In my old age I've come to love the months of June and July for many reasons. Of course, I like training athletes who can immerse themselves in their training without the demands of the school year, and I love spending quality time with my family, especially sleeping in the pop-up tent camper. However, what I look forward to the most over these next two months is the hot sunshine in the wrestling room and the moisture and sweat in the air associated with a type of suffering that only the most dedicated wrestlers can understand. It ignites a peculiar desire to some crazy things.
As an athlete, and now as a coach, I look at everything for its potential for a hot, sweaty workout. How fast can you mow your lawn and keep the lines perfectly straight? That hill outside of town or those stairs that you've been thinking about...can you run them in the blazing heat? What about a grind match then jumping in the river to cool off? Then following that up with a sauna workout. These things can be done in December, no doubt, but the Midwestern heat and humidity adds an element to the wrestler's regimen that is necessary for growth.
I've been listening to a variety of podcasts and recently have heard two resounding themes in the lives of high achievers and elite athletes. 1. Consistency - daily routines and habits. 2. Suffer - comfortable being uncomfortable. After hearing an inspirational conversation on the "The Kreatures of Habit Podcast," I was struck by a play on words that I immediately implemented into our summer training plans.
It's simple, replace MM with FF. Summer Training Program becomes Suffer Training Program. Summer --> Suffer. There are a lot of layers to this and I'm excited to watch it all play out.
It makes us all a little nervous when we talk about it out loud and begin chaining those m's with f's. But that's what it's all about. That's when we need to lean in and let the creative juices flow and chose courage. We're going to do some things crazy things this summer.
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