Predictor Lifts For Grappling Sports

For every sport there are certain key lifts that once performed by the athlete will tell you how well they will do in the sport. Once a predictor lift is improved it will correlate with an improvement in performance. Different sports have different predictor lifts. So a soccer player and a swimmer should not be tested the same. These lifts will tell you the optimal strength for the sport in relation to percentages of body weight. For grappling sports like jiu-jitsu, greco roman wrestling, and judo, here are the best predictor lifts to test:

Close Grip Incline Bench Press with fat bar: Grip should be about 12 inches from thumb to thumb.

Medium Parallel Grip Chin-Up with thick handles.

Back Squat: The more you can back squat the easier it is to throw someone.

Grip Strength with various grip tests: The relationship between grip strength and performance in judo and wrestling is as high as 96%. The hands are the first thing that connects you to your opponent. The guys with the best grip had the best performance.

You do not necessarily have to do the predictor lifts to improve them. You can train accessory exercises that target the muscles that are used in the key lifts. I've found the best results if you change the accessory lifts every 2-4 weeks or once your weights aren't going up by at least 2% or reps by 1 every workout. If you're not training the predictor lifts directly, make sure you're testing them every so often. I usually test my athletes every 4-6 weeks.

Chris Grayson
graysontrainingsystems.com