Bartlett Strength and Conditioning

Want to become a better football player? Get on the wrestling mat.

When football season ends, many athletes immediately shift their attention to lifting weights, running, and preparing for next season. While strength and conditioning are important, there is another offseason opportunity that can have a tremendous impact on football performance: wrestling.

I’ve always loved football because of what it teaches beyond the game itself. Football is the ultimate team sport. It teaches accountability, discipline, sacrifice, toughness, and the importance of putting something bigger than yourself first. Success doesn’t come from one player; it comes from eleven players doing their jobs, trusting one another, and working toward a common goal. I believe sports should be about more than winning games. They should help develop better athletes, better teammates, and better people. That’s also why I believe in playing multiple sports. The lessons and skills learned in one sport often carry over into another, and few sports complement football quite like wrestling.

One of the biggest reasons I hear young football players avoid wrestling is wearing a singlet or rolling around with other guys. But really? Its fear. Wrestling is different from most team sports. There is no place to hide, no teammate to bail you out, and no opportunity to blame someone else when things don’t go your way. Your effort is instantly exposed in front of everyone. You’re forced to look in the mirror and be honest about your preparation, effort, conditioning, toughness, and ability to handle adversity. Sometimes, the fear isn’t that wrestling is too difficult; it’s the fear of being exposed.

You can lose a football game. In wrestling, you are beaten by another human being and that matters…

It’s uncomfortable to step into an environment where your weaknesses are visible and your effort is tested every day. But that’s exactly where growth happens.

You can’t improve what you’re unwilling to confront, and sometimes the best thing a young athlete can do is put themselves in an environment that challenges their ego, exposes their weaknesses, and forces them to become better.

“Growth begins when you’re willing to be uncomfortable.“

At first glance, football and wrestling might seem like two completely different sports. One is played on a field with pads and a ball, while the other takes place on a mat with two athletes competing one-on-one. But when you look closer, you’ll discover that the two sports share many of the same physical and mental demands.

In fact, some of the skills developed through wrestling translate directly to success on the football field.

If you’re a football player looking for an edge, wrestling may be one of the best offseason decisions you can make.

1. Develop Better Balance and Body Control

Football is a game of leverage, balance, and body control. Whether you’re a running back trying to stay on your feet through contact, a linebacker working through a block, or an offensive lineman trying to maintain position, your ability to control your body matters.

Wrestling constantly challenges an athlete’s balance. You learn how to maintain a strong base, recover when your balance is disrupted, and stay in control while another athlete is actively trying to take you off your feet.

These skills translate directly to football.

• Running backs learn to stay on their feet through contact.
• Defensive backs develop better balance when competing for position.
• Linebackers learn to maintain their base while shedding blocks.
• Offensive and defensive linemen improve their ability to stay grounded and maintain leverage.

Wrestling teaches athletes how to control their bodies in uncomfortable positions. That ability is extremely valuable when the competition gets physical.

2. Learn Leverage and Hand Fighting

Football isn’t just about who is bigger or stronger. It’s about who can create and maintain leverage.

Offensive linemen must control defenders at the line of scrimmage. Defensive linemen must defeat blocks and create separation. Linebackers need to disengage from blockers, and defensive backs constantly fight for position.

Wrestling develops these abilities every day.

Through hand fighting, pummeling, ties, and positional drills, wrestlers learn how to use their hands to control an opponent. They develop an understanding of inside position, pressure, angles, and how to manipulate another athlete’s body.

A football player who understands hand fighting has an advantage when engaging an opponent.

Wrestling teaches you to:

• Fight for inside hand position.
• Control an opponent’s upper body.
• Create separation using leverage.
• Apply pressure in the correct direction.
• Recognize and exploit an opponent’s weaknesses.

These aren’t just wrestling skills. They are skills that show up on nearly every football play.

3. Build Explosive Hips and Lower-Body Strength

Strong legs are important in football, but strength alone isn’t enough. Athletes need to learn how to apply that strength explosively.

Wrestling requires constant movement from the hips and lower body. Shooting, sprawling, driving through an opponent, lifting, and finishing takedowns all require powerful hip extension and coordinated lower-body movement.

Think about the similarities:

• A wrestler driving through a takedown resembles a lineman driving through a block.
• A wrestler sprawling against a shot develops the ability to react explosively and move the hips backward.
• A wrestler finishing a takedown develops the ability to generate force while maintaining body position.
• A wrestler defending a takedown learns to absorb and redirect force.

Football players need explosive hips to accelerate, change direction, block, tackle, and break through contact.

Wrestling provides a competitive environment where those qualities are developed through movement rather than simply performing repetitions in the weight room.

4. Improve Reaction Time and Athleticism

Football is a reaction-based sport. Players must recognize movement, process information, and respond in a fraction of a second.

A linebacker reads the running back. A defensive back reacts to a receiver. An offensive lineman responds to a defensive front. A running back identifies a hole and adjusts his path.

Wrestling develops this same ability.

Unlike a predetermined workout, wrestling requires athletes to react to another person who is constantly moving, changing direction, and creating opportunities.

You can’t always predict what your opponent will do. You have to recognize movement and respond immediately.

This improves:

• Reaction time.
• Spatial awareness.
• Coordination.
• Change of direction.
• Ability to react under pressure.

These qualities help create more complete athletes who can adapt to what is happening around them.

5. Develop Functional Strength and Conditioning

There is a difference between being strong in the weight room and being strong in competition.

Wrestling challenges athletes to apply strength while moving, resisting, controlling, and reacting to another person. It requires the entire body to work together.

A wrestler might be pushing, pulling, twisting, driving, or defending all within a few seconds.

This develops a type of strength that is difficult to replicate with traditional weightlifting alone.

Wrestling also demands tremendous conditioning. Athletes must repeatedly produce high levels of effort while maintaining technique and decision-making.

Football players benefit from developing the ability to:

• Produce force while fatigued.
• Maintain technique under pressure.
• Recover between intense efforts.
• Compete through physical discomfort.
• Maintain body control when tired.

The goal isn’t to replace football conditioning or strength training. It’s to develop additional athletic qualities that complement them.

6. Build Mental Toughness and Competitive Confidence

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of wrestling has very little to do with physical ability.

Wrestling is an individual sport within a team environment. When you step onto the mat, there is nowhere to hide. You are responsible for your preparation, effort, decisions, and performance.

You learn how to compete when things aren’t going your way.

You learn how to respond after getting taken down, how to fight out of a difficult position, and how to keep working when you’re exhausted.

These experiences build mental toughness.

Football players face adversity every game. They experience missed tackles, blown assignments, turnovers, penalties, and moments when the opponent has the advantage.

Wrestling teaches athletes that adversity isn’t a reason to quit. It’s an opportunity to respond.

The confidence gained from competing in a physically demanding one-on-one sport can carry over into football.

7. Become a Better Tackler and More Physical Football Player

One of the most obvious connections between football and wrestling is tackling.

A good tackle requires body positioning, leverage, balance, coordination, and the ability to control another athlete’s movement.

Wrestlers develop many of these qualities through takedowns and defensive techniques.

They learn how to:

• Close the distance.
• Control an opponent’s body.
• Maintain a strong position.
• Drive through resistance.
• Finish an action rather than stopping halfway.

Wrestling also teaches athletes to stay engaged through contact instead of relying solely on an initial collision.

While wrestling does not replace proper football tackling instruction, it can develop the body awareness, coordination, and physical confidence that support better tackling.

8. Become a More Complete Athlete

One of the biggest mistakes young athletes can make is specializing in one sport too early.

Playing multiple sports exposes athletes to different movements, challenges, and competitive environments. Each sport develops qualities that can benefit performance in another.

Basketball develops footwork, coordination, and spatial awareness. Baseball develops hand-eye coordination and rotational power. Track develops speed and running mechanics. Wrestling develops leverage, balance, body control, strength, and the ability to compete in physical situations.

These qualities overlap.

The best athletes aren’t necessarily the ones who spend every month of the year playing the same sport. They are often the ones who develop a broad athletic foundation and learn how to apply those skills in different environments.

Wrestling gives football players a chance to become better all-around athletes while developing skills that directly support their primary sport.

Final Thoughts: Get Off the Sidelines and Get on the Mat

If you’re a football player who wants to become stronger, more explosive, more physical, and mentally tougher, consider wrestling this offseason.

Don’t look at wrestling as a distraction from football. Look at it as an opportunity to improve your football performance.

The balance, leverage, hand fighting, hip strength, conditioning, body control, and mental toughness developed on the mat all have a place on the football field.

You don’t have to become a state champion to benefit from wrestling. You simply have to show up, work hard, embrace the challenge, and compete.

The weight room builds strength. The football field teaches football. The wrestling mat teaches you how to compete against resistance.

If you want to become a more complete football player, don’t spend your entire offseason doing only football-related activities.

Get on the mat. Become a better athlete. Become a better competitor.

Your football team will be better because of it.

Be strong. Be Courageous.
-John