How can I get into wrestling?

Legendary

Ꮥµpǝɹnøʌɐ
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I always wanted to wrestle, but I never got the chance to in high school. From ages 12-17, my friends and I would wrestle, then when I found out about MMA, we started to do submissions. I really enjoyed it, but there are no universities that provide it in my area, nor are there any wrestling clubs. Most of the BJJ schools in my area either don't start on the feet, or they only practice takedowns like once a week tops.
 
Ask if any of your friends would be willing to help you with wrestling during free time, or at an open mat at your club.
 
Ask if any of your friends would be willing to help you with wrestling during free time, or at an open mat at your club.

This is exactly what I do. Legendary, if your SD belt reflects your real belt, you will probably know some people - hopefully some of them are wrestlers/judo/sambo/shuai jiao guys.

I have a wrestling friend where when I go visit him at his school, sometimes we do takedown only rounds. At my own school we also have some wrestlers and I'll ask to do only takedowns with them. I would try to make sure they have some stand up xp, as I've found that those who don't tend to do freaky things that will hurt me or themselves.

I've decided that stand up grappling (wrestling and judo) are important enough to me where I have stopped attending formal bjj classes altogether . I have a key to my gym and a wrestler friend. What we do is basically give each other privates on our respective arts and then go live - we do rolls with wrestling rules then just submission grappling. This is the best solution I've found so far. It's cheap, convenient, and efficient. This guy also knows other wrestlers and so I will start networking with him with the other wrestlers in my community - he knows all the local coaches, wrestlers etc.

Past solutions:
1. Local MMA place with wrestling classes twice a week
2. Privates with a wrestler

Both are excellent. The former offers variety of partners (hopefully) while the latter offers depth of instruction. Unfortunately they were not financially viable to me because I'm already paying for bjj (not anymore as I teach a class).

I basically do 2 technique sessions on the weekdays and then go to open mats on the weekends to wrestle live with people. It's the most fun I've had grappling in a long time.

TLDR - Talk to the wrestlers in your gyms and network to see if they know of any wrestling coaches or people down to wrestle.
 
This is exactly what I do. Legendary, if your SD belt reflects your real belt, you will probably know some people - hopefully some of them are wrestlers/judo/sambo/shuai jiao guys.

I have a wrestling friend where when I go visit him at his school, sometimes we do takedown only rounds. At my own school we also have some wrestlers and I'll ask to do only takedowns with them. I would try to make sure they have some stand up xp, as I've found that those who don't tend to do freaky things that will hurt me or themselves.

I've decided that stand up grappling (wrestling and judo) are important enough to me where I have stopped attending formal bjj classes altogether . I have a key to my gym and a wrestler friend. What we do is basically give each other privates on our respective arts and then go live - we do rolls with wrestling rules then just submission grappling. This is the best solution I've found so far. It's cheap, convenient, and efficient. This guy also knows other wrestlers and so I will start networking with him with the other wrestlers in my community - he knows all the local coaches, wrestlers etc.

Past solutions:
1. Local MMA place with wrestling classes twice a week
2. Privates with a wrestler

Both are excellent. The former offers variety of partners (hopefully) while the latter offers depth of instruction. Unfortunately they were not financially viable to me because I'm already paying for bjj (not anymore as I teach a class).

I basically do 2 technique sessions on the weekdays and then go to open mats on the weekends to wrestle live with people. It's the most fun I've had grappling in a long time.

TLDR - Talk to the wrestlers in your gyms and network to see if they know of any wrestling coaches or people down to wrestle.

This is pretty much it :)
Also, don't train with people who are spazzy or have bad egos, they will hurt you. I am known as the judo/wrestling guy in my BJJ school and I am frequently the subject of everyone wanting to take me down. Recently, a white belt grabbed my leg for a single coming up off of half guard, put it on his shoulder, then twisted my knee something awful and started clamping on it. Messed me up.

also, Kolat Online is free. You should drill those moves at open mat, that's always fun.
 
This is pretty much it :)
Also, don't train with people who are spazzy or have bad egos, they will hurt you. I am known as the judo/wrestling guy in my BJJ school and I am frequently the subject of everyone wanting to take me down. Recently, a white belt grabbed my leg for a single coming up off of half guard, put it on his shoulder, then twisted my knee something awful and started clamping on it. Messed me up.

also, Kolat Online is free. You should drill those moves at open mat, that's always fun.

Agreed on training with new people. It's important to keep in mind that even if they are high ranking in bjj they may be white belts at stand up. I had a black belt instructor who would freak the fuck out standing.
 
Like a few have said, you kind of have to make it happen. Wrestling was almost nonexistent where I live. I got a friend and we traveled to some classes, watched online video training and just practiced together several times a week. We entered grappling tournaments that had favorable rules to wrestlers and tried out what we were working on, went to open mats, trained with MMA gym, etc. I was able to travel to some high school programs and they were all very welcoming. Wrestled the big high schoolers and even the coaches sometimes (these guys really like showing off and really whipped me sometimes, but learned a lot). Some seminars geared to high school wrestlers were open to me going if i brought my own partner. It's been a great journey. I love the sport of wrestling.
 
How can I get into wrestling?

In your backyard with your bros
 
How can I get into wrestling?

In your backyard with your bros

This is what I did as a teenager, but as an adult no one wants to get that beat up and its understandable. As a kid, you can go home, heal up relatively quick. As an adult if you get messed up while wrestling, you might be out of work for some time which costs you financially.

I recently spoke to my local MMA gym, and they started to do MMA style wrestling twice a week. Gonna go check them out.
 
that sucks that the BJJ school doesn't do much stand up. wait, as an adult you just go to a high school and ask to wrestle the kids there? hope these schools are running background checks
 
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