Physiological determinants of wrestling success in elite Iranian senior and junior Greco-Roman wrestlers.

Abstract

Fitness profile and the physiological determinants of wrestling success in Greco-Roman wrestlers were investigated. The wrestlers from the Iranian National Greco-Roman Team (14 junior wrestlers and 12 senior wrestlers) participated in this study. The junior and senior wrestlers were divided into two groups of successful and less successful athletes based on their performance during the previous wrestling season. The wrestlers were evaluated for anthropometric measurements, flexibility, muscular endurance, explosive power, peak and mean power of upper and lower limbs, cardiovascular endurance, running speed, agility, and muscular strength. In senior wrestler, significant differences in favor of the successful wrestlers were found for relative grip strength (P<0.01), pull-ups (P<0.01), peak and mean anaerobic power of upper limbs (P<0.05), and oxygen consumption (O2) corresponding to ventilatory threshold (VT). The results of discriminant analysis revealed that the relative grip strength, pull-ups, and mean anaerobic power were the most important variables separating the groups. In junior wrestlers, the successful wrestlers had significantly more relative grip strength (P<0.01), pull-ups (P<0.01), peak and mean anaerobic power of upper limbs (P<0.05), and peak anaerobic power of lower limbs (P<0.05). However, the results of discriminant analysis showed that the model could not successfully determine group membership. In summary, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and anaerobic capacity are the most important variables in Greco-Roman wrestling and athletes must pay particular attention to improving these variables to be a successful wrestler.