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The ugly truth about the beautifully gifted

Look at that kid - he is just naturally gifted!  What a thing of beauty.

My friend and I were just talking about this very thing, and how people think wrestling comes 'naturally' to some.  You know, the whole 'freak of nature’ argument you hear so often.

And the assumption is that certain athletes are so naturally talented, they don't have to work hard to excel.

While there is such a thing as genetics, and those genetics domake a difference, here's the ugly truth:

the natural wrestler doesn’t exist.


Its a fallacy that attributes another person's success to luck, or genetics, or anywhere but where it belongs:  squarely on the shoulders of the individual who earned it.

Another truth:  when you see a young wrestler chiseled like stone, he didn’t get that way from eating potato chips while watching game of thrones on his couch.

It takes a ton of hard work to make wrestling look so easy.   Wrestling isn't like running – there are real skills, and complicated ones at that, to be learned and refined.  Those who make it look easy, do so by putting in a lot of hard work.

Like the local tennis player I was talking about last week, who appears to be 'good at everything'.  All the while, nobody sees the 500 balls a day (or more) he's hitting to refine his groundstroke, his serve, his net game, etc.  And nobody sees when he sneaks in my building for strength training on my pegboards and ropes either, or throws my medicine balls around.

When you see what athletes do behind the scenes, their success becomes crystal clear.

Their hyper focus (including attention to detail, work ethic, heart and drive) is on full display –  behind the scenes.

That path will be explained in fine detail in Chapter Three of my upcoming book.  The chapter's working title is Rapid Risers Handbook, and that chapter goes to every athlete who trains here this summer.

Warning:  Choosing the path is your decision – I can only lead the horse to water.

go here if you're ready to challenge yourself

Randy