50 Pullups

Coaches Bobby Douglas and Kevin Jackson lift Cael Sanderson after he won Olympic Gold (photo from http://www.bobbydouglasbook.com/)

"If you do 50 pull-ups every day, you will be an Olympic Champion."  Those were the words that legendary coach Bobby Douglas gave to Cael Sanderson during his freshman season at Iowa State.  Cael then proceeded to do just that.  Every day, without fail, from the start of college in 1998 through the end of his Olympic run in 2004, Cael got up on the metal bar and cranked 'em out.  If for some crazy reason the name needs introduction, Cael went 159-0 in college and won 4 NCAA titles.  He was the NCAA tournament's Outstanding Wrestling all four years, and won the Dan Hodge Trophy three of those years.  He won a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships in freestyle, and claimed Olympic Gold at the Beijing Games.  Cael was also the first amateur wrestler to be featured on a Wheaties box.

Despite all of Cael's accomplishments, his mentor Bobby Douglas is at least as impressive.  Regarded as the Jackie Robinson of wrestling in many ways, Douglas was perhaps the best wrestler in history that didn't win an Olympic title.  I learned this pull-up anecdote from Bobby Douglas: Life and Legacy of an American Wrestling Legend by Craig Sesker.  Prior to reading it, I knew who Douglas was, but I didn't know much else about his career until I finished the book last weekend.  And boy, his story is an incredible one.  I can't begin to describe it in this post, so I'll spare you the verbosity and let you be inspired by picking up the book.  It's a quick and fascinating read, and well worth it.

Now back to Bobby's instructions to Cael.  I'm not saying that doing that many pullups every day without giving your arms a rest day is necessarily the best idea, but there's something to be said for that philosophy.  The key thing to pick up here is that if you firmly believe in the training you are doing, you will have far better results than if you aren't on board with what your coaches tell you.  Here's what Sanderson said in Sesker's book:

I believed that, and I did at least 50 pull-ups every day....  I was the type of athlete who was always eager to learn.  My dad was a coach so I learned to believe and trust my coaches.  I figured if you were coachable and weren't afraid to leave your comfort zone and learn new things, you could keep getting better.

Once a coach or yourself assigns you a training program, stick to it.  Don't "program hop," where you try one thing for one week, you don't like it, then you try another, etc.  It does you no good if you keep switching like that.  Finish what you start and trust that it will work.  If you truly believe that what you are doing will get you to the next level, you'll have a serious mental edge on your opponents.

Believe in your training,
Jeff

P.S.  Rumor has it that Coach Douglas, who grew up in eastern Ohio, may be returning to his home state and coaching in the Akron area later this year!  So pumped!