Two Steps Forward One Step Back
As a wrestling coach, Ben Askren deals with helping athletes learn and progress at all levels of the sport. Recently, he’s helped some wrestlers who are frustrated with their progression. While learning, growing and training you’re not going to improve in a perfectly linear fashion. You won’t always be twice as good as you were last year, this year. Progression is more like steps. You’re working hard but nothing is really changing and then something clicks and you make a big jump. As long as you’re doing all the right things including, nutrition, training and studying you’re going to improve.
Progressing Your Average
Sometimes when wrestlers have a great performance they’re upset the next time when they don’t duplicate that performance. There are ups and downs but the key is to continually improve your average performance. No matter how good you are, everyone has ups and downs. Just because you have a bad performance or a string of them doesn’t mean the sky is falling. You have to figure out what’s causing those bad performances and what did or didn’t happen to cause the good ones.
Be a Better Wrestling Parent
In dealing with these ups and downs sometimes the parents are worse. Askren discusses how parents can escalate the situation. A parent might start overthinking and want to change their child’s diet or training or coaches. Instead, parents should model behavior for their child. Celebrate your kid’s effort and determination and focus less on the wins and losses.
Patience and Persistence
Askren reminds his listeners to remember progress is not linear. If it was, wrestling and all athletics would be a lot nicer and easier. Have faith and keep doing the right things. Stick with your training and learning and focus on developing your skills this offseason. Askren also mentions the exciting upcoming RUDIS Wrestling Podcasts coming out this week. As well as that he’ll be at his first UFC press conference Thursday, Jan. 31 for his upcoming fight with Robbie Lawler at UFC 235.
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