Ed Ruth had a bit of a setback last year on his quest to claiming U.S. Open and World Team Trials titles, but he’s not discouraged by it. He put the losses behind him and refocused to come back stronger.




 With the new (more driven) mindset, came a tougher workout regimen. Also, living in Arizona the weather allows him to get in some outdoor cross training as well as working with with Zeke Jones and Chris Pendeleton at Arizona State.

“I really try not to look back or live in the past,” Ruth said about his losses. “My coaches will watch film and let me know what they think I need work with. But living here is a lot different then Pennsylvania. There are gyms all around here that I can go lift at, or there’s mountains and hills to climb if I want to work on my endurance. I think this fits my training style well because I like being able to go for a run outside if I want to.”

When it comes to getting in some mat time, Ruth focuses more of his energy on himself and hardly any on the competition, which recently was taken up a few notches with his former PSU teammate David Taylor announced his ascension to his weight class of 86kg along with Kyle Dake. But all this is just fuel to the fire for Ruth. It makes him want to train harder.

“I love it. I love the competition,” he said. “That’s why our sport is so great, because you could end up going against against who was your teammate and you have to knock him off if you want to be the guy. It’s exciting. It makes me want to go harder because I want to wrestle them all.”



As he continues to grow and become more of a freestyle wrestler, which he admits wasn’t the easiest out the gate, his comfort level and knowledge of positioning are taken up a few notches as well.

“I’m a lot more comfortable with freestyle now,” Ruth said. “I’ve broken my folkstyle habits and now I’m even more offensive. It’s no secret that I hate par terre (defense) so being offensive and scoring points keeps me from ever having to be there. I work on my defense obviously, but if I can stay out of that position by staying offensive, I will so that I can work my stuff on top.”

But par terre defense is just the tip of the iceberg for him at this point because after his journey to becoming an Olympic Team Member and competing in Rio in 2016, he will be switching to MMA. So not only is he sharpening his wrestling skills, he’s also try to learn the ropes as a fighter, as well.

“I train for both right now,” he said. “But right now, wrestling is number one so I am going hard and trying to compete in as many tournaments as possible because I want to see how I measure up one last time before I completely switch to MMA. And that’s motivating me to work harder right now too. This is my last year of wrestling before changing over so I want to finish on a good note.”