Issue 099

March 2013

Low cost, low equipment, big results. Simple 

body-weight drills for hard-to-handle fight-night power

Sometimes you won’t have access to all the equipment you’d like for strength training, but the answer is right in front of you. With a combination of your own body weight and your training partner’s weight, you can conduct a comprehensive strength-training regimen specifically for grappling.

Even if you have everything you could wish for in your gym, throwing in some partner work makes interesting ‘odd object’ training, and can’t be beaten for wrestling specificity. If you want to get strong for picking up the human body, what better object to train with?

PARTNER DEAD LIFT

The ‘weight’ partner grips their hands together beneath their knees. The lifter adopts a wide dead lift stance, and interlocks their hands with a Gable grip around their partner’s forearms. This lift not only challenges the lifter, but requires the weight to perform an isometric hold and maintain their grip for the duration. Need more weight? Get some bigger training partners!

PARTNER SEE-SAW

The see-saw combines a double-leg lift, with a body lock reversal lift. Like the partner dead lift, you will find that the lift requires effort from both partners in both phases. Equally weighted partners are advisable for this drill.

PARTNER PIKE

One man holds the feet in a wheelbarrow position, whilst the other goes from a straight, flat-body position to a strict 45-degree pike.

BEAR CRAWL CARRIES

There are two distinct variations of the bear crawl carry: the piggy back and the koala bear.

PIGGY BACK

Walk forwards, opposite hand and opposite foot, traversing the mat.

KOALA BEAR

In this variation the ‘weight’ partner holds a closed guard beneath the walking man.

ADVANCED NECK RESISTANCE PARTNER PUSH-UP

One man holds the push-up or plank position, without piling or sagging. The other man posts one hand on the head 

and one on the shoulder, with his body at a 45-degree angle from the supporting man, and simply executes push-ups.

Be sure to work both sides equally, and, of course, discontinue immediately should you feel any pain in the neck.