set the alarm clock for the wee hours, and you can probably avoid the coach's poor house as well.     Creativity in strength training is really the key. And, here are three easy to manage ideas that can get your team working together on the important area of strength during your regular wrestling practice.     Step one: load your team up with knuckle-pins. What's a knuckle-pin you might ask? And just a few years ago I was asking one of my wrestlers dad's what a knuckle-pin was. One of my wrestling-dads had come to me with the idea of outfitting the team with hand weights. The hand weights were a simple idea, the dad worked for the railroad, and all along the lines of tracks lay old knuckle-pins. These knuckle-pins were what held train cars together. Eventually, the pins broke off and fell to the tracks. The dad picked them up for us and our team was outfitted with hand weights. The weights were between 5-8 pounds. For the stronger wrestlers we branched beyond knuckle-pins to window well weights from old houses. These weights attached to rope secured to windows and acted as a counterbalance to open the window. With a team of 60 guys we had a vast array of hand weights of varying sizes. From the lightweight knuckle-pins of 5 pounds to heavier window weights that weighed 15 pounds. Once we had hand-weights for the team we painted them and put them to use.     The possibilities were endless. But we used the hand-weights in two main ways. One was jogging with them. You'd be amazed what a difference in a workout jogging is when you throw in carrying hand-weights. On a normal 20 minute run, we usually only had the kids carry the weights for about 10 minutes. It truly adds a lot to jogging, and I'm sure it made a difference in our team strength.     Also, about 3 days a week we would gather into a large circle, everybody with a manageable set of hand-weights. This usually would come at the end of practice, since it was such a demanding workout. For about 9 minutes the wrestlers would put themselves through a series of different exercises that mainly concentrated on shoulder and back muscles. The coach would call for the kids to do as many reps as possible of a specific exercise, changing it up about every 20 seconds. The motions for the shoulder workout, as we called, were similar to what you would do in the weight room: standing chest fly, military press, tricep extension. Have a variety of movements in mind, change them up every 20-45 seconds, crank up the music and build the strength. The intensity of this work-out is virtually limitless. Rest of the shoulder muscles can be thrown in by having the wrestlers hold the weights while they do lunges, or do up-downs, or level changes.     But the key to this workout was that every wrestler was doing it at once. All wrestlers policed each other and made sure that maximum effort was being expended, and for 9 minutes the whole team was working together to build strength. To top it off it didn't cost the coach his budget for the year.     Step two: Team Wondersticks. The wonderstick, was a bit more costly, but added another way of training as a team. Your local hardware, or plumbing supplier is the place to go. As a team we bought four and five foot lengths of PVC plastic plumbing pipe in both 2" and 4" diameters. Don't forget the end caps, plumbers glue, and duct tape. The wonder-stick, sarcastically named by the wrestlers for the lack of joy they had when faced with the workout, was really a miniature weight bar.     After purchasing the materials we glued one end cap on the PVC in place and held it firmly in place with plenty of extra duct tape. Then, we mixed standard post-hole concrete and began to fill the PVC pipe. The 2" PVC with just concrete, weighed 35 pounds. To increase the weight of the bar we dropped knuckle-pins and other heavy iron objects into the pipe and let the concrete fill and settle around them. With this technique the 2" wonder-sticks weighed upwards of 55-60 pounds. Once filled we set the sticks upright to let the concrete dry and then glued the end cap in place. We did the same with the 4" PVC, but be careful adding too much iron to those wonder-sticks. With the extra diameter gripping them can be real tough. Some of the 4" wonder-sticks weighed upwards of a hundred pounds. All of these were neatly contained in very durable PVC piping. They were usable on the wrestling mats and did not make a mess.     The sections were four and five feet long, just short of an actual barbell. However, the wonder-stick really forced wrestlers to squeeze. Again, the diameter was 2 and 4 inches. When in use the wrestlers constantly had to grip the stick to go through the exercises.     The wonder-stick workout was in the neighborhood of 10-15 minutes. With wrestlers working in pairs. One wrestler would do a series of reps for example, 10 hang clean reps, 10 lat rows, and 10 military presses. Then, the other wrestler would do the same. Both wrestlers, would spot each other. The wonder-stick workout worked well, since our weight room did not have near as many stations as the 30 wonder-sticks provided. Of course, the wonder-sticks did have a financial cost, in the area of four dollars each. But, overall the wonder-sticks provided the team another way of strength training together.     Step three: Get out the towels. Towel workouts are simple and relatively low in cost. A few dollars for a new heavy-duty shower towel, or perhaps you can get some parents to donate some old beach towels. Once, there is enough towels to accommodate two wrestlers per towel, it is time to start adding in the towel workout into your practice time. The different exercises are limitless. With two wrestlers working as resistance against each other, all sorts of exercises can be done. While some exercises will focus more on biceps or lats all of the exercises will force wrestlers to engage in exercises that promote a powerful grip.     Wrestlers can work on a standing curl, with one wrestler kneeling in front of the other pulling down on the towel while the other holds the center of the towel and does a number of repetitions, then they can exchange places. The wrestlers can work on the pulling strength working the towel back and forth for a series of reps in two man hand saw motion, much like two lumberjacks cutting through a fallen tree. The tricep curl can be done with the resistance wrestler standing behind the other, while the wrestler does the standing tricep extension. Again the possibilities are limitless and the work-out potential can only be diminished by one wrestler not providing enough resistance for the other.     Cary Kolat and Sammie Henson employed this towel workout at the end of practices before heading off to Sydney to wrestle in the Olympics. All the while they were less than thirty feet from the state of the art weight room adjoined to the wrestling room on the campus at the Olympic Training Center. The weight room is filled with every gadget and machine you could possibly want, but two world class wrestlers pushed each other through hundreds of repetitions using a simple towel. I'm sure they've spent plenty of time in the weight room pumping conventional iron, but the workout they went through was no less impressive, and in many ways it was superior.     To provide more strength training for your team look for creativ