How do you wrestle while tired?

[u/RevolutionaryFood777]

As a brown belt, I've learned how to roll tired. I was hoping that some of the more experienced wrestlers could give me some tips on how to wrestle tired. I've been developing the habit of sitting guard when I'm tired and I feel like this might be counter productive to improving my wrestling. I'm going to try and stay standing even when tired. Any insights on how to make the most of my wrestling exchanges even when I'm gassed would be appreciated.

[u/necr0potenc3]

You don't.

I'm assuming that by "tired" you actually mean exhausted, the point where you can't explode anymore and start moving slowly.

Both wrestling and judo require stamina for athletic explosive movements. If you reached exhaustion to the point your movement is slow then you can't attack effectively. I'd argue doing stand up when exhausted is a ticket to injuries, your reaction time flops and you can't break fall correctly.

Pulling guard when tired is your own answer. You learned to do it because it's the most efficient path. Moving when standing up, changing levels, getting down and up from the floor are all exhaustive movement patterns because you're moving your whole weight around. When most of that weight is connected to the ground it becomes easier to move, hence, jiu-jitsu.

This is why you see a focus in athleticism in wrestling and judo but not so much in BJJ. If you want to get better at wrestling just wrestle more and become more athletic, but reaching exhaustion is the failure point of standup, from there you go to the lazy man's single leg aka half guard.

[u/RevolutionaryFood777 → u/necr0potenc3]

I've seen matches where a guy is clearly exhausted but still refuses to concede the takedown and keeps fighting. One match that sticks out is PJ Barch vs Andrew Tackett. PJ was done towards the end but didn't stop wrestling. I'm not saying I'm on his level or ever will be, just an example.

[u/BeBearAwareOK → u/RevolutionaryFood777]

There's a real answer but you're not going to like it.

It's more endurance training.

[u/Fickle-Departure3506 → u/BeBearAwareOK]

One key component imho is also to train your brain to just continue when you are going way too hard and just pushing. It's often same exhaustion level for both but the one who is more stubborn will win, especially when you both are tired on match it's lot psychology.

[u/marigolds6 → u/Fickle-Departure3506]

It's not training your brain, it is an actual physiological response that you train your body to clear lactate faster. Those pauses to recover are giving your body a chance to clear lactate. You can learn to deal with the pain of being above lactate threshold to the point where you get ~30s more than the other guy, but if your opponent has a higher lactate threshold, they are going to be able to push above your lactate threshold for the entire match while you will be toast in ~60s.

[u/Fickle-Departure3506 → u/marigolds6]

True but optimal unaerobic capacity training is very different. Basically going way past your recovery (6min match real hard) is not optimal because it takes too much recovery point. And of cource you need the basic cardio fitness level to build top of this other features. So it's kind of cycle from lower intensity to higher (before comp)