Advice on learning wrestling as an adult - Coach Firas Zahabi

Coach Zahabi gives advice on adults learning wrestling and on how to train in order to get the most out of it without getting injured and what kind of training partners to chose.

[teamgitusome]

as we get older we must train smarter. shout out to coach zahabi

[xjsvg]

One of my biggest regrets being older now and in my 20s was not taking wrestling in high school. My wrestling friends said I had a knack for it too and said I should try out but I just simply didn’t care for sports back in school. Now I’m 23 doing MMA and no gi grappling and am still seeing myself resort to a lot wrestling techniques and seeing how natural it clicks to me. Thankfully the gym I go to the coach puts an emphasis on takedowns and defense instead of pure grappling and am lucky to have a few fellow students who wrestled but it sucks that there aren’t really any options for wrestling in my area besides going to uni college to wrestle, which is still slim as a walk in, If only I did it in HS to see how much better I could have been.

[worldwideconspiracies]

I have been thinking about this for a while! Grade 8 provincial champ in wrestling and parents moved where I couldn't wrestle anymore so I began track in high school and became provincial champ in shot put, 100m, long jump and set 4by200 provincial record with relay team. Wrestling was the one sport I wish I continued because I never got to see how good I really was. I was struck in the head with a baseball at 19 and was in a coma for three days with titanium plates installed in my skull and dropped everything after that. I'm 31 now and trying to get the courage to wrestle again. I have followed the ufc from when GSP came onto the scene and are builds are very close so I always cheered for him. You are a fantastic coach and have taught me many things over the years spiritually, mentally, and physically.🇨🇦

[anarchic_ramblings]

Everyone says wrestling is the most important skill in MMA, yet even Evolve MMA only has two sessions a week at their flagship location. I really want to learn wrestling from a serious coach. There's so much more to it than head-diving for doubles and singles. I'm frustrated as heck.

[charlestopson]

Agreed coach. Coming from a muay thai background, I started wrestling when I was 27. 3rd class in, broke my thumb and had to sit out of martial arts for 4 months. Still cant close my fist completely at age 30. Gotta take it easy at first, especially when you dont know to move and react as a wrestler.

[kobe]

Truth, avoid the guys that think their little gym roll is for a 1st place medal at Abu Dhabi.

[tonytaf]

I started wrestling last years in June 2023 at 37 years old. I had a small grappling background and good conditionning. I was doing well in term of conditionning but a bad landing sent me to an acromio clavicular surgery late November 2023. I was trying too hard and the sessions were too I tense and little rest for beginners. I came back to wrestling 3 weeks ago. I moved town for work and the new gym is more based on basics and shorter wrestling sparrings.

[nooneatall]

3 videos on 3 consecutive days? What a day to be alive.

[garydose]

Coach, love these shorter videos. The long videos are good as well, but for Q&A style, this was incredibly clear and concise.

[codyg]

What I'm wondering, is where I can go to learn wrestling as an adult. There are plenty of BJJ gyms out there, but I've never seen a wrestling gym before. I never wrestled in high school, and I'm not in college, so where do I go to learn wrestling?

[williampeete]

Tried to pick up wrestling again as an adult it was weird. Went to a MMA gym, that has BJJ, Mma and wrestling classes on the weekly schedule. MMA class all good lot of 20 somethings, went to a Wrestling session, and it was like 9 high school kids and Me a 230lb 26 year old who hasn't stepped on a mat since college who just wanted to add a fun cardio activity to his fitness regimen. If i was in shape i'd just ask to train against the instructor but i know i'm not on par with my 197 prime. Now i'm just helping out the new kids get their drills down and a half effort class.

[MidNite.Garage]

I did wrestling in highschool from Freshman through Junior and loved it and I want to get back into it but I don't know where to start since I'm out of school

[meowmeowone]

Jomma Mobarak folks. Hah, you sir couldn't have said this better. Not that I train in anything but even just wrestling with my kid brother takes its toll on me ancient knees and bad lower back and the kid goes ham everytime. I don't even go for take down, I usually just control the head and stay on the defensive.

[mburns]

Such valuable information omg!!! I started later in life and this will help you to NOT get hurt!!!

[sour_lemon_]

I have never seen a wrestling gym in 20+ years. I would love to join a class.

[coolsvilleowner]

Man, what he said about not ever wrassling with total beginners is so damn true. This guy came into our gym with zero experiencein anything and we were wrasslin' and I took him down a bunch of times and then I decided to start by giving him my back (as thats what the loser had to do in when going live in this particular wrasslin' positional spar)...well that was a mistake because next thing I knew I felt an elbow crashing into my jaw and was in hospital right after training and had to eat soft foods for the next 6 weeks...=/ I havent seen that guy since.

[TakedownBreakdown]

Good job with that statement in the beginning. It helps the YouTube algorithm for ranking your video.

[TakedownBreakdown]

Great advice. I watched your other video about why you should train takedowns, and I convinced one of my coaches to always let us start standing when sparring. Of course my takedowns suck because even as a purple belt it has never been my focus. I ended up tearing my mcl. This was months ago. I am just now starting to spar softly in bjj. I wish I could go back in time and just practice techniques for 6 months like you are saying now. At least I learned my lesson. Just wanted to say that I think you are on point with your advice

[matthewb]

Thank you for this advice as feeling pressure to learn wrestling technique to take on the bigger guys but I know to take it easy

[jebhilly]

Much love & appreciate your knowledge 💯