Wrestling Blogs - Matt Valenti

The "comfort zone." The place that 99.9% of people spend 99.9% of their time. It's that area where everything in life is relatively easy and exertion is minimal. Not necessarily an area of complacency or carelessness, but that zone where life is set on cruise control. If things get too difficult people back off. If things get too easy they step up a little bit. It's a place where mediocrity is most prevalent and where average is the norm. Some challenges are faced, but the risk is minimal and people are rarely over-extending themselves in any direction. This includes simple everyday tasks, but can be applied to life in general. The "comfort zone" is where most people spend most of their time.

I'm not saying this is a bad area. Everyone, myself included, spends time in this "comfort zone." It's an area that I would characterize as basic sanity. We all need to spend time essentially being normal, and that is where this area of our lives comes into play. Wrestlers, and all elite athletes for that matter, tend to spend less time in the "comfort zone" than the average person. This is what separates us from the rest.

Obviously I cannot speak for all athletes, and since I'm not yet included in the elite, Olympic athlete category I can't claim to have competed at the highest levels of the sport. That being said, this is something that consumed a lot of my wrestling career. I believe that it is something that has shaped who I am and has had a significant effect on the success of my training. That is, to put it simply, getting outside of the "comfort zone."

I like to think of the "comfort zone" as a flexible box. Everyone, at some point or another, hits the walls of the box. Some people even begin to stretch the wall a little bit. They may feel some mild discomfort and everything gets a little bit tougher. Yet when it really starts to get difficult, when things are the most trying, most people simply bounce back to the center of the box. Again they return to the "comfort zone." Those people who stretch the wall of that box to it's limits, and then keep pushing until they break through - those are the exceptional people.

Wrestlers spend almost all of their training time stretching the walls of the "comfort zone" box. Many stretch it to it's limits but eventually return to the middle. Some manage to breakthrough. Those wrestlers that break that barrier, who push themselves after they weren't supposed to go any further, those are the most successful. This is the guy who runs so hard that he can't keep down breakfast, gets sick, then gets up and runs even harder. The wrestler who is having a bad day, gets pounded in practice, is so tired that he can't stand, but fights back to his feet and earns that last takedown. The nut who does their max number of squat repetitions, who's legs have failed, but calls up something from deep inside and screams through one last rep. Hitting that moment where every bone, muscle and tendon in your body hurts, where the sport seems awful and miserable, where you want to quit, but you find that spark deep inside and turn it into a raging fire. The wrestlers that break through that barrier are the ones that people look at in a funny way and everyone thinks is crazy. These are the wrestlers who truly succeed.

Perhaps it's a temporary insanity. Maybe it is just flat out nuts. Yet I would bet that any of the world's top wrestler could share a story about stretching the comfort zone and breaking through the barrier. We all will bounce off the walls of the box at some point. It is only human. Those who manage to breakthrough to the point of discomfort, and then keep pushing - those are the truly successful.