So recently I had to go to Licking Memorial Hospital to meet with a sleep doctor…

thank you ultra concerned yet overprotective wife.

So I visit this guy, this brilliant doctor – I think he's from India.  

Cool as heck.  I call him the Wizard of ZZ.

After a (not really very thorough) examination, he shares his brilliant diagnosis with me like this:

He tells me “go to sleep!  You feel betta!"

I love the Indians (to quote trump).

Simple message from a simple yet brilliant man who makes 6 figures just telling people “go to sleep!  You feel betta!"

To think America ain't already great?

While there's still time, don't sleep on your chance to get Friday's Takedown Master's mini-mag, which promises to make you 'feel betta' about this:

• learn how to develop a relentless attacking style
• immediately put your opponent on defense…every time
• break the opponent's position so he's primed for your attack

Youth Wrestlers/Parents….

One of my favorite shows is The Profit,  featuring Marcus Lemonis.

Marcus invests in struggling/failing small businesses, buys in for a percentage, and then turns them upside down, and right side up, fixing things and making himself  – as well as the owners –  a ton o' $$.

and every episode he ingrains into them his mantra: “I am 100% in charge.”

He succeeds where others fail by knowing exactly what to do and how to do it…

and when he is finished, his new business partners also know exactly what to do, and exactly how to do it, the Marcus Way, to ensure long-term success.

It's all about process.

And just as business owners sometimes flounder by going in too many directions, instead of following a winning process, wrestlers flounder the very same way.

…and the evidence is all around you.

The wrestler who steps on the mat, not knowing exactly what he is going to do or exactly how to do it, will flounder more often than not.

Now for the good news.

Your days of floundering on your feet, wondering what to do next, are over.

You can learn my process for winning…and knowing exactly what to do when the whistle blows.

Step one of your solution will be revealed Friday via this brand new offering so…

be sure you get in on this while you can.

it was very close between two very strong competitors.

One had ‘all the tools’…size, athleticism, big arm.

The other had those tiny intangibles…like the ability to learn…strong work ethic…great attitude.

I picked #2 – the guy with the attitude and work ethic…and ended up with a hall of famer.

The other team went with the ‘big arm’ and all they got was the shaft.

Winning is more fun than losing

We win, and we win a lot, by having the right attitude, and an open mind to training.

We lose when we think we only need talent.  Talent helps – immensely…

but ‘tain’t never enuff.

Such is life. 

Speaking of winning,  this weekend is your very last chance to jump aboard and win by snagging the first ever edition of our Mat Machine Online Mini-Mag, where you will discover what athletes waste a ton of brain power on…and how you can avoid this worrisome mistake.

Also – how to get the edge – every time – over your opponent.

she goes to print Sunday if you want her

Randy

One might ask, “this is equity?”  In a sport defined by weight classes, how can one explain such an enormous differential in weight?

And while equity is a fair question, a better question is:  this is safe?

Is this truly how we protect the safety of our young men and occasional women who choose to compete?

I worry about the safety of the natural 106 lber.

I also worry about the safety of that young man who cut so much weight that he regained over 25 lbs in such a short time.

What's more disturbing than an athlete cutting dangerous amounts of weight?

Wall of Denial

Every time I read an article touting the 'safety' of the sport…how the new rules have protected athletes from dangerous weight reduction, have made for 'happier wrestlers wrestling at their natural weight', it makes me want to puke because its such a lie.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

As a trainer of athletes I do everything in my power to help guide the young men who train with me…

guide them to safely reduce their weight and stay healthy…

but it is increasingly more difficult when the kids who 'do it right', go through alpha testing and follow the spirit of the rule, get punished at the end of the year…up a weight class from where they should be, getting beaten by much bigger athletes and by a system that encourages drastic weight reduction at the most crucial times of the year.

Had a guy who trains with me who wrestled 120.  Barely missed out on certifying for 113.  Got to state and was the smallest 120 I saw…by far.

The system is definitely rigged against the folks wanting to follow the rules.
-Roy (wrestling coach in Ohio)

The governing bodies are to blame.

Listen to me and listen carefully…

The governing bodies are to blame.  The alpha system is a tool designed to 'keep athletes safe' but it does the opposite.

Athletes are losing large amounts of weight early in the season to make alpha certification at the weight they want to go…

crashing back down to weight for the most important events of the year, sectional, district and state (here in Ohio), because the rules allow for weigh-outs…meaning, gain as much weight as you can overnight and the next day.  Be as big as possible for finals because it is to your advantage….and to the detriment of the 'wrestle your natural weight' athlete.

That cliff is looming ever larger

Folks, we're playing a dangerous game and its not going to end well.   We are asking for catastrophe to strike, ala 1997 all over again.

In 1997, 3 college wrestlers died while cutting weight.  Drastic rules changes came into place but before they did, a lot of hand-wringing…

a lot of administrators taking a long hard look at our sport and deciding whether it was worth it to field a team.

Very negative documentaries airing over major networks, demonizing our sport.

News outlets went from ignoring wrestling to flooding the airwaves with negativity about wrestling, and lots of it.

If you think tragedy can't strike again,  look at these factors and tell me you're convinced our athletes are safe and nothing bad is ever going to happen to any of them…

• large amounts of weight reduction in short amounts of time
• enormous weight gains (the model is already out there – its what many MMA stars do)
• little supervision when reducing for alpha early in the season
• scary levels of dehydration going on to make weight

…and worse…

a general attitude among many wrestlers that ‘this is what you have to do in order to win’.

Just recently, one of my athletes said this to me:

I really believe that losing a bunch of weight all at once is the way to go.  No sense cutting all week and being miserable.  Plus, you’re bigger than your opponents if you can gain it all back quickly.

Side note: the athlete who told me this failed to make weight his next time on the scales.

Want to fix the problem?

Start with the Alpha testing.  Kill it off before it kills us.  Not only does it encourage massive weight cutting early in the season, before athletes are in shape, there is also widespread cheating and, at the very least, bending of the rules.  This method is not determining a safe weight for athletes to wrestle at.

It is simply in place to allow governing bodies to say, “see, we did our job, its not our fault.”  But it is and they should bear the brunt of the blame.

Next, insist on same-day weigh-ins…every time.  Weigh in no later than 1 1/2 hours before you wrestle.  If you can compete, you’re good to go.  It is very tough to gain back a ton of weight when you have to wrestle an hour later. 

advantage, natural-weight-class wrestler.

do this and watch the state crown some natural-weight-class state champs.

instead of the current champs…106 lbers weighing 125 lbs by finals.

We need to act now instead of later

The thought of a wrestler dying cutting weight is tragic and horrible.

It was tragic and horrible when it happened for real in 1997, too, when 3 college wrestlers lost their lives in a 6 week period of time.

Powers that be, please don’t be arrogant enough to think it can’t happen again.  The way we’re going, the extremes that athletes are taking to make their weight, makes this a very real possibility.

At risk are our youngsters we are supposed to be protecting.

We are failing in that regard.  If we don’t act now, I fear for the worst…an unspeakable tragedy that we will never recover from.

After coaching for many many years, and seeing tons upon tons of his wrestlers achieve the ultimate in high school wrestling…State Champion…he made this very telling observation…

Every single one of them had done the same thing in the spring to grow their skills, and blossom into state champions.

They hit the freestyle/greco wrestling circuit in the spring.

Every one of them!

Isn't that an amazing stat? 

Wouldn't you think, after many years and 50+ champions, that at least one of them would be a non-freestyle, non-greco wrestler who was just beastly enough to win it all?

Its not just in his state though…

Here in Ohio, a full 73% of all State Finalists in 2015 wrestled freestyle/greco as well.

If I were a youngster today with aspirations of being a state champ, I'd certainly take notice.

There's a clear path to learning these styles and using this experience to reach state finalist level. 

The seeds must be planted just right, however….

can't just 'show up', or rassle 'round in a room.

One must be trained for success.

Every year, I see athletes become disenchanted…and aggravated, trying to cobble together enough info in these styles to become successful.

Its heartbreaking, but there is another way.

Train for success and success will follow.

She would say something, then he would say “huh?” 

That is, if he responded at all.

After repeating herself about three times, grandma would finally say in an exasperated tone, “Turn up your hearing aid!”

To which he would insert his little finger into his ear, and turn that little dial.

Looking back, I'm not really sure that he ever actually turned it up…because this routine just seemed to repeat itself so often.

As a result he missed all those things that Grandma was saying to him, prodding him to do or grousing about.

Sometimes deafness can be a blessing.

For instance, what if you missed all those things “they say” about your opponent..

especially this week.

“I hear he's really good.”

Or maybe not.

Your bracket is really tough!

Your weight class is the toughest class in the entire state!

There are 7 state placers in your bracket! (Correction:  in any state bracket, there are EIGHT placers.  Last year doesn’t count.)

Criminy, folks, sometimes “they” are overzealous dads with a little ‘nip’ in their coffee, pumping up their own kid!

Or junior high kids with a ‘lied-about-their-age profile (see Facebook), inflating their buddy!

“Look out for Johnny, he’s going to ‘make some noise’ this year…” (Johnny’s current record:  3-19).

So take my advice this week….

Turn down the hearing aid.

Turn down the hearing aid.

get off the Facebook, get off the bulletin boards, and get off the made-up-in-someone’s head rankings.

Go strap’er on, and hit the mat.  The score always starts 0-0.

I tell him,”We can fix that in five minutes…. sure I can help.”

And I proceeded to teach him leg counters.

In five minutes.

So we get done, he leaves and I don’t think anything more about it…

until the next afternoon when I get a phone call.

Same kid.

Excitedly tells me this:

“I just won my wrestle off!  He threw legs and I countered it, using what you taught me yesterday!”

Well, a few days ago history repeated itself.

Athlete in my room, facing a leg rider.

We spent time on the counter.  

You can probably guess the rest.

Shuts down the opponents legs, wins the match…and his league.

That’s the nice, happy story with a happy ending.  

 However, there’s another story that happens way too often.  

Tell me if you’ve seen this one too.

Athlete comes, learns winning technique, uses it to win a match.

Then he figures, Hey –  I’ve got it down, I don’t need to go back there again.  

A year later, same wrestler loses…

from exact position that he won from before.  

It always amazes me when people shun a successful path.

and that’s exactly what winning wrestling involves…a successful path.

Tell me what skills in life you can develop in a single hour or two hour-long session…without out ever practicing, visualizing or even reading about it again.

I’ll bet Its a pretty short list.

Imagine spending one session learning how to ride a bike…and then never going back and practicing.

How far do you think you’d get on that bike?

Not very.

But people do this all the time and it really puzzles me. 

There’s a process to winning at anything.  In wrestling, I call it the phase five process.

It is, quite simply, the true key to success in learning and implementing new skills from start to finish.

Starting point:  learning a new skill for the first time.

Finish line:  being able to execute it in live match settings. 

Sadly, the steps to getting there are often ignored.  People lack the knowledge and skill to truly get from Phase One to Phase Five…leading to great amounts of frustration for wrestlers, athletes and coaches alike.