Wrestling

WRESTLING, a type of physical exercise widely practiced since ancient times alongside running, jumping, and throwing. Wrestling is a test of strength, agility, and the will to win. In ancient Greece, wrestling was one of the most important parts of the classical pentathlon. Competitive wrestling—contests between physical culture enthusiasts in resisting living force—is a beneficial exercise that develops muscles, strengthens the heart and lungs, increases metabolism, and cultivates courage, persistence, self-control, and confidence in one's strength. There are many types of wrestling: French (classical), whose rules are most developed and introduce many restrictions, allowing only grips above the waist and without the use of legs; Russian-Swiss—on belts; American free style—which does not restrict grips and is therefore very rough and dangerous, and others. Almost every nation has its own national wrestling.*The most widespread is the versatile, and therefore physiologically valuable, French wrestling, the elements of which are also included in gymnastics lessons. The opponent's body weight in wrestling is of great importance; therefore wrestlers are divided by weight into classes, and competitions are allowed only between athletes of the same class to equalize chances. To avoid injuries from the floor, wrestling is conducted on a thick mat. Systematic wrestling exercises promote the development of the body's musculature, especially the shoulder girdle and upper limbs; the skeleton thickens, and the whole body becomes massive and strong. Morphological features of the heavy athlete type: large weight relative to height, great development in width, larger, compared to other athletes, circumference of the neck, chest, shoulder, thigh, and calf, and relatively short lower limbs. Excessive enthusiasm for wrestling (and generally weightlifting) leads not only to an increase in muscle volume but also to their shortening and to disharmony in the proportions of the body, which reach hideous dimensions in professional wrestlers. The range of motion (amplitude) of the chest and vital capacity of the lungs (see) in professional wrestlers often do not correspond to the powerful-looking chest, thanks to hypertrophied muscles. Upon the cessation of systematic training, wrestlers show a tendency to obesity and fatty degeneration of the heart. Wrestling is associated with a great physiological load on the heart and lungs. A characteristic feature of wrestling is straining, inevitable during static effort. At the moment of straining, the glottis automatically closes, which, together with the static tension of the muscles, leads to a stagnation of venous blood and an increase in pressure in the chest cavity. Breathing is suspended, the heart is compressed; after the cessation of straining follows a strong exhalation, a large amount of blood immediately enters the right heart, stretching its cavity, which creates unfavorable conditions for the heart's work. With proper, gradual training, the heart adapts to this intensified work, increasing its muscular mass, resulting in a stable hypertrophy; in some cases, in well-trained athletes, a decrease in the size of the heart is observed simultaneously with an increase in its functional capacity. One must distinguish useful hypertrophy from an increase in the heart due to the dilation of its walls, which occurs as a result of the inadequacy of the intensified muscular work to the heart's reserve forces and is expressed in acute or chronic manifestations of heart weakness. With heart dilation, continuing physical exercise may cause even greater harm. To eliminate the one-sided influence of wrestling on the organism, Soviet physical culture strives to cultivate a versatile athlete who develops his organism in many ways, and proper, gradual training of a wrestler, which allows avoiding a sharp overload of the heart. Proper training must necessarily be associated with a hygienic regimen. Research by qualified Soviet wrestling physical culture enthusiasts has shown that they differ favorably from foreign wrestlers in their physical development. The size of the heart in the overwhelming majority is within normal limits. Medical control, which is compulsory for all physical culture enthusiasts in the USSR at least twice a year, must be especially thorough for wrestlers and supplemented by examinations before major competitions, and also, if possible, during systematic training. Self-control must serve as a supplement. The physician is responsible for observing the hygienic conditions of wrestling, especially if it takes place in enclosed premises (fresh air, clean mat, absence of dust), teaching first aid in accidents (bruises, sprains, dislocations, fractures), which sometimes occur during wrestling. All necessary means for providing first aid must be available in places where wrestling takes place.