XC or football

Now that High School wrestling has ended a question came to my mind and I was wondering what other wrestling enthusiasts think. . .
What is a better sport on the off-season for wrestlers (beside more wrestling of course)
Cross-Country or Football
Ive heard good reasons for both. . . .

personally i think football it helps your mental toughness but cross country will help your conditioning so if you like to run that would be a good choice also

Not a bad topic. If an individual is not really great at football or cross-country, but merely wants to stay in shape for wrestling, I think cross country's the way to go. A lot of wrestlers (because of conditioning and work ethic) can succeed at cross country - realizing a little untapped running potential. Plus there's far less of a chance getting injured running than playing football.

I played football my freshman year. That year in wrestling, I ran out of gas in a lot of matches.


My sophomore, junior and senior years I ran Cross Country. Sure, I still ran out of gas in some matches, but it was much rarer.

I'll agree that football will help you keep that "battle to the death" mentality, and that xc will put you into some of the best shape you'll see, but there's gotta be a better option. I wouldn't want to risk a major wrestling ending injury in football, but on the other hand, try dealing with the xc guys for a whole season, if the work outs don't kill you, you may just go crazy having to put up with them (they're a different crowd of people.) Anyone interested in putting together a fall wrestling club? If most of us already compete from November(folkstyle) to late July(freestyle, we might as well stick with it in the fall and be real year-round wrestlers.

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I'LL DRINK TO THAT!

How old are you Seth....you can't drink!

IM gonna hafta go with football on this one. For starters its a whole lot funner than xc. I mean honestly in most sports you run when you get in trouble. But in xc, that IS the sport! all you do is run a whole lot! in football at least you get to hit people. And i dont care who you are everybody likes to hit people. And you can also get in pretty good shape playing football. I personaly got in real good shape cause i was on every single team. After playing 11 strait football games without missing a play i was in pretty good shape

On the other hand. xc is not a bad option. It makes you very mentaly tough and gets you in great shape. I think as long as you go hard, it doesnt really matter witch you do.

i donno about saying you can't get hurt in XC, my freshmen year i broke my foot running and was out the beginning of the wrestling season. maybe not as common as football but a funny story none the less

I'd go with the xc team. I hit plenty of people in xc and I think I might of even got dq'ed once (I'm not sure, the coach didn't really tell me, my point's were just missing and she didn't seem to argue). Besides, have you ever seen the legs on xc chicks...DANG! I don't know about you fruity fag-ballers but I would much rather stare at some chick with an AMAZING body while running through the woods than bang my noggin into other retards in pads and helmets while some *** with a whistle yells at me for 3 hrs.
In my book it's kind of a no brainer...sit at home and play video games. No seriously XC will discipline your mind (after running up hill for 8.5 miles, 6 min on the mat is cake) and keep you in some of the best shape of your life. And XC people are halairious to party with.

just thoughts:

truth be told, football is probably better of the two in context of physiology i.e. muscle group and aerobic endurance (note...not anaerobic) as it's most similar to wrestling in types and duration of muscle involvement. some of you other coaches may be able to provide specific kinese information which supports/refutes.

personal experience does favor xc as the better of the two for pre-season conditioning...

personally, as long as a wrestler is competitive nothing really hurts. i'd support a kid in underwater bb stacking as long as it helped the kid. i'd prefer competitive off season sports as it helps build spirit of team work, self discipline, and a taste for winning...more so than just individual work outs

Man, your right about xc people bein great to party with thats for sure! They seem to like to have fun alot more than football players do. And ya xc girls are hot. But who do you think gets more chicks? Honestly think about it.

And i'll also tell you there is no way you hit people as hard in xc as you do in football. Anytime your on kickoff team all you do is run for 40 yards and have a headon collision with someone who is doin the same thing.

I still say football hands down.

football is probably better when u talk about the mental side of it... because of the hitting and other stuff

Neither lift, run, and wrestle to become a better wrestler. Play football to be a better football player and run X-country to be a better X-country runner. Does working at McDonalds make me a better chef. NO, there are too many other variables involved in cooking food,, just like there are too many other variables involved in being a better wrestler. But down to it what will make you a better athlete is what you are asking? Which one will you work harder at to be better?

Coach Peterman

Football

i've always thought working at mcdonald's is a good step towards becoming a chef

And you don't think you have to be mentally tough to run 10 miles a day?

As to being able to hit people. We had an exchange student from Germany on our team one year and someone cut him off in a race and he all out punched the guy in the face. It was hilarious. Also, you get the chance to spike people with the metal spikes on your feet.

XC definitely built my endurance and leg strength when it came to wrestling. Didn't do a lot for my upper body strength, so I hit the gym for that.

I have to agree with the hot chicks also. We got to ride on the same bus as our girls and lets face it there are no fat chicks in XC. If there are any that look bigger it must be muscle to be able to run that far on a daily basis.

good point pennywise i did both so i liked football better though

i would go with xc, the only thing you got to watch out for is shin splints.

I am from from the state of mind that says cross train. I personnally like the idea of football (not only because I am a football coach) because it gives you an aggressive type mentality.

I believe kids should keep in top notch condition year around and eat health. I have decided that even though having 300 pound linemen seems like the best thing in the world I would rather have 225 lean and mean then 300 pounds and slow. lets keep oour kids well conditioned in the off season and not let them get to fat

As long as coaches keep in mind that they are there for the athletes, and not the other way around, participation shouldn't be an issue. I grew up in a place where you played 3 sports, that is just how it worked. The coaches knew that, and generally expected it and it did not hold us back at all. This is also the attitude of the people I coach with now, which is very refreshing.

I think playing football in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and running track in the spring helped keep us fresh for all of the sports. Wrestling can be so physically and emotionally draining that only a very few can truly keep it up year round.

As far as choosing a sport for conditioning reasons, there is nothing that compares to a 6 min wrestling match (when wrestled @ 100%), so choose whichever sport you enjoy and will have the most success at!

I would have to say XC, however i did xc this year and i was probably the worst runner of all time, and i dont think it improved my endurance. i'm not going to play football because our team was even worse 0-9 so i'll just do what P. Pittbull said, that sound like a much better way to get better at wrestling.

If you want a good example, Matt Fields who is the heavyweight at Iowa ran cross country all through High School.

i bet that was a site. Hell of a wrestle though, i just wish he would beat dustin fox.

I think it's much easier to work harder in X-Country, because of the fact that it's an individual sport.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about playing multiple sports in high school, I just don't think you should sell the other sports short. Do your best to become as good in those sports as you are in wrestling. During the off season if you are not wrestling train hard at what ever you are doing to become a better athlete. I just believe you can not play another sport to become good in something else.

It's kind of like turning fat into muscle. You don't really turn the fat molecules into muscle molecules, you lose the fat and the muscles become bigger. There is no magical transformation......sorry

Coach Peterman

XC for sure... 2 years of it helped me out so much conditioning physically and mentally. i ran for the best team in the state (with 11 straight state titles). a lot of kids gas in the third period... thats when you can pound the **** out of em!

plus xc girls are HOTT. you ever seen a fat xc chick? no it just doesn't mesh well the whole running multiple miles at one time.

I play football and run track and do xc in the summer and did it before i got in to highschool.
I think football would be better cause it will get u in shape maybe not as good as xc but it will get u in shape.It also gets u mentally tough and physically tough. Plus great way to start losing those summer months of fat cause u lose more weight wearing 20-30 pounds of gear in 100 degree weather.This is just my opinion there both great but if it was me i would pick Football.

If u knew me u would laugh at this. but i dont mind runnin as long as im not forced to do so. i rann 2 miles everyday to make weight for wrestling between football and wrestling.

i would have to xc not only does it put u in awsome shape but unlike football you dont get so many breaks but when your tired and want to quit in the middle of a 3 mile race you know u cant cause u have to dig deep and go the extra mile so xc builds mental toughness also

Don't be a pansy....support football. Actually...I wanted to do both just because one is Co-ed.