Written from firsthand experience with a deviated septum and checked against clinical sources. We make Ventriq Nasal Strips, so we are always upfront that a strip relieves symptoms rather than fixing the structural problem. Read our methodology or our editorial policy.
Our number one pick for wrestling: the Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips. They stay put through a full match of sweat and mat contact and keep the airway open between exchanges.
If you wrestle, the best nasal strips are stiff sport strips with a strong adhesive that holds through sweat and skin contact, because a wrestling match is built on short bursts of maximum effort separated by brief pauses between exchanges and periods. A strip will not improve your technique or add strength to a takedown, but it lowers the resistance your nose creates on every breath, which matters when you are already gasping for air after a hard scramble on the mat. If your nose tends to shut down under exertion, or you carry a structural issue like a deviated septum, a strip gives some of that airway back before the first whistle.
I started using nasal strips for sleep after a Consultant Otolaryngologist at a private hospital in Dublin diagnosed me with a significantly deviated septum and recommended septorhinoplasty. I played rugby for over a decade and broke my nose more than once along the way, so I know what it is like trying to breathe through a nose that does not want to cooperate. I put the surgery off so I could keep training, and I built Ventriq to give myself a way to breathe properly in the meantime. I noticed the difference at night first, then on the mat. Anyone who has come up from a hard scramble with a mouth guard in and a blocked nose will know the exact feeling I mean: you cannot pull enough air through your nose fast enough, so you end up gulping through your mouth just as the referee resets you for the next exchange.
Why Nasal Breathing Matters in Wrestling
Wrestling is not a steady endurance sport like distance running. It is a series of short maximal efforts, a shot, a scramble, a hold, separated by brief stoppages and short breaks between periods. How efficiently you breathe during those bursts and how quickly you recover in the gaps both depend on how well your airway is working.
Nasal breathing slows your breathing rate, warms and humidifies the air before it reaches your lungs, and triggers a calmer nervous system response than mouth breathing. The nose also produces nitric oxide as air passes through it. Nitric oxide acts as a bronchodilator and a vasodilator, which means nasal breathing helps open your airways and relax your blood vessels, improving oxygen uptake at a tissue level, useful in a sport where every second of recovery between exchanges counts.
The nose has a natural limit at high effort, which is normal for everyone. It gets worse for wrestlers cutting weight, since dehydration can leave the nasal lining drier and more prone to swelling, and worse again if you have a structural issue. A deviated septum reduces the cross sectional area of one nasal passage, and combined with the nasal cycle, where the tissue inside your nose alternates which side is more congested on a roughly four hour rotation, the narrower side can feel almost fully blocked partway through a hard session.
How Nasal Strips Help Wrestlers
A nasal strip sits across the lower cartilage of your nose and uses spring tension to lift the nasal valve open from the outside. The nasal valve is the narrowest point in your whole airway, the same spot that pinches inward if you press gently on the side of your nose and breathe in hard, and it is the spot most likely to collapse when you are gasping after a takedown attempt.
For a wrestler with a deviated septum, the strip helps most on the side where the deviation crowds the valve area, giving back some width on the restricted side right when you need every bit of airflow you can get. For a wrestler with no structural issue, the main benefit is stopping the nostrils from pulling inward under hard breathing during a scramble, which happens to plenty of people with a straight septum too, especially once fatigue sets in during the third period.
I use the Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips for training and for matches. They use a stiffer spring than a sleep strip and an adhesive built to stay put through sweat and mat contact, which matters in a sport where your face is pressed against another person and the mat for long stretches. A strip that peels off mid match is not doing anything for you.
Our pick for wrestling
Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips
Drug free strips built to stay put through sweat and hold the nasal valve open, so you keep breathing through your nose when the effort ramps up. From EUR 20, with buy more save more packs.
Shop Ventriq SportSleeping or recovering instead? See Ventriq Sleep, or read how to choose the right strip.
What to Look for in a Wrestling Nasal Strip
Not all nasal strips are built the same, and for wrestling a few things actually matter:
- Adhesive strength: standard strips give up as soon as you sweat or your face gets pressed into the mat. You need a strip made for sport, with an adhesive designed to grip through a full match.
- Spring tension: more tension means more lift and a more open airway. A soft strip made for sleep will not give you the same support once you are grinding through a scramble.
- Fit and position: a strip that sits too high on the bony part of your nose does nothing. It has to sit across the lower cartilage where the nasal valve is, and it should sit low enough that it does not catch on an opponent's grip.
- Skin tolerance: if you are training most days and competing at the weekend, you want a strip that does not leave your skin raw every time you peel it off.
I have tried a lot of strips over the years. Most were fine for sleep but failed the moment sweat and mat contact got involved. The Ventriq Sport strip holds better and keeps lifting the airway open through a full session.
Does It Actually Improve Performance?
I will be straight about this. The research on nasal strips producing measurable performance gains in trained athletes is mixed, and I am not going to tell you a strip raises your VO2 max or turns you into a better wrestler, because the evidence does not support that. A strip is a breathing aid, not a fitness upgrade, and it will not cure sleep apnea or fix a structural deviation on its own.
What I can tell you from my own experience is that the subjective difference on the mat is real. Breathing through your nose in the pause between exchanges feels calmer and less draining than gasping through your mouth, and it is easier to settle yourself before the next takedown attempt when you are not fighting for air. Whether that changes your result depends on the wrestler and the match. If you want the deeper look at the evidence, I have covered it in Boost Your Workout: How Nasal Strips Enhance Athletic Performance.
Nasal Strips if You Have a Deviated Septum
If you have a deviated septum and you wrestle regularly, nasal strips are probably more useful for you than for the average competitor. You are starting every match with your airway already restricted, and close contact with an opponent on the mat gives you no free hand to fix it mid exchange, so anything that gives part of that width back before the whistle helps. External strips work best when the restriction sits at the nasal valve rather than deep inside the nasal cavity, which is the most common pattern after a knock or a break to the nose. I have written more on the condition generally in Best Nasal Strips for a Deviated Septum.
If your breathing also wrecks your sleep and slows your recovery after a hard training week, How to Sleep Better with a Deviated Septum covers what has worked for me overnight.
My Recommendation
For wrestling, get the Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips. They were built for sport and they stay on through a full match of sweat and mat contact. If your main need is breathing and recovering better overnight after training, the Ventriq Sleep Nasal Strips are the right pick for bedtime, and plenty of wrestlers use both: sport strips for the mat, sleep strips overnight. If you also train MMA, the same thinking applies to nasal strips for MMA, and if you box as part of your training I have covered nasal strips for boxing too. Not sure which strip fits your nose shape best? Read how to choose the right nasal strip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are nasal strips allowed in wrestling competitions?
Yes. Nasal strips are a mechanical breathing aid with no drug action, so they are not on any WADA prohibited list, and nothing in United World Wrestling or school level rules bans them. You will see competitors wearing them at every level.
Will a nasal strip stay on during a match with grip and mat contact?
A quality sport strip sits low on the cartilage and uses an adhesive built to grip through sweat, so normal hand contact and mat friction on the bridge of the nose will not lift it. It is designed to hold for a full match.
Where exactly should I place a nasal strip?
Position it across the fleshiest part of your nose, over the lower cartilage rather than the bone. If you feel the spring tension lifting your nostrils when you breathe in, it is in the right place. Sit it too high and it does nothing.
Do nasal strips help with breathing during weight cutting or hard practice?
They help you keep breathing through your nose for longer, which can feel calmer when dehydration from a cut leaves your nasal lining drier and more prone to swelling. They will not offset the physical effects of cutting weight itself.
Do I need a deviated septum for nasal strips to work?
No. Dynamic nasal valve collapse, where the side of the nose pulls inward under hard breathing, is common even in people with a perfectly straight septum. A strip prevents that collapse and improves airflow either way.
Can I use a sleep nasal strip for practice instead of a sport strip?
You can, but most sleep strips are not made for sweat and mat contact and will start peeling within the first 30 to 45 minutes. A sport specific strip uses a stronger adhesive built to hold through a full session.
