Comments on: Mental Toughness Training, Football & Wrestling

By: Christopher Reed

Christopher Reed — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:56:56 +0000

Zach,

I love this site for this very reason – a lot of great knowledge and experience being shared in the comments! Steve (#21.) holy sh*t! – all state at receiver and you wrestled – you are one tough S.O.B. bro! Great message!

From the posts above seems that we may have gotten into a three way debate over which breeds greater mental toughness – wrestling, football or getting under the iron.

The truth of the matter is that they all contribute to mental toughness – why? In my opinion it isn’t the sport that breedsmental toughness it is what each sport ultimately represents – ADVERSITY. It is adversity gentlemen and ladies that fashions mental toughness.

In perhaps a glamourized hollywood example (but I’m going to f#ckin’ use it anyway) think of Rocky vs. Drago; it wasn’t the sport of boxing that fashioned Rocky’s mental toughness, nor was it facing Drago, it was the adversity he (Rocky) faced simply getting into the ring to fight in the first place.

I think that a lot of times the battle is won or lost long before we ever even set foot on the playiong field. It takes a certain amount of character to stand up in the face of adversity – this character is what I would classify as mental toughness.

In my opinion – situations in life (sport or otherwise), reveal charater; they do not build it! This is a classic debate of nature versus nurture! Can you train a lamb to be a lion? I would argue no! (and I know Zach has my back on this)

2% – 2 f#ckin % of the world would dare to grab life by the balls (and I’m pretty sure a great majority of them regularly visit this blog!) and take consistent action!

I stand firm by my earlier comment adversity (sport in this case) reveals character (mental toughness)

AGE QUOD AGIS “what you do; do well

- Christopher

By: Blaine Gilbert

Blaine Gilbert — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:59:43 +0000

Zach,

Great post. I can’t agree more mental toughness is the missing link to our society. Everyone quits before they can see results and come up with some lame excuse about why they quit instead of admitting to themselves this is too hard and then doing something about it.

Keep Rockn it

Blaine

By: Kieron

Kieron — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:11:46 +0000

Zach, I see the same thing in the classroom . . . kids don’t want to work through “sticking points”. They think being the best at sports at the high school is all they need to prove, then get their asses handed to them during the season b/c they have no fortitude to fight through the highs/lows of a season. I heard one of our football coaches comlaining cuz only 20 guys were showing up for off-season workouts and of course 10 or so are even varsity material. It’s my goal to bring the pussification of our youth to the forefront at my school and start changing attitudes. Thanks Z!

By: Bill Jones

Bill Jones — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:20:28 +0000

Great stuff Zach! I’ve noticed the same thing. I love it when we get the wrestlers here. These guys just keep on going vs the D1 or D2 guys we’ve had. Course over time the football players can “catch up”.

Love the site dude!

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:47:25 +0000

Zack,
Great video and post!
I’ve wrestled since 1965 (3 years in high school) and five (5) years in college. I was also a three sport athlete in high school. I’m currently 60 years old and train just like you do.
Several years ago two or three studies were conducted throughout the nation having to do with the extreme demands of sport. The comparison was made between wrestling and football.
A six minute match (seven in college) in wrestling was comparable to three consecutive football games being played back to back to back without a break.
Pretty brutal. And I love football, so don’t get me wrong. I was all-conference and all-state as a receiver. I also played both ways.
Also, just recently, one of our other top trainers made the comment that next to wrestling the physical trauma experienced by a wrestler in training and competition is only compared to what he experienced in a POW (Prisoner of War). I’ll try to find out who that was.
It wasn’t till my freshman year at Phoenix College (AZ) that I found out what wrestling wall about. We had just come off a national championship and won a second that year. It’s pretty cool to have your name on a national championship tropy!:)
Here in Arizona we have a stong showing of the “Pussfication of America.” We also have some astounding athletes that I can say makes me proud to be an Arizonan. We also have a problem with football coaches not realizing the advantages of having their football players wrestler. To those of us that have wrestled it is pretty obvious as to the advantage. All that you mention is derived from the oldest sport in the world. The only sport mentioned in the Bible.
The number of our nation’s presidents who wrestled. Etc., etc., etc.
I grew up in an age where everyone in my school played football (except for one or two due to health problems), and during the winter everyone either wrestled or played basketball, and during the spring everyone played baseball or track & field. We didn’t really have weights till I was a senior, but I definitely remember our coaches putting us through some hellacious bodyweight training.
There are several ways to develop mental toughness and I admire the way(s) you provide for us to implement these methods.
I love the saying, “Train hard or go home!” Angel & Henry Cejudo (Henry was our 2008 121 lb. Olympic Freestyle Gold Medalist). I had the privilege to work with Angel and Henry (Henry mostly) for four years, beginning with him at the seventh grade and have the honor to have been involved with him for the past nine years. Talk about mental toughness in an athlete.
Check out some of his training regimens at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and Tempe, AZ, etc.
Well, gone on enough. Thanks for the opportunity.
Keep up the great work, Zach and thank you for all your help.

By: Robert J

Robert J — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:35:23 +0000

Yeah I gotta agree with ya. I have always personally believed that the goal of training is to not only to make you stronger and faster but most importantly make you mentally tougher. Jacking up the intensity of the workouts making you dig deeper into your soul for that extra push to make it through that barrier in your mind and body that is trying to tell you to “just stop”. You gotta keep tellig yourself and your clients to “punch it through!” and don’t settle for less. Great brutal workout not only train the body but the human spirit as well. This not only goes for atheletes but for the average trainee as well. That is wny I like Underground Training. It get’s us back to our roots to hard challenging workouts. Again thanks Zach, you are an inspiration to me as well. A big thanks to all of you Underground Bruddahs and Sistahs too. Hearing from all of you is always very uplifting!

By: rees

rees — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:20:45 +0000

Pussies will be pussies till they figure out they can be tough.

Dude, Our coaches used to take us to the point where we wanted to die (not quit, but literally die). I remember when the clock was up and the pain persisted, I was like, “Fuck, let me die god, let me die”. Praying didn’t take that pain away, it sucked ass. But then we got our asses back up and went like crazy little shits. There was about 5 of us that were absolute nut cases.

I was probably the strongest kid in the room, just bent on relentlessness. Never have been any kind of a weight room hero, but I bet every guy I came across remembers me.

We didn’t lift, we just went ape shit on each other. Our training was terrible, but we put ourselves through hell and we were nails man. Good stuff on here keep that going.

By the way, John Strittmatter (national champ: Jameston probably weighed 145 at the time) was one of my coaches. I wrestled 215 tried to throw a kid 1st match of the season and got stuck. After the match he told me I wasn’t a thrower I was a shooter and if he ever saw me try and throw a kid again he’d make me wish I was never born. Everyone heard it and we all knew what that meant. I didn’t even think about it ever again, ended up shootting about 1,00 high crotches that year.

I got my ass kicked a lot when I was a kid. Pussies stay down.

By: Nico

Nico — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:46:41 +0000

Tried grappling for the first time the other day and oh dear… I realized what this invlolves. That’s was a pure conditioning work. Great for all kind of sports.

By: Vincenzo Pappano

Vincenzo Pappano — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:13:17 +0000

Zach, Awesome as usual! Absolutely agree about the different methods of training and the different effects that they have on the athelete, both physically and mentally. We at THE V do a lot of hybrid or cross-super-set training where we’re not necessarily lifting huge weights but we are training intense! Check it out!
2-hand kettlebell swings 70# x 35
600# Tire Flip x 6
16# Sledgehammer x 20 each side
30 Yd. dash shouldering 100# punching bag 30 Yd, dash back on the opposite shoulder
Drop the bag for ground and pound punches and elbows for 1 min. 1 min. sprawls on the bag to one minute holding “12#” DMBLS (yeah only 12 POUNDERS)straight out to your sides for 1 min
That’s one set and then you can get a drink or just lay down on the pavement and shit your pants HAHAHA!!!!

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:09:04 +0000

oh yea, I’m always telling folks to get out of the gym and attack a mountain up here in Vermont. Sometimes it’s good for the spirit to take on a workout that’s bigger than you are and through the design of nature is something beyond your control.
That’s my issue with too many self imposed gym workouts, you are in total control. It’s always good for the soul to give control to someone (or something) else to let you know how you really stand.