Wrestling Changed My Life (Wrestling Podcast)

Dave Schultz was one of the great ambassadors of wrestling. As an athlete, he was an Olympic and World Champion, 3x World Silver Medalist, and 2x World Bronze Medalist. As a coach, he led teams across the world and was respected immensely by his Russian counterparts. He even learned to speak Russian. In this episode, Nancy Schultz Vitangeli introduces the listener to Dave Schultz and shares many s...

Dustin Myers is the owner of Old School Gym and Max Effort Muscle. He's also the strength and conditioning coach for the Ohio RTC. This guy is an animal and super motivating. We talk about how he went from lifting weights in his dad's garage to running a world-renowned gym that's known for it's no-frills, gritty atmosphere. His gym BTW, has been visited by Arnold, CT Fletcher and countless others....

Coach Eric Casey joins the podcast from the depths of the Dagestanian mountains to talk 2019 Freestyle World Championships. Here we talk weight by weight previews for the freestyle tournament which gets underway tonight. Enjoy folks!

Nick Hays is not your typical Navy SEAL. After cutting weight as a wrestler, his growth was severely stunted. Standing just over 5 feet tall, he was often bullied as a kid and was laughed at when he told others of his dream to become a member of one of the worlds most elite units. Nick learned that what first seemed like a deficiency was indeed his greatest strength because it made him immune to a...

Ladies and gents – what we have here are three of the most popular audio clips from the Tom Brands (#46), Dan Gable (#47) and Tervel Dlagnev (#44) podcasts, namely: --Tom Brands on John Smith and Alan Fried rivalry --Dan Gable on loss the Owings and how Owings got in his head --Tervel provides a play by play on the sequence that decided the fate of his 2012 Olympics The ‘best of the week’ concept...

This is an all time podcast. Lee is the assistant coach at UNI and co-founder of Compound Wrestling. Lee gets super vulnerable and talks about a rough patch in his life and what he did to find his passion for coaching wrestling and ultimately the lessons he's learned that he now instills in his guys at UNI. We also get into eradicating self-doubt, mental performance and the importance of relations...

Dan Gable is the winningest college wrestling coach of all time, amassing 21 Big 10 Titles in 21 years, and 15 NCAA titles during that same time. As a wrestler, he won the 1972 Olympics without surrendering a point and built a 181-1 record through high school and college, losing his last collegiate match to Larry Owings. What an honor it was to chat with the Goat among Goats.

Tom Brands is the head wrestling coach at the University of Iow. A 1996 Olympic gold medalist and member of wrestling’s Hall of Fame, Brands is only the eighth wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. The former Hawkeye wrestler was a four-time All-American and three-time national champion (1989-92) at Iowa. He has a 218-23-1 (.903) overall and 99-10 (.908) Big Ten coaching record at Iowa, and a...

Cliff Fretwell has made a career out of wrestling by running the Compound Wrestling Academy and Compound Clothing. What I love is that his background isn't that of a typical blue-chip wrestler. He got back into the sport in the early 2000's as a middle school coach, and within a year he was running a state-wide training camp for Georgia wrestlers. After uploading thousands and thousands of matches...

Tervel is one of the most decorated heavyweight wrestlers in United States history, earning an Olympic bronze medal and earning 8 world team berths. He is now the assistant coach at Ohio State and the personal coach for World and Olympic Champion Kyle Snyder. In this episode, we talk about qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London, his mindset during a crucial semi-final match against Artur Tayma...

Mark Johnson arrived in Iowa City in the late 1970's. An Olympian on the 1980 Greco team, Johnson would go on to serve as Gable's GA, and then long-time assistant during the run of 9 NCAA titles for Iowa in the 1980's. Here he talks about the impact Gable had on his life. Wrestling Changed My Life explores inspirational journeys of wrestlers and how the sport changed their lives. By stitching toge...

Lincoln McIlravy is one of the most accomplished American wrestlers of all time, winning 3 NCAA titles for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and earning an Olympic Bronze Medal.

Jared Lawrence is the co-owner and head coach of the Pinnacle Wrestling Academy, which is the top wrestling academy in the state of Minnesota. As a wrestler, Jared was an NCAA Champion, 4x All American and won two team titles during his time at Minnesota wrestling for the esteemed J Robinson.

ABOUT: Wrestling Changed My Life explores the lives of wrestlers and how the world's oldest sport impacted their life. SUBSCRIBE to the show if you dig this episode. THIS EPISODE: Joe Heskett is a former NCAA champion, 3x NCAA finalist and 4x All American. He was on the national team throughout the early and mid 2000's. In 2007, Heskett made the World Team and placed 5th at the World champinoships...

About the Podcast: Exploring the lives of wrestlers and how the sport impacted their life. Past Episodes: WrestlingChangedMyLife. Org Bio: Oostendorp is a two-time Iowa Conference Coach of the Year and 2009 NWCA National Coach of the Year, leading the Kohawks to a second-place finish in 2008. His teams have consistently been nationally ranked and have been picked to be part of the NWCA National Du...

Mario Morgan. Rio as his Harvey Twisters teammates often called him, piled up 565 wins over an 18 year career. A very quick, technical and high scoring wrestler, the slight built Mario had the flair for exciting moves with dramatic endings. He was always a crowd favorite with plenty of must watch matches. Dominating at the kids level for the legendary Twisters, with 3 state titles he moved on to s...

Topher Carton is the director of the Eastern Iowa Wrestling Club, was a NCAA National Qualifier for the Hawks and before that was one of the most accomplished wrestlers in Quad City history, making 4 state finals and winning 3 of them. Enjoy folks! For past episodes please visit WrestlingChangedMyLife. Org

Steve Mocco is the head wrestling coach at American Top Team, one of the most dominant UFC gyms in the World. As a wrestler, he is a 2x NCAA champion - once at Iowa and once at Oklahoma State - and an Olympian. In this episode, Steve talks about Oklahoma State v. Iowa wrestling, listening to sports psychology tapes over and over as a kid, and his self talk during his sophomore campaign that ended...

Jimmy Kennedy is a legend in the state of Illinois. After earning multiple All American honors at the University of Illinois, he won a US Open and made a United States World Team. Jimmy now coaches as an assistant at Northwestern. Enjoy this one folks! Past episodes: WrestlingChangedMyLife. Org. Please rate, subscribe and review the show.

Jon Reader brings the passion, the enthusiasm and the heat on this one - just as his best friend and head coach Chris Bono did. We explore where the passion and energy comes from for Jon, how he and Bono revitalized the SDSU program and his plans for Wisconsin. We also talk about what he's learned working with UFC fighter and owner of the Askren Academy, Ben Askren. Enjoy folks! Thank you for list...

The reigning world champion and 3x world medalist J’den Cox joins the podcast for episode 33. In this conversation, we talk the 2017 Taylor match and his mentality throughout those matches, his 2020 weight class decision process, and doing 3k+ push-ups while hiking down Pike’s Peak. Just an outstanding conversation here my friends. For past episodes, type these beautiful keystrokes: WrestlingChang...

Eric Guerrero is the head coach of the Oklahoma RTC. Prior to that he was a 3x NCAA champ for Oklahoma State - one of the best college wrestlers of all time - a 4x US Open champ and a 2004 US Olympian. He went on to coach at Oklahoma State under John Smith before leaving for the OK RTC. We talk about when Eric made the mental switch to become the absolute best wrestler that he could, the transitio...

Paul Glynn is the Vice President for Stryker Medical and has a 20+ career as a successful business leader. Prior to that, he wrestled for the Hawkeyes under Coach Gable and was a state champion for the Bettendorf Bulldogs. For past episodes, please visit WrestlingChangedMyLife. Org. **Please subscribe, review or rate the show.

Zain and Yianni are going to arbitration! In honor of this historical moment, I broke down the other biggest arbitration of all time - Randy Lewis v. Lee Roy Smith, which took place in 1984. Lots of bad storylines in this one - Oklahoma State v. Iowa, Randy Lewis wrestling Lee Roy Smith in 84 and John Smith in 88 for the Olympic spot, Dan Gable, etc. Enjoy! For past episodes: WrestlingChangedMyLif...

Former Cavalier All-American Steve Garland is serving in his 13th season as head wrestling coach at Virginia. A master motivator, recruiter and coach, Garland has worked diligently to push the Cavaliers among the nation’s elite. The results of Garland’s perseverance are evident. In Garland’s first 12 seasons at Virginia, the Cavaliers earned 10 All- America honors and 17 ACC individual titles whil...