Training takes on scientific approach
When Louie Montez wrestled at Rock Island Alleman four decades ago, the sport was all about technique.
That’s all you had.
Wrestling in the 21st century is about an athlete’s ability to grapple but no longer is the body you introduce to the sport the same all the way through high school graduation.
Through his 38 years in coaching, Montez has witnessed a revolution in training regimens.
“I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “Back when I wrestled, you did no weight lifting, no running. In today’s sport, you have to be conditioned.”
That’s become a never-ending process in every sport that sees constant overhaul in pursuit of an improved method.
Montez has beginning wrestlers age 5 to 8 do wheelbarrow runs to promote lung expansion. By age 9, they’re doing pushups, situps and running sprints.
In today’s sports training world, that’s pretty tame.
Quad-Cities Sports Acceleration takes its approach to training a bit further.
“We’re getting into biomechanics,” Q-C Acceleration trainer Marques Simmons said. “You want to strengthen the signal from the brain to the muscles.”
That’s coming from a former University of Iowa and Davenport North football player who majored in English.
Simmons’ attitude toward training began its transformation while playing for Iowa, where he found far more time was spent in the weight room than on the football field. Two years later, the 25-year-old is pushing the latest fitness techniques — all deeply rooted in scientific study.
Q-C Acceleration, run by Ryan Arnold, a former All-America defensive lineman at Northern Iowa, operates under license from North Dakota-based Athletic Republic. The company designed the Frappier Acceleration training program and accompanying equipment, which Q-C Acceleration uses in conjunction with its own philosophies.
From volleyball to football, athletes as young as 10 go through the Acceleration program with a singular goal — learn how to train properly.
“You put these good habits in them young,” Simmons said. “In sports, training is 90 percent of what you do. They keep on developing the correct motions as they get older.
“It’s easier working with 12-, 13-year-olds than it is working with the Steamwheelers.”
Training at Acceleration is not uniform across all age groups. Older athletes are exposed to much more weight training, a move supported by Montez and the Alleman wrestling program.
John Doak has been part of the Junior Pioneers coaching staff for seven years, and in that time one aspect of the program’s training has held steady. Anyone under age 14 is heavily discouraged from lifting weights.
“There is a philosophical difference between coaches nationwide,” Doak said. “As I understand the theory, the concern is you have growth plates in bones that have not fully formed. If you put too much stress on the growth plates, you can stunt a child’s growth.
Montez and Doak prefer younger athletes lift against their own natural body resistance in the form of pushups, situps, etc.
Of course in wrestling, cutting weight is a concern. And extreme weight loss remains an issue, even in youth wrestling.
“In high school tournaments, you have double weigh-ins over two days, along with rules dictating what percent of body fat you can lose,” Doak said. “There are no such rules at (the youth) level. And there are kids that cut considerable weight at national tournaments.
“I tell the kids, ‘this isn’t the Olympics.’ You’re developing. If you cut that much weight, you’re retarding your progress.”
Andrew Petersen can be contacted at (563) 383-2288 or apetersen@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.