By Leah Howard & Josh Churella
On a chilly February day in the heart of the Big Ten Conference dual season, U-M wrestling junior captain Josh Churella supplied a peek into a typical day in the life of this student-athlete. With a near-perfect record since climbing to 149 pounds this season, Churella has elevated himself to the nation’s elite tier at the individual weight class, and in March he plans to end the season atop the podium at the NCAA Championships in front of a hometown crowd at the Palace of Aubun Hills.
7 a.m. – Alarm goes off.
7:30 a.m. – After a quick shower, Churella fixes himself his usual breakfast of egg whites, two pieces of whole wheat toast, orange juice, Gatorade and water. For the last two years, he has eaten the same thing every morning. It’s simple, it’s good, and it gets his day going.
At this early hour, Churella will be the only one awake in his house. Regarding family as life’s most important facet, he has stayed close to his, living off campus with brothers Ryan and Mark since arriving at U-M. After four years together, however, Mark will be moving out in the spring, and Josh has plans to convert that vacancy into a weight room.
“It’s always been a good setup with my brothers because Ryan and I have been on the same page since I’ve been here, “said Churella. “Every day, he pushed me to be a better wrestler. I’ve always wrestled with him through high school and college, so it’s always been the same thing, even this year. He’s not in school anymore, so he gets to sleep late and he’s on his own training regimen, but it fits pretty well with my schedule.”
8:30-10 a.m. – After spending several minutes looking for a parking spot on campus, Churella arrives at East Hall for his first class of the day, a psychology course on perception, science and reality. “The professor has a lot of interesting views on what perception and reality are, “said Churella, “so it’s been a very interesting class. But I’ll admit that it’s been a little hard to stay focused and pay attention that early in the morning. I’m not necessarily a morning person. I guess I can make the switch pretty easily; it just takes me some time to adjust. So, it’s definitely still a struggle. I honestly don’t know how it couldn’t be for anyone.”
10:15 a.m. – Churella arrives at Crisler Arena for a morning session of running and light lifting. With a lighter class schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays, he has time to double up on workouts, adding an early round of conditioning and lifting before the Wolverines’ scheduled afternoon practice. He typically accomplishes the task in wrestling’s corner of Crisler, where he can lift, watch film and choose between several machines, including treadmills, ellipticals, stairclimbers and Airdynes.
“If you consistently push yourself hard, “said Churella, “you’re not only going to be in better shape, you will believe that you deserve to win. Take some of the older guys, like my dad or Joe McFarland, the way they used to train and what they put their bodies through was just absolutely nuts. But they were successful for it. I think sometimes it needs to be a little mind over matter. I’m smart about it though, pushing it hard on Mondays and keeping it lighter on Wednesdays.”
12:30 p.m. – Churella heads home for lunch. Unlike breakfast, he varies his lunch from day to day but is always sure to take in something with plenty of carbohydrates that will help sustain his upcoming afternoon workout. Today it is a chicken salad sandwich, yogurt and a clementine.
1-2:45 p.m. – Nap. As a tradeoff for his early-morning start — and more hectic schedules on other days of the week — Churella is able to lie down on the couch for 1-2 hours before practice.
3 p.m. – He arrives back at Crisler for the Wolverines’ afternoon team practice. Churella usually arrives a little earlier than many of his teammates to allow some adjustment before the workout. He gets taped up by wrestling trainer Joel Pickerman and, treating practice as he would a match, gets his mind prepared for a hard workout.
3:30-5:15 p.m. – Practice is short and intense. Now, in the heart of the dual season, the Wolverines only have a couple days each week to get in a hard workout. After a hard 30 minutes of drilling, the wrestlers pair off for live wrestling. Churella rolls around with assistant coach Mike Kulczycki, 157-pound starter Jeff Marsh and a few other U-M grapplers near his weight class. While working to improve their conditioning, Churella and his partners keep the goes short and intense in order to keep their bodies fresh for the upcoming weekend.
“Over the past several years, Michigan has had really good wrestlers at the middleweights, “said Churella. “When you have those top-notch guys wrestling each other every day at practice, everyone really benefits from it. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. I’ve had the opportunity to work with my brother, Eric Tannenbaum, Ryan Bertin, Foley Dowd. The competitiveness in the room really helped us all strive to compete at a higher level.”
6 p.m. – After a quick shower at Crisler — his third of the day — Churella heads back home, making a quick stop at Panera on the way to pick up a Tuscan chicken sandwich and broccoli cheddar soup, two of his favorite dishes. Up a weight class this season, he has been able to expand his menu and even dines out with his brothers a couple times each week.
“I focus a lot on the kinds of food that I take in, especially closer to competitions, “said Churella. “I think it helps with a lot of things; it affects how your workouts go, whether it’s wrestling or lifting, and how your body recovers. Last year, when I was at 141, I was really strict because I had to keep my weight down. I had the same thing every night — chicken breast, rice and green beans — and I got so sick of that. This year, I’m able to treat myself a little bit while still keeping it healthy.”
7-9 p.m. — Churella arrives back on campus for his once-per-week women’s studies course, where he is one of three males in the discussion. A general studies major, Churella has a current course load that covers a wide variety of topics and includes a landscaping design course, a history of Africa course and an independent study on creativity. For his immediate post-collegiate plans, Churella maintains aspirations of wrestling freestyle at the world and Olympic stages and getting involved in coaching, but plans beyond those years are still undetermined.
“I spent my first year and a half in the Division of Kinesiology, “said Churella, “but since switching out of the program, I have taken really different classes. Nothing really fits a specific mold. I just wanted to take a variety and see what really interested me. I don’t yet know exactly where it will lead me. I have my short-terms goals, and that’s my current focus. So, I don’t know where all these classes will lead me.”
9:15 p.m. – Churella takes care of some reading in preparation for the following day’s class schedule before joining his brothers in front of the television for a couple hours. Admittedly a fan of reality shows, he catches several MTV programs before settling in for TIVO’ed episodes of TLC’s “Miami Ink “and A&E’s “The First 48.”
Midnight – Lights out. Through much of this year, Churella has had a tough time getting to sleep and has correspondingly suffered in the morning, especially during early workouts. But since largely removing caffeine from his diet, he’s had it easier during the current semester.
“I try to factor just about everything into how I’m going to wrestle, “said Churella. “I think that’s generally a wrestler’s mentally. Everyone is thinking about their weight by the end of the week. Everyone wants to get a decent amount of sleep in order to feel good when they compete. It becomes instinctual to do things that are going to affect you positively. So, I’m always thinking about what I’m eating, how much sleep I’m getting, how well I’m managing my time to get my homework done, etc. I just always want to be ready when the weekend comes.”
Note: This story was featured in The Riding Times: an inside look at U-M wrestling.
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