Is wrestling harder than cross country?

Well, cross country runners get to eat. From my own memories of classmates who wrestled, some of those 127 and 133-pound guys didn't.

Would agree that wrestling is harder. My HS XC team had a bunch of wrestlers that would run cross just to get into shape for wrestling. Some tough, fast dudes.

I've done both and continue to do cross country in college. While neither are easy and they're very different physically I'd say wrestling is harder on your body.

I cut 156 to 145 weekly so fasting and exercising every week was part of the routine. The conditioning is brutal, we would simulate matches during regular practice and then do conditioning afterward. Often times, I was a "bad boy" and had to do extra conditioning on top of that.

In a lot of ways, I think that wrestling helped me with running. When you're in a match, you can't give up/let up or you'll lose. Wrestling will make you mentally tough and that definitely transfers over to cross.

wrestling no doubt.

It requires endurance, speed, strength and technique. Also cross country is competative, but it's passive where wresting is litterally man v man.

Finally, most wrestlers will put on running shoes and race, even if they get drilled, but very few XCers will step onto the mat.

yes, no contest.

For me wrestling practices were harder than cross country. And we had good cross country team too with a good coach and were undefeated for the three years I ran. I didn't get involved in any of that silly weight loss nonsense with wrestling though.

Wrestling is a harder sport, but it is harder to win outright a CC invite or championship because at a wrestling invite there are something like 14 weight classes, but only one champ in CC. Of course, only distance types excel in CC but many types of B.A. athletes can do well in high school wrestling as long as you are tough and put the work in.

Training to race is very efficient and pain free. You do not need a lot of time, money, training partners, nor equipment in order to train at a very high level.

There are various levels of discomfort, but the "pain" of running is very exaggerated.

Running takes a unique type of prolonged concentration and modulation of proper effort.

Running takes little skill, but you always need to be fit. You will not skate by with cunning and guile.

Running is fun.

Wrestling take many more hours for which to train, and many more types of activity to gain both fitness and skill.

There can be REAL "pain" involved in Wrestling.

The acute and chronic physical damage can be severe.

Wrestling requires a high level of aggression, controlled yes, but aggression.

A high level of skill is involved in wrestling; you need to have other people with whom to drill. Fitness will only get you so far.

Winning is fun.

Both require dedication to the craft and a love of competition, in order to maximize your potential.

I never got a cauliflower ear from running.

Going with wrestling. Getting slammed to the floor is not fun. Rolling around on a mat with another sweaty guy--not fun either. Very homoerotic sort of thing.

VisionQuest was awesome though. Better than any running movie.

Let's put it his way. I put alot of time into wrestling and running. I wrestled since freshman year of high school. I ran since sophomore year track season. I won State in XC my Junior year. I placed 10th at State in wrestling the following season.(~4 months later) I went on to win the 3200 at State that track season.(~3 months later)

Wrestling is way harder. Cutting from 130 to 119 every week is no fun at all.

And it's hard to practice wrestling year round.

I think that wrestling made me mentally and physically stronger. It's hard to give up in a 3.1 mile race after you go through the misery of a wrestling season. Don't believe me? Go to flowrestling.com and look at some of the workouts.

The real queastion is which is better; pampers or diapers for old women?

I don't think it is close.

I ran 9:24 for two miles as a 9th grader, and our wrestling coach (who strangely competed in track at Iowa) was constantly telling me that I was actually better at wrestling. Given that I had zero background in wrestling, and did well against opponents I was frankly scared stiff of, he may have been right. But I was gratified I could see a future in track. No wrestling after 9th grade.

I had a single mother who didn't care one way or another and didn't provide any input or guidance, and I darn sure knew wrestling (and the diet and weight control involved) was way more difficult. The heat, the intensity, the feeling incredibly beat up after a tough match - wrestling was the real deal, and the path of least resistance seemed great!

I had good legspeed, and many races in high school were kickers duels and were fun. Wrestling, even against an opponent that you feel you could beat, didn't permit relaxation even for a moment. High stress, and tough.

No knock intended on runners though. We all express ourselves differently. Wrestling is a great experience.

Everyone who is saying wrestling is a weak a** runner. If you want to run a race the best you can you have to take it to the physical limit of its capabilities. You fill your body with enough lactic acid to kill a man, your heart races as fast as it can, and the muscles tearing with every stride and a burning in the lungs.

So ya I'm going to say that bringing your body to the physical limit is tougher.

Long Run wrote:

Everyone who is saying wrestling is a weak a** runner. If you want to run a race the best you can you have to take it to the physical limit of its capabilities. You fill your body with enough lactic acid to kill a man, your heart races as fast as it can, and the muscles tearing with every stride and a burning in the lungs.

So ya I'm going to say that bringing your body to the physical limit is tougher.

You don't think that happens during a wrestling match?

the mere fact that running requires about ZERO techinque or skill has it losing out on this question.

I LOVE running and XC and track and road races, etc.. I never wrestled at all, but I went to the matches because my friends wrestled and it is NOT easy- at all.

Long Run wrote:

Everyone who is saying wrestling is a weak a** runner. If you want to run a race the best you can you have to take it to the physical limit of its capabilities. You fill your body with enough lactic acid to kill a man, your heart races as fast as it can, and the muscles tearing with every stride and a burning in the lungs.

So ya I'm going to say that bringing your body to the physical limit is tougher.

yeah everything you said also happens in wrestling....plus someone is abusing you at the same time. no one is making physical contact in a cross country race.

I'll tell you one thing. Alexander Karelin is an absolute bad ass. Look him up if you don't know.

Wrestling is probably the hardest sport to train/compete at the highest level. The only other sports that would be on a similar level would be boxing/mma.

I love running but know what those guys do is much more mentally/phyically taxing. It is a fact, no reason to bitch about it.

Lesson for those who don't know it yet - never mess with a fairly decent sized wrestler, they will mess you up bad.

Real running success requires dedication almost every week of the year. You have to stay healthy, thin, and fit constantly. Wrestlers are tough as hell during the season, but they do not know the dedication that highly competitive running requires. If they really cared that much, they'd lose weight before the season so they could improve more effectively instead of training on zero energy.

no, you can only spend so much time at a minimal weight before you start losing fitness/health. That's why they wait as long as they can until having to cut weight. Furthermore, staying heavier allows you to store up nutrients and rebuild 100% before you start a new season. Runners should look into the same technique of body replenishment.

Lastly, some wrestlers lose an unhealthy amount of weight so that they can be in an unnaturally light weight class where they are much bigger than their opponents.

Year round wrestling is unhealthy and dangerous. You need a break.