MESSAGE #136 - DO NOT BE LIKE ROB GILBERT!

I hoped you watched yesterday’s video. I’ve watched it at least ten times.

Way back when I was in college I was on the wrestling team. Now that I look back I can’t say I was really a wrestler. I couldn’t have been much more INTO IT. (See Messages #129 - 134)

One wrestler I really admired was the great Dan Gable from Iowa State. Gable was really INTO IT.

He went onto win an Olympic gold medal in 1972 and had a spectacular coaching career at the University of Iowa.

Gable was superstar and I wasn’t.

What was there difference between Dan Gable and Rob Gilbert?

Oh, there were many . . . but looking back now . . . I think the #1 biggest difference between the two of us was this:

Dan Gable knew the difference between physical fatigue and psychological fatigue and I didn’t.

Psychological fatigue hits you well before physical fatigue.

Psychological fatigue is false.

Physical fatigue is real.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FATIGUE = You think you are out of gas.

PHYSICAL FATIGUE = You are really out of gas. Your gas tank is totally empty.

Rob Gilbert stopped when he was psychologically fatigued.

Dan Gable stopped when he was physically fatigued.

Most people are like I was. We never ever get to physical fatigue. We stop when we’re psychologically fatigued.

Here’s the key question: Are you going to fight through the psychological fatigue?

Are you going to fight through it?

Yesterday’s video vividly showed the difference between psychological and physical fatigue.

If you want to be a champion, you have to fight through it. You have to push yourself.

You have to be a Dan Gable.

I love this quote from former world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Corbett (1866-1933) . . .

Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round -- remembering that the man who always fights one round is never whipped.

“Feel the fatigue and do it anyway.”

Fight through it,

Rob Gilbert

P.S. Oh, one last thing . . .

“After the first period,the more skilled wrestler is
winning.
After the second period,the better conditioned wrestler is
winning.
After the third period,the wrestler with the most heart is
winning.”

--Dan Gable, Olympic Champion