To become the best wrestler…

Let’s talk about how important it is to build a winning system… A system of movements that will work against the best wrestlers (as opposed to a system that works against the “next wrestler”). To build this system, imagine yourself as a machine; everything is automatic. Don’t view yourself as this thinking, decision making, human being; instead, imagine yourself as a stimulus/response machine… After all, most of what happens while you are wrestling is handled by your unconscious mind.

Definition:

Drilling – the systematic programming of instincts via repetition.

Anything repeated over and over again strengthens its corresponding neural network. We learn via repetition. Hesitation can occur when multiple responses share the same stimulus.

Your natural instincts are not optimal for wrestling. Your nervous system didn’t evolve for you to be the best wrestler… Your nervous system evolved to give you basic instincts needed for survival: put your arms out if you fall, breathe, fight or flight, respond to pain, run from predators, respond to eye contact, etc. No one naturally moves like an elite wrestler… All of the best wrestlers have systematically programmed themselves via repetitive drilling. They are not making it up themselves, they are following the proven formulas of the champions that came before.

These optimal movements have been mapped out, we call them “technique”. Not all techniques are equal; some techniques are more efficient than others. One of the main differences between good and great wrestlers is that great wrestlers tend to have drilled movements that are closer to optimal.

There are often multiple options from each position. The great wrestler has spent his time working on the BEST option, while the good wrestler has spent his time drilling something else. What are the smartest most efficient ways to move? Study the best wrestlers to decide on the best movements, and then use drilling (the systematic programming of instincts via repetition), so that your body executes the movements automatically. When I say best wrestler, I mean adult champion. Following the map of the elite 15 year old is probably not a good idea, it would be better to copy directly from the source.

Now, the blind spot… Almost all “good” wrestlers have this blind spot: Your fancy moves are not the optimal movements. If it’s cool looking, chances are it is sub-optimal. The super duck, the magic stick, the inverted cross face chicken-wing switch to McRib combo… It’s a bunch of nonsense. Fun, but not effective, and certainly not a good place to invest your dilling time.

All right, so quick recap: You are a computer program running on instinct. You will automatically do what you’ve always done. What comes naturally is not the most efficient way to do things. The most efficient way to do things has been mapped out by the current champions, and it is called technique. To master technique, you need to complete the motion thousands of times, accurately. By drilling the optimal movement thousands of times, you strengthen the underlying neural networks, and it becomes natural. An awkward movement will become a seemingly natural instinct via deliberate repetition.

Movements will continue to get more and more accurate as you drill. You’ll add more and more detail, and gain more and more control as you go. Speed will increase. To become a great wrestler, decide on the smartest most strategic way to move, and then you program your instincts to do it automatically.

Optimal movement is the only thing you are interested in. Drilling will program you to move optimally, so long as you are drilling the best option and the best option only… live wrestling will not teach you to move optimally.

Live wrestling is so you can see where things go wrong, so that you can go back to the drawing board. To lose in live wrestling, and not stop to reprogram your instincts via repetitive drilling, demonstrates a misunderstanding of how improvement and learning occur. If you didn’t finish from a winning position, stop and drill the proper response until you can win every time from that position… Don’t go back to live wrestling until you’ve mastered it.

Drilling is what’s important. It’s far more important than live. What should you be doing with your time? Drilling. I’m the best at drilling. No one drills like me. I am the hero of drilling. When become obsessed with drilling, you will reach a new level, and you will leave all of the other scrubs behind.

Who wants to drill?

Shameless self promotion:
I spent the past 2 years building this to make wrestling better for everyone, check it out: