If you are reading this article, you are probably wondering whether you should start with wrestling. Whether you are a freshman, or a young adult, or even a parent looking to get their kid into wrestling, getting yourself into a new sport is not easy. It usually means stepping out of your comfort zone, so you want to know how wrestling will impact your life, health, condition, or – to sum it up – is it good or bad for you?
We bring you 12 reasons why you should start wrestling and how it will change your life and improve it:
- Anyone can wrestle
- Wrestling teaches discipline
- Wrestling builds self-confidence
- Wrestling develops a competitive spirit
- Wrestling teaches respect
- Wrestling makes you more athletic and fit
- Wrestling teaches about nutrition
- Wrestling is good for self-defense
- Wrestling can help with further education
- Wrestling is good for social interaction
- Wrestling pushes you to your limits
- Wrestling is fun
An extremely important thing to add up is that all those things mentioned above translate to other areas of your life. That means that getting yourself to start wrestling can also help you achieve more success and improvement in other areas of your life. So, let’s take a closer look at how exactly is wrestling well for you.
#1. Anyone Can Wrestle
The good thing about wrestling is that anyone can do it. Body type, weight, height, and similar things don’t matter as they do in, let’s say, basketball, where your height is a major factor. If you are wondering how weight doesn’t matter and asking yourself if bigger guys have an advantage, the answer is – no.
There are weight classes in wrestling, and if you go to a competition, you will be competing against people that are your size. In training, when you are doing the techniques, weight doesn’t matter as you are not going with full strength.
#2. Wrestling Teaches You Discipline
If you lack structure in your life, starting with wrestling is the perfect way to go. If you start wrestling, you have training at given times. If you decide to go competitive, you have scheduled tournaments you have to prepare for. That means giving up things to focus on wrestling. That builds your discipline.
With wrestling, sometimes you have to do things that aren’t necessarily fun, like some strength and cardio workouts. Pushing yourself to do such things, sure helps you build discipline and routines that you can translate into other fields in your life.
#3. Wrestling Helps You Build Self-Confidence
The fact that wrestling is not a team sport, but, an individual one, is a good thing for building your self-confidence. When you go out there on a mat, there is no one other than you to rely on. When you wrestle, you rely completely on yourself. If you succeed, that’s on you. If you fail, that’s also on you. Relying on yourself is a perfect way to build self-confidence and grow throughout the whole process.
#4. Wrestling Develops Competitive Spirit
As already said, when wrestling, you are on your own. When you are training, or at a match, you go 1-on-1 against an opponent. Taking an opponent down can surely feel good, but getting taken down surely won’t. Losing can push you to train hard, focus on your goal to beat your opponent. You will train harder, be more persistent. If you do that while wrestling, you will soon start doing in college, job, etc. That’s the way to accomplish your goals in life.
#5. Wrestling Teaches You How to Be Respectful
Just like any other sport out there, wrestling teaches you respect. Sport is all about health, growth, and developing humbleness and respectfulness. Through your wrestling journey, you will meet a lot of new people with different life stories, and every single one of them has chosen to bring wrestling into their lives.
Sometimes, while training, you will lose, other times you’ll win, but you will soon realize that all the people out there have chosen wrestling to improve their life. You will see their persistence and determination, and yours also. Regarding the other factors in their life, they are still doing it. That sure earns respect.
#6. Wrestling Makes You More Athletic and Fit
Wrestlers are among the fittest athletes in the world. When you began wrestling, you will be doing strength and cardio workouts alongside wrestling techniques. In a matter of months, your body will start to change, being more athletic, flexible. You will start feeling better inside your body. You will have more strength, condition, and you will feel better overall.
When I said that wrestlers are among the fittest athletes in the world, just take a look at UFC fighter and former Olympic silver medalist wrestler Yoel Romero:
#7. Wrestling Teaches You About Nutrition
There is no sport without a proper diet. When you get yourself into wrestling, alongside training, your coaches will teach you the way of a healthy diet. You will be guided on what type of food to eat. Which food is healthy and not, how to gain muscles, and lose fat. Things about calories, nutrients, etc.
If you fit that into your life and diet, you will immediately begin to feel better. You will have more energy, which means putting more effort and consistency in everyday tasks.
#8. Wrestling Is Good for Self-Defense
Although, when it comes to street fights, the first thing you should consider is how to avoid them. But, sometimes, there are cases when you are unable to do so, and confrontation is inevitable. In those cases, wrestling can help you a lot.
Knowing how to take down your attacker quickly and hold him on the ground can be very helpful in some situations. As I have already said, the best and the first thing is to avoid a fight, but if it is unavoidable, knowing how to wrestle can help you a lot.
#9. Wrestling Can Help You with Further Education
If you are still in high school, getting into wrestling can give you a perfect opportunity to earn a scholarship to wrestle in college. It is a common misconception that only Division I schools give good wrestling scholarships. The thing is, there is a lot of colleges that offer wrestling scholarship in other division as well. Division II, NAIA, the junior college also have some sort of scholarships for wrestlers.
The only thing that matters when it comes to wrestling is that you put in hard work and have persistence. If so, there is a big chance that you will get a wrestling scholarship that will help you through your education.
#10. Wrestling Is Good for Social Interaction
If your social circle is low, you are introverted as a person, and lack social interaction, starting wrestling is a perfect thing to do. When you go to a wrestling gym, you will be surrounded by people who are friendly and helpful. You will meet people that are like you. People doing martial arts are some of the most friendly, respectful, and kind people in the world.
That kind of environment is a perfect place for you if you are lonely or don’t have many friends. When you start wrestling, soon, you will meet some great people and make friends along the way.
#11. Wrestling Pushes You to Your Limits
You might have heard a quote from Olympics gold medalist Dan Gable:
“Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy.” – Dan Gable
Wrestling is one of the hardest sports in the world. It takes tremendous strength and condition. If you think that you don’t have one, don’t worry. When you began wrestling, inside a month, by doing proper training, you will be extraordinarily fit and strong.
Wrestling also takes ridiculous determination and strength of will. Wrestling with an opponent takes an enormous amount of energy. Believe me, once you have tried, everything else will be easy.
#12. Wrestling Is Fun
Last but not least, wrestling is hella fun. Scrambling with another person, trying to take him down, and ensuring you don’t get taken down, learning all the different wrestling techniques is an unbelievably interesting and fun thing to do. When you get into wrestling, you will probably soon get pretty addicted, as it is incredibly interesting to learn new things to use when wrestling.
Now that you have a reason to start wrestling, be sure to keep following us on all the topics we wrote about wrestling. It will help you a lot, and you will find a lot of interesting things along the way. Until next time!
