Is wrestling harder than cross country?

Haha, yeah we're basically all on the same footing as far as having elite experience. I will say that I have always respected wrestling and swimming just because of the similarities to running in having to push yourself and having no teammates to blame things on (unless we're talking relays or team scores). I kind of like the simplicity of these sports.

Couldn't agree more about needing to figure out what harder means. I did both in high school, wrestled in college and now I coach wrestling at the high school level.

If you are talking the amount of physical fitness required then wrestling is definitely harder. If you are talking skills needed for strategy, generally wrestling is harder due to the fact that you have to switch up with every person vs. working on just your strategy for a race. To be successful? Probably cross country based on the fact that there is only 1 person who wins vs. one for each weight class. Discipline? that's where the tie is broken and I would lean in favor of wrestling. Maintaining weight adds an element that runners don;t have to deal with. Wrestlers are pretty much expected to stay the same weight for four months straight during season, longer if you go year round. It is even harder if you wrestle below your natural weight as most wrestlers do by about 5 - 10 pounds (healthy and not extreme). To have an all out workout and then not go home and pound away food is one of the hardest things to have to do. Also, they have to be mentally tough for every aspect of training. Lifting, running, learning technique, drilling, wrestling. It is easy, and common for young wrestlers to lose steam during alternate workouts like running and lifting because they don't enjoy it and during workouts forget it supplements their wrestling whereas most runners do workouts that deal directly with running. Yes they do lift sometimes (and should to balance out) but it is not nearly the same thing as they are focused on one major muscle group instead of all of them.

That being said, for me personally running was harder because I hated doing it. The wrestling workouts were a lot tougher and I felt what was demanded of me was a lot more, but I enjoyed it and just love the sport. I hated running and because of this I never did as much to become the best runner ever (I was decent but not state level). Bottom line is, whatever you enjoy more will be easier for you but you will tell people it is harder than what they do. Most likely because you put more work in because you are more driven.

Its all relative

Cross country is tougher.

When wrestling, one only has to wrestle people in their own weight class because heavier people are usually stronger and bigger. So basically, a person only has to wrestle people with comparible attributes.

In XC, I had to race EVERYBODY. I didn't get a pass when there was a faster, stronger, bigger person on the line with me. I had to race him and everybody else. What if all the 10 minute 2 milers raced each other and the 9:45 guys raced each other and the 9:30 guys raced each other and the 9:15 min guys raced each other, etc.

That is what wrestling does. Stupid. Easy when you only have to compete against people who are the same as you. Sports get real tough when you have to compete with people better than you.

Argue that you wrestling nerds. Go back to letswrestle.com

Consider yourselves bitchslapped.

First off, let me say that I was extremely successful in both sports. I won state titles in Division 1 (big schools) wrestling and D1 xc in Michigan. I'm now currently a collegiate wrestler for a Big Ten (the powerhouse wrestling conference) school. I love xc, and I love wrestling. But this debate is ridiculous.

You comparing different weight classes to guys that run different times is completely inaccurate. Different weight classes would be like comparing a sprinter to a distance runner. Lightweight wrestlers wrestle entirely different than heavyweights. Middleweights have to succeed where lightweights and heavyweights are experts.

How about the fact that there are 14 weight classes for high school wrestling, and just one race for xc runners? Well keep in mind that as you guy up in the ranks in wrestling, the weight classes get larger. Two years ago I competed in a tournament that had over 160 wrestlers in ONE weight class.

In wrestling, there is no rest time (apart from break in the periods, or going out of bounds). In xc, you can let up for half a second to regain your composure before making the final push.

I have an ex-teammate who is a current navy seal. He has told me that their training is nothing compared to our high school practices. High school practices. Imagine what college is like. Wrestling tests you mentally like no other sport can. There is something about going toe to toe with another guy, who is trying inflict pain on you, and knowing that no matter what the result, it's all on you. And the entire crowd can see that. You have to own your losses in front of family and friends, just like you own your wins. Winning and losing is something that people universally understand, where as few people know the significance of 5 seconds of dropped time from your previous personal record in a race.

XC runners don't have to deal with the weight loss issue. Many of you have said that you know "plenty of elite wrestlers who don't cut weight." That is a flat out lie. As a collegiate wrestler, who has taken trips to the Olympic Training Center, I know for a FACT that elite wrestlers on all levels cut weight. Henry Cejudo, a 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, was notorious for having issues with his weight. The kid was huge. And by huge, I mean muscular. He is in tremendous shape, with very little fat on his body. Sure, there are wrestlers that can have some success without cutting weight. But when you get to the upper echelons of the sport that is impossible to do. Nutrition is vital throughout the year.

Which brings me to my final point, there is no off season. Some of you have claimed that wrestlers are monsters during the season, but then let off in the off-season. On my team, we workout MORE in the off season since we don't have to worry so much about preserving our bodies for competition. Staying at a healthy weight year round is required as well. Yes, wrestlers "balloon up" in weight right after the season. But that weight becomes muscle in the off season, with many wrestlers entering the season 15 pounds over, with 6% body fat. Still think they are out of shape?

Sp!kes wrote:

Cross country is tougher.

Argue that you wrestling nerds. Go back to letswrestle.com

Consider yourselves bitchslapped.

There is no way XC is close to wrestling. Look at the all the areas wresting requires of the athlete compared to xc. You have to be a complete athlete to wrestle, you can be a skinny lungs on legs runner and win in xc.

Dude, did someone hit a nerve or something? Don't let the comments of anonymous internet posters get to you. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.

Good Rick wrote:

I would say that cross country and wrestling would be about equally tough for people doing each activity at a similar effort. For example, the guy winning state in wrestling and the guy winning state in xc are probably working at similar levels. However, I think both of these sports are as hard as you make them. While most wrestlers are tough, there are plenty of kids that do it but refuse to push themselves, just as we've all seen the kids that float through workouts and races and only really start to try on the finishing straight.

Now, wrestling might be harder if we include the idiots that hurt their bodies and cut unhealthy amounts of weight, but I think that can be separated from the sport itself. Malnourishment isn't required for wrestling, nor does it make you better in many cases.

That was my wrestling coach friend's point. Wrestling is brutal on a participant from the effort given over the length of the competition. The only sports in HS that he could say compared in effort from beginning to end were cross country and swimming. The rest have breaks in action that take away the amount of effort. Wrestling may have breaks, but they are much shorter than team sports and the time when the clock is running is more intense than any team sport's intensity.

XC is hard. Wrestling is even harder. The associated food depravation ensures that.

No contest. Wrestling is the hardest thing one can do in high school or college.

XC is also very difficult but you do not cut weight and all elite wrestlers cut weight no exception. You also don't have someone else trying to separate (insert body part here ex. arm, foot) from the rest of your body. Wrestling in college is like a legalized street fight especially at the open tournaments. How would you like to drop 8-10 pounds the last 24 hours, make weight, try to get rehydrated and then if your lucky wrestle 5-6 matches (assuming you win some. Which most of you wouldn't) with someone that wants to tear your head off. The major difference between most runners and wrestlers with some exceptions is that wrestlers are usually the guys with the killer instinct. Many of my wrestlers enjoy cross country in the pre season to help get in shape but they know when november rolls around the REAL WORK WILL BEGIN.... For those of you that disagree with me go into a good local high school and ask if you can do their conditioning with them.

Todd Reeser compares his HIGH SCHOOL wrestling practices to the kenyans. "(When I was a wrestler), I thought runners were like the biggest wimps going," he said. "I have lot more respect for what runners do now, but I used to bust my ass wrestling, and it makes the training I do for running seem a little easier. It's my edge; the Kenyans may have run to school every day but they've never had to go through a Palmyra/Macedon Wrestling practice." BTW his high school was very good but nothing compared to division 1 wrestling practices.

GAME

SET

MATCH

yes, no doubt.

My son wrestles; my daughter runs XC. I've never seen my daughter's race stopped because she was bleeding on the course, but I've seen my son's matches stopped because he was bleeding, then seen it stopped again because his opponent was bleeding. Wrestling practices are friggin' brutal. Lots of XC practices are nice, easy runs through the forest. You have a 50/50 shot at getting your a## kicked every time you step on the wrestling mat. That's way tougher than just not winning a meet..

I've seen my son so physically & mentally spent - even after winning a war of a match - that he was in tears. The emotion of a wrestling bout is so much more intense than an XC meet.

Wrestling is definitely harder. Take it easy in XC and you just finish a bit slower and with a few folks in front of you who maybe shouldn't be. Take it easy in wrestling and you get slammed to the mat and embarrassed in front of everyone.

"He has told me that their training is nothing compared to our high school practices."

Lol this made me laugh. Can you send verification of class number?

[quote]xc runner and current wrestler wrote:

I have an ex-teammate who is a current navy seal. He has told me that their training is nothing compared to our high school practices. High school practices

Wrestling is much more difficult.

It's one of the sports that requires strength, stamina, speed, agility, and technique.

VerminMeat wrote:

Wrestling is much more difficult.

It's one of the sports that requires strength, stamina, speed, agility, and technique.

Does wrestling lead to any carryover improvements for running?

xc runner and current wrestler wrote:

I have an ex-teammate who is a current navy seal. He has told me that their training is nothing compared to our high school practices. High school practices. Imagine what college is like.

Seriously if this is true give me his class number and name, since I am in contact with Don Shipley. Do college wrestlers have to stay up for 5 days? Do 80% of people quit? Use common sense bro.

What is meant by 'harder?' At first, I would say wrestling, hands down. The physical toll, intensity of workouts, all of the fasting you must do to cut weight. But by harder, do we mean perception of physical effort? Or harder, meaning more difficult, to attain performance goals? For example, my high school xc team was one of the top in our state, we were pretty fast (relatively speaking), and there is no way anyone on our high school's wrestling team could come close to the workouts we did on a weekly basis. The only time they would, perhaps, be able to hang with us, would have been during a 4-5mi morning workout. So, what we did on a regular basis would have been extremely 'hard' for them to do (and vice versa of course).

If you could somehow match performance ability between two guys- a runner and wrestler, at the same weight, one runner one wrestler, and pick a hard workout day of comparable intensity in each sport... then, ask each athlete to complete the other sport's workout (meaning, the wrestler has to hit the runner's times, and the runner has to complete the entire wrestler's workout)..... I dunno... picturing myself as a runner doing the wrestler's workout, it would suck terribly. But the wrestler would really struggle doing, say, a 6 X mile workout on a cross course, on 3min rest, trying to break 5 each mile. Or even an 8 mile 'easy' day, where we would still hit 6:-6:30 per mile.

This isn't to take away from wrestler's workouts. In general, on a daily basis, you dudes are engaging in some intense shiz. And during season starving yourselves. No way I would have ever volunteered to do that to myself. Much respect.

a friend of mine smoked weed daily and did coke/drank a few times a week until he was like 20. At that point he went back to school, did a cycle of steroids, walked onto the wrestling team (he had trained bjj and boxing for a while but had barely wrestled), and had a national ranking like a year later. This guy also was always the clumsy one of our group who was never good at sports too. I mean hes really fit now that hes worked out a ton but he has ZERO coordination and is also pretty slow in the head as well. I still think wrestling is harder as it is more physically demanding and there is it least some level of skill involved but i don't really consider it to be an overly "hard" sport either