Randi Miller's Pre-Tournament Warm-up
Randi Miller moments after winning bronze at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Photo credit: Zimbio
by Olympic bronze medalist Randi Miller & Coach Shannyn Gillespie
IG: @badgirl_wrestling @coachshannyntalks
Twitter: @coachshannyn
Getting your mind & body ready or primed for competition is essential for great competition performances. In this article, Randi Miller explains her pre-tournament warm-up, also known as a Pre-Competition Routine, to bring about the state of mind that was optimal for her world-class competition performances. Randi was an Olympic Bronze Medalist, a Military World Champion, & a World Team member for Team USA.
Randi Miller at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Photo credit: Zimbio
Randi Miller’s Self-Reflection Warm-up
Future champions, before we get into the bulk of this warm-up...
I’m not going to deny that we are living in interesting times. So first and foremost, stay safe, practice social distancing, & practice good hygiene.
We are wrestlers!
One thing about us is that we know how to make something great out of a messy situation. Whether it be getting through tough practices day after day, learning new skills while getting beat up, or learning how to eat appropriately while friends tempt you with tacos (speaking from experience), or maybe even handling life's more challenging situations.
We as combat athletes face these choices every day and choose to be MORE...
More motivated.
More disciplined.
More dedicated.
And, we do this with a smile on our faces. We are resilient and we love a good challenge. Nothing will stop our development into becoming the woman and athlete we want to become!
So how can we improve today with the resources we have right now?
This strange period in our lives surprisingly presents a perfect opportunity for self-reflection. Many times, this skill (self-reflection) gets lost because we are in the grind of building & growing our physical skills.
What is self-reflection?
Simply put, we take a critical look at the things we have learned, and we make them even better.
So today, let's self-reflect on our pre-tournament warm-ups.
I have a pre-tournament warm-up, a pre-match mini warm-up, & post-match cool down. But I want us to only reflect on one thing at a time. So this self-reflection will be dedicated to our pre-tournament warm-up.
I know most of the time, you will go through your team warm-up. But, sometimes, our team warm-up doesn’t hit on things we need individually. So, let me ask you: Have you thought about what you need in your warm-up to bring the best out of you?
Below, are some questions you can ask yourself:
SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS
When do I wrestle my absolute best? What does my mind say before, during and after I wrestle my absolute best? Who am I around when I’m wrestling my best?
So let’s start with question #1 (and the rest of the questions will fall in place)...
When did I wrestle my best?
This was one of the more straightforward questions I could answer for myself. I wrestled best in the middle of my practice. It was the perfect time in practice — the time when your coach is putting you through a million live goes. Somewhere in the middle of all the fatigue, I was able to let go of any fears and completely surrender to the moment.
I stopped caring about the score, stopped caring how I felt, didn’t care if I made mistakes.
It was here that I put together some of my best wrestling.
So in step 1, I needed to build a warm-up that was physically demanding to put my mind and body into that space—so I did.
What does my mind say before, during, and after I wrestle my absolute best?
In my training, when I was being put through the ringer with having to do go after go — I would tell myself:
“I’ve never run from anything in my life.”
“Just attack first and the rest will take care of itself.”
When I would repeat those words to myself, I was able to get some good work out of myself. When a challenging practice ended and I felt I’d put together some of my best work — a sense of gratefulness would fall over me as I was cooling down.
Who was around me when I had a great practice?
In addition to the above question, I would also ask myself: Who gave me good goes? Who had the best attitude? Who's energy was compatible and matched mine?
This is the person who I would try to do my warm-up with.
Sometimes that did not work because my needs may not have matched the needs of my partner. Most of the time, this was the case because I needed a lot of “life” to warm up. When this happened, my coach stepped in and wrestled the coach.
For the bigger tournaments, I hired someone specifically to accommodate my needs. From these questions, I began to build a perfect warm-up.
On a personal note, the below warm-up helped me tremendously! However, I want you to use this warm-up sequence as a guide (or template) to build something unique for you...
My warm-up sequence #1
Put shoes on
Tape shoelaces
Then I said these three things out loud:
“I am so happy I get to spend today doing something I love.”
“I have never run or backed down from ANYONE, and today won’t be the day I start.”
“Today is a beautiful day to leave here a champ!”
My warm-up sequence #2
Turn on my tournament playlist
Jog, shuffle, skip until I sweat
10-foot fire springs
10-foot fire sprawls
My warm-up sequence #3
Team warm-up, it varied but here is a sample...
Jumps Over & back
Over the back shot through the legs
Stat drill
Foot fire shot
Foot fire sprawl
Executions them than me
3 x 2 min live goes
End Team warm-up
I'm not done yet because I don’t have that ‘middle of the practice feeling’ and I need that middle of the practice feeling.
My warm-up sequence #4
2 min hand fight
2 min live
2 min execution
I'm ready!
My warm-up sequence #5
Turn tournament playlist back on
Check brackets to see what color singlet I am
Change undergarments (because they are sweaty and will make me cold)
Put on singlet on
At the end of this pre-tournament warm-up, I would take a seat next to the teammates whose energy matches mine because I can't sit by a visibly nervous teammate whose energy does not match mine…
In the above plan, Randi Miller goes through a pre-tournament step-by-step process that worked extremely well for her. Randi also suggests that each of us should have our own unique plan of attack (or Performance Planning) preceding all competitions to mentally get ready. This plan or pre-tournament warm-up can be used at every competition and will help you develop consistency in your competition performances.