Around 20 million people in America watch WWE every year.
If you’re one of them, you probably grew up idolizing your favorite wrestlers and attempting to recreate their moves. Plenty of us have childhood memories of trying to headlock, bodyslam and clothesline siblings or friends.
When you get a bit older, you can’t pull those moves anymore. You can recreate their workouts, though.
In this post, we’ll tell you exactly what WWE wrestlers do in the gym to build their incredible strength, size and power.
How WWE Wrestlers Workout
Want the pecs of Steve Austin, the traps of Golberg, or the huge quads of the Ultimate Warrior? Here’s how to get them and also you should create a muscle building meal plan for your own..
Cardio
All WWE wrestlers need to have good cardio.
Since wrestling is an explosive sport with short bursts of energy, your cardio workouts should replicate that. Instead of doing long-distance running, try some high-intensity interval training.
Good HIIT workouts often use exercises like burpees, box jumps, jumping jacks and lifts.
However, you can use a combination of any type of exercise you like. All you have to do is organize them into short rounds.
Something as simple as running sprints is perfect. In each round, you’ll push to your limits, going as fast and hard as you can. Then, you’ll have a short break of up to 30 seconds before starting again.
These kinds of workouts will increase your metabolism by causing your heart rate to shoot up rapidly. Since you’ll only have short periods of recovery in between rounds, so your endurance will be challenged, too.
Do HIIT training several times a week, and you’ll find yourself running faster and burning more calories than you ever did before. This will help you to lose excess body fat.
Strength Training
Have you ever wondered how WWE wrestlers get so jacked?
Their huge, muscular physiques are the result of years of dedication to strength training. If you want to get ripped like John Cena, you’ll have to start lifting weights.
You’ll have to do much more than curls, though. Instead of just working your biceps and hoping to get bigger, you need to create a dedicated strength training schedule.
This should involve working different muscle groups on different days, using a mixture of machines and free weights.
Here’s an example of how you could break it down:
Monday – Legs
- Barbell squats
- Single leg extensions
- Bulgarian split squats
- Dumbbell lunges
- Leg press
- Calf raises
Tuesday – Chest
- Barbell bench press
- Dumbbell flyes
- Cable crossovers
- Seated machine chest press
- Pec deck machine
- Decline dumbbell bench press
Wednesday – Shoulders
- Barbell overhead press
- Standing dumbbell flyes
- Barbell high pulls
- Dumbbell clean and press
- Barbell shrugs
- Dumbbell farmer’s walks
Thursday – Back
- Barbell bent over row
- Barbell deadlifts
- Single-arm dumbbell rows
- Seated cable rows
- Lat pulldowns
- Dumbbell pullovers
Friday – Arms
- Dumbbell bicep curls
- Barbell tricep extensions
- Barbell preacher curls
- Tricep kickbacks
- Kettlebell swings
- Weighted tricep dips
With each exercise, do 3-5 sets of 10-20 reps.
The weight you use should be challenging. If it’s something you can comfortably lift for up to 30 reps, it’s too low. Add some more weight, so that you’re feeling almost at the point of failure after every set.
Don’t forget to incorporate rest days into your routine, too. Your muscles will need time to recover in order to grow.
If you’re consistent, you’ll start to see results quickly. Your body will become more defined, your muscles will start to increase in size, and you’ll be able to lift more and more each week.
After just a few months of working out like this, you’ll look and feel a lot stronger.
Grappling
If you want to look like your favorite WWE wrestlers, you’ll have to train like them. That means putting in the hours of grappling work it takes to be good at the sport.
Find a martial arts gym and sign up for classes. Picking up the techniques can be tricky at first, but if you work at it, you’ll eventually find yourself mastering those takedowns, holds and chokes for yourself.
If you really want to look the part, try getting yourself some classic wrestling memorabilia from this website.
Core Training
Core training is absolutely essential.
If you don’t have a strong core, all of your other training will suffer. You could be prone to injury, too.
Plus, all the best WWE wrestlers have rock-hard abs. If you want to get yourself a six pack, core exercises should be a focus of your training.
This doesn’t just mean doing endless amounts of sit-ups. There are so many other things you could do.
Planks, leg raises, v-sits, Russian twists and flutter kicks are just a few of them. The great thing about these exercises is that you can do them just about anywhere, with no equipment at all.
At the end of each workout, make some time to do some core exercises. Eventually, you’ll see your abs start to come through.
Body Weight Exercises
As well as throwing heavy weights around, you should take time to work on some bodyweight exercises, too.
Push ups, pull ups, lunges, air squats and wall sits will all help you to build strength and get shredded.
If you find some of these exercises too challenging, you could incorporate TRX suspension training into your workouts. These cables give you more versatility, so you can scale your exercises down to make them easier.
They’ll also give you more variety in your workout, so you can switch it up and keep things interesting.
Keep Your Diet in Check
No matter how much you work out, you won’t see the results unless you’re eating a healthy, well-balanced diet.
If you’re not eating right, you also won’t feel your best in the gym.
You need to fuel your body in order for it to perform well. That means eating good-quality food, in the right amounts, and at the right times throughout the day.
To find out how to do that, read our diet rules for rapid results.
