Taking full responsibility for you training, as a wrestler is really important when trying to become the best you can be. When you become totally accountable for your actions as well as your results is when you are truly on your way to reaching the top level in this sport. Are you ready to take on that total commitment and be completely responsible for your wrestling career? If so, here are some key things to remember while you are training.      1. Time:  The one sure thing we have in common with our competition is time.  Don't waste it; if we use our time more efficiently than our opponent does, we will be better prepared than he is.  It isn't the hours you put in; it's what you put into the hours.  TRAIN SMART!    2. Conditioning:   When you have an opponent that is fast or quick - when he gets tired he is no longer fast or quick.  If your opponent is really strong - when he gets tired he is no longer strong.  If your opponent has great technique and he gets tired - he no longer has great technique.  If you can make an opponent tired, while you are not, you will be faster, stronger and your technique will work better.  Work hard on your conditioning and learn the techniques that make your opponent tired.    3. Take care of your injuries: Don't neglect treatment on an injury, no matter how minor you think it is.  Listen to your trainers and your body; don't let a small injury become a large one.  Protect from injury by getting proper rest and staying alert in every practice.    4. Goals:  Set specific goals for each practice.  Use your drilling and technique practices to solve   Specific problems.  Do a scouting report on yourself (self-evaluation form available through Steve Fraser) and identify any problem areas and work hard to improve them.    5. Flexibility:   Wrestlers must be able to produce and absorb forces under conditions where your muscles are "ballistically" stretched and loaded.  Lack of dynamic flexibility can cause injury and limit your execution of technique.  You should stretch often and very aggressively.  Your warm-up and cool-down should be a priority and include good stretching methods in each.    6. Agility:  Agility is the ability to change directions while maintaining balance, body control and speed.  It is a trainable motor skill, and having good feet is probably a better asset than having blazing speed.  Agility work can be incorporated with wrestling specific skills.    7. Nutrition:  Nutrition might sound unimportant, but is actually one of the most critical aspects of a workout program.  Because wrestling is governed by weight classes, athletes must be constantly aware of their diet and what kind of training effect it will have on competition preparation.  Keep your weight under control.  Keeping a daily journal or recording what you eat daily will give you great knowledge of what makes you feel great and what makes you feel tired and unresponsive.    8. Daily journal: Keeping a daily journal is probably one of the most effective ways to improve your training methods and help develop your plan.  Recording information about your training such as food, hours slept, training activity, how you felt, etc. can really help you identify certain trends that can greatly affect how you feel during competition.  This information can help you customize your training methods/plan and will make you very confident in your plan of attack.  Because every individual is different, it is especially important to find out what makes YOU feel that fresh, hungry & powerful.    9. Rest:  The fundamental part of the recovery process takes place during night sleep.  During sleep, changes occur in the core of the brain, reducing the excitability of the centers in which the various senses are located: hearing, sight, touch, etc.  Sleep brings calm and rest for the brain cells, replenishing their work capacity, enabling the accumulation of nervous energy for future activity.      10. New limits: Every time you work out, get a little better…push yourself to new limits.    11. Situations: Situations you need to be aware of and good in are as follows. Make sure you take time in practice to work on these issues.    A.   Scoring situations (use different time - 15 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min)  *  Behind by 1 point  * Ahead by 1 point  *  Behind by 2 points  * Ahead by 2 points  *  Behind by 3 points  * Ahead by 3 points  *  Behind by 4 points  * Ahead by 4 points  *  Behind by 5-9 points  * Ahead by 5-9 points    B. You have to pin your opponent  C. Wrestling in or near the zone and out of bounds.  Tactics.  D. Overtime, what about risk, passivity, cautions, time, score, etc., know the situation.  E. Wrestle from a scramble position when you and your opponent have a hand around each other's waist. Face opposite your opponent.    12. Study: Study and make sure you know all of the current rules.  * Cautions, fleeing hold, fleeing the mat and false starts, 3 cautions and match is over.  * Know what fleeing the hold and mat are.  * How officials look at a 0-0 score, 1-0, etc. in relation to the time left in a match  * What is an escape?  How do they call it?  * When is a match over?  * Can you score out of bounds, offense & defense?  * If you go out of bounds in parterre, when do you start on your feet and when do you go down in parterre?  * What should you do if your opponent is greased?  * Overtime criteria.       13. Competition and Matches:   A - You must be ready to play the hand you are dealt and figure out how to win.  B - Work on developing a sense of each particular match and what it will take to win it.  This means knowing your opponent, the referee and yourself.  C  - Develop the ability to plan and visualize whole matches.  Create and follow a plan to win.    D - Key points in a winning plan:  *Do not put yourself in a position where the referee can beat you  *Be prepared physically and mentally  *Keep pressure on your opponent  *Break your opponent's will  *Make thought and action one  *Be able to break your opponents balance and control the center of the mat  *Be able to attack and counter attack    There you have it…. A few tips to think about when designing your training plan and thus your wrestling career. Do it now …take your career into your own hands and live it with passion! See you at the top!