Wrestling Blogs - Ben Askren

We used to have a guy on our team who would never tire and we would joke around that he was too dumb to get tired.

Truth is that the mental aspect really is what carries you in the later minutes. If you believe you won't get tired.. you probably won't. Truth isn't always relevant. Sometimes all it takes is just "heart" (

I'd be very interested in the book.. There are however, other books on the mental aspect of competition. For example..

http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Mind-Mental-Management-System/dp/1885221479/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247011446&sr=8-1

I totally agree, belief can make you invincible. Sometimes not just believing you are necessarily stronger or faster but a better wrestler, will make you wrestle better with greater passion. For example Darrion Caldwell, Darrion has faith in himself and when he wrestled Metcalf he was not afraid to try some of the things other wrestlers would never have tried on Metcalf. Faith has started and ended wars and will keep you going when the lights are dying out.

I was involved with the hawks during the late 70's and early 80's. There is no magic, no great motivational crap, it came down to one thing, the most conditioned strongest athlete wins. If you ever went thru a Iowa wrestling practice you would understand. There were no powder puffs, no one you could coast with, everyone pushed everyone. You got hit with more styles and moves from so many champions that in the end you in fact had seen it all. Gabes ran it that way..................

W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R!

Wats up Ben this Dorians lil bro. but 1 of the reasons my brother was so good in high school was because he believed in everything he did. So yes i defintley believe in this blog. SWEET

freek'in sweet

It makes sense. Owings "believed" he was gonna beat Dan in 1970; that beliefwas even stronger than Dan's. Larry could never recapture that thought process. Dan was.

This problem has been studied by educators and psychologists. They studied the Japanese and American educational approaches. The conclusion: the Japanese teachers prized and demanded effort, the Americans prized and rewarded talent.

By rewarding effort (training and conditioning) you give your wrestlers self-efficacy - the feeling they are in control of their destiny. By rewarding talent (speed or strength) fate/genetics determine your destiny - so why work?
The bottom line: take your talent level as a given, the only thing you can control is your effort.

I love it Ben. It relates to everything, not just wrestling.

Adding my two cents;
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny

Excellent post ... very inspiring! Please publish your book. I will buy it if you publish it. Also, it is a lot of fun to watch you wrestle. Please keep believing, as it will make the 2012 Olympics that much more enjoyable when you win the gold.

Thought provoking post. "Believing" is important to success but its an oversimplification. Believing only comes from experiencing measures of success, and success only comes from hard consistent work. To carry out that "hard work" over many years to achieve those "measures of success" takes drive and the ability to keep going in the face of failure and adversity. It requires having high goals and the willingness to sacrifice the other pleasures of life to achieve those goals. In other words its not all that simple but rather is an evolving process and cycle.......having important goals leads to hard work.... which leads to early measures of success......which leads to gradually believing that you can achieve those goals......which leads to more hard work.....which leads to more success and gratification and a growing belief in ones self and ones abilities. I don't believe that John Smith or Dan Gable or any successful person started out with "blind super belief" in themselves, but rather attained that "belief" through the reality of goals....hard work...and eventual and incremental levels of success......repeating itself over and over again in a positive cycle.

Right to the point, I agree 100%. I've been coaching for 20+ years and the one thing that has been consistant over the years is to teach kids to believe in themselves and their conditioning. The more you believe, the harder you work, the harder you work the more you believe, so with the right mindset you produce a never ending cycle. No matter what extracurricular activity they choose to participate in. Wrestling requires this belief more, because when you step on the mat there is only one person out there that you can believe in and if you believe in your conditioning and hard work, you will wrestle the match to the end and to the best of your ability..

Amazing post ben! I agree with the other posters that you should release the book. I'm sure after reading your blog that your being way to hard on yourself about your writing skills.

Believe!
When I wrestled I belived in my coach. i believed he knew what I needed. I just did what he asked for (almost). I remember everyday before i ran in the morning he made me drink a half a glass of water with a half a glass of sugar. He told me it would give me power. So i did it and it gave me a stomach ache but not power but i trusted him. He made me belive if i didn't smoke or drink and worked hard that i deserved to win. For 14 years of my wrestling carrer i only had one coach later a good friend that I named my son after. I listened to him more then my own dad. Ben, if Iowa guys win the championship these guys belived in Gable. Belive and trust goes together. Your post is very good am I'm very happy you premote wrestling in a possitive way.

Thank-you
Vougar Oroudjov
2X World Champ

Great Post Ben. I wish to key in the second to the last sentence where you say, "As we all know sometimes your beliefs aren't reality." Sometimes those with lesser skills get further along because of their beliefs, and still not achieve the reality (championship) they believed in could be their reality. If someone is not #1 then we generally don't pay as much attention to any accomplishments. If you genuinely believe and don't reach your goal, then you see yourself as a failure. The fact of the matter is there are winners and losers in most matches. It is much harder to maintain belief when you win consistently. There is a level of consistent positive reinforcement which justifies the belief system. If one loses too much, then the reality check comes into play. The question is asked, "Am I really as good as I think I am?" Then too doubt. Belief is necessary to do your best. But to do your best you have to have some realistic expectation. So when doubt comes in a good strategy is to break down the focus of belief into smaller components. A good example of this is when you hear so many wrestlers in a tournament talk about taking one match at a time. And not to look past an opponent. Most people can maintain belief for a short period of time. The difficulty is sustaining it. It takes mental effort to continue to concentrate. It is one thing to believe in a reality which is not possible, it is another thing to make a reality possible because you believe. In between these two opposites is the activity between your head, together with hard work. Now if there is something missing in here to identify the "it" factor, that is intentional. That boils down to the individual. "It" is personal. But if there is one thing about the "it" factor that makes for success, it is that "it" catches the persons heart, his mind, and his body. There is total commitment. It is both knowing the realistic risks of disappointment of losing, and yet pursuing your goal 100% because you believe.

Amen. The sport demands humility and builds personable athletes that are unequalled in sport. What a great group of men.

Also... great post Ben. I understand your thoughts on writing the book but I urge you to publish your findings and your thoughts. Who wouldnt want to sit down and talk to a national champ about what made them successful... your book would consist of over a hundred!
Thanks for all you do.

you have to believe in everything you do. i guarantee there is somebody better in every aspect of your game but if you are confident in all aspects you can overcome any mental struggle you have

Is it belief or lack of doubt ? You see a job to do and you do it! That's Gable's way I think. All the talent in the gym is helpful but add competitive wrestlers pushing each other couldn't hurt. Great post Ben!

Lots of wrestlers say they believe in themselves, but they still have a shadow of doubt. I believe that "one" thing that all these greats hold - is TRUE belief in themselves mentally and physically and they have NO shadow of doubt. Having known you and having met some of the individuals mentioned in this string, I truly believe that these athletes/coaches have a certain level of being neurotic or "psychoness." (I so do not mean this in a bad way.) Do not get me wrong, I LOVE wrestling. I am talking about a belief in the sport and themselves so deep that some of us do not fully comprehend nor understand, but envy it. This is held in the core of these people and cannot be taught. We all know or have known of an athlete or person, that has amazing speed, strength, technique... but cannot reach their pinnacle (whatever that is). Personally, I think this "thing" everyone is refering to is a combination of belief, determination, and heart beyond any doubt. Not to go Hollywood on you; it is what Gladiator, Braveheart, Legend (Will Smith) and the Spartans of 300 had. It is either at the core of an individual or not.

Ah, no need to be rude here, Ymytata. This is about coaching, not Beijing.

So Ben, you're still sending out questionnaires. No idea if you'll remember this, but you sent me one in Wisconsin when you were in high school for a school project. I had just graduated college and was teaching in La Crosse, I met you at Bi-State, then responded to something you wrote on your blog (a question about education, I think). Because of that, you ended up sending me a questionnaire for your school project.

A while back, I remember seeing or reading some debates about the differences between Oklahoma State and Iowa wrestlers/coaches, and what made each program successful -- why was Gable so good a coach, why was Smith so good in freestyle, etc.

With Gable and the Hawkeyes, "mental toughness" and "belief" were tossed around quite a bit, while "technical proficiency" and "strategy" were some of the terms used to describe the Cowboys of the same era.

But one thing really jumped out at me with regard to Gable. Again, this was a while back, and I don't remember if it was one of his wrestlers or someone else who wrestled against the 1980's and 90's Hawkeyes, or a few people. But it was pointed out that yeah, Gable talks a lot about mental toughness and belief, but he was also one of the most technically skilled coaches in the country. And sure, Smith was known for being a mechanic and surgeon out on the mat, but he had an unstoppable drive.

However, it was noted that Gable always had Olympic and world-class wrestlers in his room working over the college guys. In the Hawkeye room, the college wrestlers were seeing looks and moves being used in Iran and Russia and all the various Name-Your-Stans; they weren't just mentally tough, they were prepared for anything.

It was also pointed out that Gable was as much a psychologist as he was a coach. He worked to find out what drove each of his athletes, and then how to trigger that drive; did a guy need to be slapped in the head, to be calmed down, to go over technical details before a match, to throw up -- you name it, Gable knew what fueled each of his athletes, and he worked that angle. So the belief, as you say, was different for every athlete. (Gable told us once at camp that it took putting mirrors in the weight room before Rico Chiapparelli would lift a dumbbell -- Rico wanted to watch himself lift, and when Gable figured that out, he had the mirrors installed. No wonder Rico became a model.)

The overall point was that the myth of Gable being an amazing motivator because he could drive his athletes through sheer Nietzschean willpower was just that -- a myth, gladly cultivated by Iowa, their fans, and the press. He WAS (and is) an amazing motivator, but he was (and is) also a world-class athlete who brought a massive amount of knowledge and psychology to his wrestling room. The mental toughness didn't come BEFORE all the preparation, the mental toughness was a result OF all the preparation.

Add to that the good fortune to have amazing world-class wrestlers in the room just to work out, and his college guys became the most prepared wrestlers in the nation. They could walk through just about everything because they’d already seen more than most programs could throw at them; just look at the way Randy Lewis or Barry Davis or Los Bros. Brands could react and counter six moves in five seconds while throwing in three of their own attacks. They had internalized just about any possible situation they might see. So it’s not quite like The Secret, where if you just believe hard enough the universe bends to your will. It’s more like what Thomas Jefferson said: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more of it I have.”

That sort of situation also creates a kind of virtuous feedback loop. When you have a room full of guys being worked as hard as they were and learning as much about the sport as they did, they were bound to succeed. And success often breeds success; guys “bought into the program” so they could experience the same kind of success as the upperclassmen, and soon they were the upperclassmen with a new stable of young guys and Olympians honing their skills.

Damn, I sound like a pretentious historian...

(By the way, I'm now teaching at the U. of Virginia, and Matt Pell is doing a hell of a job with the UVA guys.)

EDIT: Malcolm Gladwell's latest book Outliers is all about the American myth of the successful just having more of whatever it takes to succeed than anyone else. There are always -ALWAYS- other circumstances at play that help someone who is ready to put in the work go right over the top; facilities, support, workout partners, etc.. Gladwell is looking at people like Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, etc., but he could have/should have looked at Gable.

Reason for Gables succes: There is no "ctrl" button on Gables computer, Therefore Dan Gable is always in control. Another reason is If you have five dollars and Dan Gable has five dollars, Dan Gable has more money than you... That sums up why Dan Gable is who he is

Zeb,

Man, I was thinking the same thing, Ben is awesome and wish him all the best in MMA and hope to see him again someday on the Olympic mats.

Nice post GOLD. You are a schmuck and should just go off and die somewhere. Glad to see that there are still losers like you out there, whose only triumphs in life will be the ability to figure out how to anonymously post negative attacks on the Internet. Your parents must be proud.

you will never be dan gable

The fact that I can ask an Olympian on an open forum a question and have him respond same day is a testament to the type of community the wrestling community is! Thanks Ben!

Great post Ben! Regarding Gable, I believe Gable was ULTRA SUCCESSFUL because first and foremost he sought out only wrestlers who had a bloodthirsty, almost demented, desire to COMPETE (competitive spirit to an insane level). Secondly Gable was, by and large, ULTRA SUCCESSFUL at being able to handpick these highly competitive individuals who not only "fit" his system at Iowa but also an individual whom Gable felt he could mold into the type of wrestler he believed could be successful on not only the college level but at the international level.

Before strength, conditioning, technique, work ethic, etc...is COMPETITIVE SPIRIT. Without this precursor, you can put all of the things in the garbage can. Think about it, without strength, one can overcome this hurdle with ultra conditioning and technique. Without technique, one can use overwhelming strength to negate his opponents' moves, without ultra conditoning, one can wrestle like the Soviets, score hard and heavy early then stall to the win. BUT WITHOUT AN INSANE LEVEL OF COMPETITIVE SPIRIT (confidence goes hand in hand here), despite having all of the intangibles, you cannot compete on any stage PERIOD. Just my opinion.

While wrestling at U of Minn. I also asked one of the Iowa wrestlers "what makes Gable so great?" He answered right away and told me that Gable had the ability to reach every wrestler he came across and motivate that kid every day. He said some kids need to be yelled at and some needed that pat on the butt. Regardless, Gable found out what it was and used it to get to his guys.

It doesn't matter what you believe if the other guy is better, and anyway, this only answers the question of why certain wrestlers win, not why a coach is successful.

From what I've read and seen, the reasons for Gable's success include:
1. He had the best wrestlers (every coach will tell you that recruiting is 90 percent of the battle, and look what happened to Iowa when kids like Metcalf, etc. started going out of state)
2. He had the best support from his school and AD
3. His technical knowledge of the sport was vast--and vastly underrated
4. He was a monomaniac--lived and breathed wrestling and never stopped thinking about it
5. He was "greedy" and never lost his taste for winning
6. He approached the coaching of each wrestler differently, as though trying to solve the puzzle of "What will make him win?"
7. He was always willing to change what he was doing if he thought it would bring a better result
8. He strove for absolute perfection and domination, so that even when he fell short (having "only" 4 national champs instead of 10), he still won
9. He motivated his wrestlers without making them feel like they were being manipulated or lied to
10. He was one of the most hyper-competitive people ever to coach the sport and hated the idea of any other coach getting the better of him
This doesn't even mention the training part, which I agree was important. The point is, it wasn't just one thing, it was an entire SYSTEM of mutually reinforcing things that started with him and his unique mindset and then flowed out in every direction from there ..

Best quote I ever heard to describe the Iowa style "Technique takes a back seat to brutality"

Zeb I wrote an article on the FS thing, I thought I posted it here, but maybe not. I will try to find it and post it next week. It is a long read.

As for what I believed in it changed a lot a long the way. The first thing that I believed in starting around middle school is that no one was willing to work harder than me so if I lost to a person I would surely beat them in the next year ( i still hold this belief, and it is a major reason the pendleton series was so frustrating to me.) Then in high school I had a cooach (post #1) relied on saying that if I was tired then my opponent was ready to fall over and I took this to heart. So even when I am flat out exhuasted I just keep going. Then in college I started believing in more things. Like if I get my hands locked on a leg I am going to score. period. And it is impossible to ride me and my conditioning is still better and you cant scramble with me. So going into my senior year my belief was I could pin anyone at anytime and even if I happened to land on my back no one could hold me there( I am very good at getting off my back a talent learned in those not so good early years.) So I threw all caution to the wind and just went from the home run. Now I believe I am just a better competitor than pretty much everyone else because I have harnessed the power of my mind that pretty much whatever I chose to do(within reason) I will be very successful at.

I agree with you. So true

I broke up with my girlfriend and let go of a 3 year relationship so she could go after you. I am so happy for her. Add me on Facebook bra. ;)

Ben, you should write the book for the kids here in Missouri you made believe. You are one of my kids heroes as well as alot of other kids I know. Believe in your position as a role model. Write the book! I will buy one!

I believe lies...and cold beer...and New York Strips...And my dogs...And Ben Askren

very good article. I think you are right about Gable's success. Mark Reiland instructed a wrestling camp once and said something similar. He said whether or not you actually are working harder than everyone doesn't matter, it's whether you believe that you are.

I think the difference between the US and the world in freestyle is that conditioning has very little to do with it. Add in the fact that the rules change so often.

Ben I know you are confident, I watched you at pretty much every level. What do you feel the difference is in USA Wrestling VS the World? I know you guys believe you can win, and are totally capable, but what do you think the difference was for some of our athletes this past year in China? I feel that you and Silent H are just as capable as getting the gold as Henry. Will you stick with it and become the face of the USA along with Henry and Za and Schwab and Metcalf and Hrovat? Do we still believe we can win gold at World Championships 2009? Could Gable come back in the mix and help us believe again or just Brands' brothers in his second coming? Hopefully you enjoy NCAA's and your bro makes it happen, good luck and anxious to hear what you think!

I am the best ever....There should be "Ranallo Trained" shirts.

obviously your educated in the phyiscal aspect and mental aspect of wrestling and i do believe in believing but the believing has to be for a certain something and that certain something has to be the belief in your self to know that you can do anything you can work harder than your opponent have astronger vision on where you want to be and most important winning and dominating to me dan gable is like the george washington of wrestling hes a great general and leader and expects you to belive in selfexcecllence on and off the mat ben you can be jsut as good if not better than him all you gotta do is believe you can

conditioning can't be a factor was drilled into my head in high school, and I BELIEVE!
The name of the Book is BELIEVE! 9 reasons they are CHAMPIONS!, call elwood reid and ask him to help you write it, he is a writer and a former Michgan football player who has already written a book. Do it.

Great read...keep them coming.

If anything, you could write the book based on just the 9 questions and the answers you received.

I think you can carry this discussion off the mat. If a man clearly defines his role, works hard and believes he can succeed...that person can accomplish ANYTHING.
If you look at successful PEOPLE, in general, you will find that each and everyone of them has an unflinching belief in themselves and the self confidence to make it happen. Failure is simply not an option.

write the book ben i think it will be a pleasure to read and im sure many would feel the same

Interesting take on this subject, especially coming from someone who essentially invented a whole new and unique style of wrestling.

The Iowa style has, indeed, relied on a core concept of believing and making real the concept of being better conditioned than all opponents, regardless of intrinsic athleticism, flexibility, speed or balance. Most successful Iowa style wrestlers come at their opponents at a pace that is hard to match, even if they are less talented than their opponents. And it often makes the evenly matched opponent who is in equal shape start to doubt their shape by the third period.
BUT.....
That is not what you believed in for YOUR wrestling. I think your belief in yourself relied on total and complete confidence that regardless of how well conditioned, fast, strong or stubborn an opponent, that you would beat them by being able to counter ANY position they could bring to you. You beat many opponents who were faster, stronger, etc. by frustrating them with getting taken down, turned, reversed, whatever after repeatedly finding themselves amidst "what just happened....why am I on bottom, all of a sudden?" I recall your saying in an interview just before your last NCAA finals win that you were totally confident that you would win and that there was no chance that it would end otherwise.
You must have started to believe in the knowledge of how to deal with all folkstyle positions somewhere along the line, which is not something every wrestler could achieve.
So, if the wrestler can really dissect their own strengths, use them and not get caught up in wrestling into their opponent's areas of strength, they can find the belief system you describe.
It has worked for non Iowa wrestlers. John Smith was going to get a low single and finish it on anyone he wanted, period. You were going to get 2 on anyone willing to take your leg, deep. Cael Sanderson was going to exhaust his opponent in the second half of the match AND deal with any position, no matter what.
We have all seen the best guys get beat on any given day, as a result. I wish I would have understood that better when I was wrestling. How many of us would agree (most of us!!!)?

Awesome insight. I think you are dead on in your assesment.

I hope you are looking to get back to the Olympics. I think you still "believe".

Great blog Ben! Practice what you are trying to relay to others. If you don't choose to pursue this idea of a "Believe" book some one else will. Continue with your insight.
there are many wrestlers out there who have all the physical tools but do not have the mental game down.

I thought you said you weren't a good writer?! I think you write very well, at least in your blog. I'd be interested to read the book......So don't give up on it and get it published!! There are a lot of guys, especially young ones, who would like to hear your insight

The book does NOT suck, it is a dang fine idea that needs more work. The partner is offended! The partner also still has all the stuff and some dang fine writing skills from working on the Big D. Plan on revisiting, it appears the people know what they want ; P
PS: It would be a crime if the story about the cowboys never made it to print.

Hey, John, I've been following your teams in WI for a while.

Applying Ben's notes...what did you tell Sueflohn before his series of matches w/ Thielke? No secret that a lot of people had Thielke penciled in as a 4-time undefeated champ.
There weren't many people outside of maybe you, Jake, and maybe a few guys in your room that thought you could beat Thielke. Props on taking down the Giant. I know Jake came up a few pts short in the State Finals, but you guys have a lot to be proud of.

The only way to look at becoming a champion is through the WORK ETHIC,PERIOD. Whether it's from FEAR caused by going into combat {wrestling} or form losing.If your wrestler {and the majority do have these's problems} will WORK! he WILL eliminate these problems in his career.But first and formost HE!! MUST WANT TO BECOME A WRESTLING CHAMPION. Gable had these. When he coached he recuited wrestlers with the same work ethic.this was ahead of the rest.

A Coward.......I agree,, book Ben, book. See Ben write book. Just put it together and print the darn thing. Heck just release the 100 or so responses that you got. I am down for buying just that.As a matter of fact publish one every week here on flo so that I can read them for the price of looking at their advertizers. Come on BA turn loose with the transcripts.

if you "suck" as a writer, why am i reading this blog?

give us the book

And the attitude along with the style created a very entertaining combo that fans flock to see furthering the notion that what they were/are doing is right. Where else do you get that many fans that also believe??? The problem is that this can't be the only element, there must be a catalyst that brings everything together,or this would have been duplicated already, enter Gable and his ability to make wrestlers believe that they are the strongest, have the best double or are faster than the other guy (as well as the uwavering dedication to conditioning). Seems simple on the outside but infact the guy just had a way to get the best out of people. Much like some one may draw better than another, I believe that there is an art to coaching.

by far, the best blog i've read in a long time. keep it up!

That hits the nail on the head... So what did you believe in?

that is definetly your best

definitely your best blog yet

Great stuff. Thanks for clarifying the 'belief' aspect. As I read the second or third paragraph about the champions saying 'they belived' I thought to myself, "Is it this way; believing = National Champ"? Are we to assume that the guys who got second didn't believe?????

But it was tied together with the conditioning factor. Thanks a mill.

Great stuff man.

Yes - belief in the intangibles and the things that are extremely difficult/impossible to measure. Your best Blog post yet Ben, you are the man! See you in St. Louis.