Topicality. In hand-to-hand combat it is especially important to solve the problem of optimizing the structure and content of training at the stage of basic training which mostly determines the effectiveness of all subsequent stages of multi-year sports activity. The objective is to study and systematize scientific studies aimed at determining the features of building a traditional training system for young athletes who specialize in hand-to-hand combat at the stage of basic training. Methods: theoretical analysis and generalization of literary sources, observations, conversations, interviews and questionnaires of trainers, generalization of the best experience of specialists. Results of the research. The problem circle of the development of the theory and methodology of youth sports and the system of training of sports reserves has been in the center of attention of specialists for many years. The modern idea of coaches about building a traditional training system for young athletes who specialize in hand-to-hand combat, ignoring in practice a number of theoretical provisions, striving to fulfill targets for winning prizes in various competitions in the future leads to premature exhaustion of the functional resources of the body of young athletes and makes further growth of their sportsmanship impossible. Conslusions. It has been established that many young athletes at the stage of preliminary basic training perform a significant amount of work, participate in a large number of competitions, train twice a day and therefore achieve high sports results for their age. Usually, such athletes are unpromising, and therefore the construction of an optimal training system for young athletes is possible only on the basis of a comprehensive approach, which should take into account the morphological, functional and mental characteristics of young athletes, their adaptation capabilities, reaction to high training and competitive loads, training features of the past years.