Joe Rogan on wrestling:
“We said it a million times but it bears repeating. Wrestling is the greatest skill to have in MMA because wrestling dictates where the fight takes place.
On top of that, amateur wrestling training is so unbelievably grueling that the guys who get through it are the guys who rise to the top are the elite of the elite when it comes to mental toughness. That is a huge part of fighting. Mental toughness and focus and the ability to work hard to achieve goals under exceedingly insurmountable circumstances.”
Other Commentator: “You must embrace the grind as they say.”
Rogan: “That’s a nice way of putting it but they go through hell. That’s not a grind you know….Amateur wrestling practice is a constant exercise in over training, dehydration, and maintaining your momentum and maintaining your motivation in incredibly uncomfortable moments.”
Other commentator: “Anybody in high school or college who played a sport they would always see the wrestlers just running and going, and going. They start before you start and they finish way after.”
Rogan: “And they take great pleasure in being uncomfortable. They take great pleasure in their ability to push. And there is not a lot of sports that can say that, not a lot of sports where that is part of the badge of courage; the ability to be constantly miserable……”
Wrestlers don’t just learn grappling moves, they learn how to embrace the suck of practice and tough arse matches.
They are used to screaming crowds while you basically fight someone for all to see. Wrestlers can start at the age of 5.
If you lose, which you will, a lot, you have to suck it up and get ready to wrestle again in 30 minutes or more, then again after that. You could have 2–6 matches in one day. Each one more intense than the last.
Win or lose you need to learn to move on right after someone just owned you. You have to learn how to not lose heart while your getting beaten in a match so you can come back and win.
You have to be able to handle being physically and mentally punished day on and day out. Wrestling rooms are brutal places. Wrestlers don’t play well with others.
Wrestlers need to control their diet to make weight while still being able to rock and roll.
These are things that make wrestlers so good. It’s not as much the moves, it’s the life style.
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.