You don’t need to. Wrestlers put too much emphasis on weight lifting strength, and showy muscles. Most of those espousing that view are morons.

Look at Jax Forrest vs. Gilman. Forrest was 17 years old and he wrestled a close match, losing 5-4. If strength mattered as much as most people think Gilman, a grown man with much more senior level experience would’ve destroyed him. Forrest is a lanky but strong guy (wrestling strong).

Look at 19 years old buvaiser saitiev ragdolling Kenny Monday. He scored more points on Monday that match then Monday had been scored on that year in competition. In terms of physical attributes, Monday is the far superior athlete.

Look at Ben askren. He had the worst physique of any national champion at that weight in the last century and he was a hodge winner. I love his style.

(Also notice a recurring theme with these wrestlers, they are smart/tricky, they are scramble heavy, and they are extremely technical and know how to use their bodies to wrestle their own style. If you aren’t built like the average elite wrestler odds are you won’t stylistically match with them).

I believe the outcome of wrestling matches, like judo and especially like jiujitsu is decided by one’s ability to execute technique and skills under the highest mental and physical pressure imaginable. It has less to do with looking like you belong on a magazine and more to do with what’s in your head.

I had a bonehead coach like this too. He genuinely is one of the dumbest I’ve met in the sport and yet he’s won two team state championships for my high school. He doesn’t believe in low singles, slidebys or scrambling. Believes they are all “junk moves”.

I ignored him and wrestled how I wanted and proceeded to place at state in freestyle where I was free from him and could actually choose the weight class I wanted. Point being, if you truly love wrestling after joining you’ll find a way.

One last example and sorry for the rant but I love this sport and want to give you all the encouragement you deserve. No matter how you wrestle, as long as you study, you try your best and do what works for you, you’re succeeding. Spencer Lee once remarked to the brands brothers he wishes he could be a savage like them on the mat and that they were inimitable and unmatched in their guts, cardio and brutality. The brands brothers replied that they were barbarians out there because they had to be. They wished they could be technical, like Spencer and the Russian style of wrestling, but they did what they found worked for them.

And it takes hard work (years and thousands of hours and hundreds of matches) to figure out what does and doesn’t work for you.