Burnout in Wrestling: The Main Reason Is Not What You Think
You’ve heard it before:
“Don’t push them too hard.”
“They’ll burn out if you start them young.”
“I knew a kid who didn’t wrestle until high school and became a D1 stud.”
I hear it all the time. One guy even told me, “I know boys who didn’t start wrestling until 9th grade and became Big 10 wrestlers.”
Here’s the problem: stories like this almost always have more to the story.
Take Mark Schultz, for example — younger brother of Olympic Champion Dave Schultz. Mark didn’t start wrestling until his junior year of high school. By that logic, he should’ve been a long shot. Instead, he became a 3-time NCAA champion and an Olympic champion.
So how did he do it?
Mark wasn’t some “untrained” kid before wrestling. He was already a state champion gymnast in California. That means he came into wrestling with world-class balance, coordination, flexibility, agility, accuracy and strength — the exact universal skill set that makes picking up wrestling far easier.
That’s not burnout prevention. That’s coming in with a fully loaded athletic toolbox.
The Real Cause of Burnout
Here’s the truth:
The #1 reason wrestlers burn out is not starting too young.
It’s not overtraining (which, by the way, it is possible to overtrain, but almost impossible to define because every time you think you’ve found the limit, you meet someone training twice as much and thriving).
The real cause of burnout is simple:
A lack of MEASUREABLE PROGRESS.
When a wrestler goes to practice every day and every drill, every live go, every conditioning piece is random and unmeasured, there’s no scoreboard for improvement. Then they go to tournament after tournament… and nothing changes. Same results. Same mistakes. Same losses.
Anyone would lose motivation under those conditions.
The POW Analogy: Why Meaning Matters
There’s a psychological principle at play here that’s been observed in the harshest environments imaginable.
A common torture tactic used on prisoners of war is to force them to do meaningless, repetitive work — like moving a massive pile of rocks from Point A to Point B… and then back again… over and over.
The goal isn’t physical exhaustion — it’s mental breakdown.
When the brain realizes the work has no purpose, it strips away hope and erodes the will to keep going.
Random, unmeasured training in wrestling does the same thing to an athlete’s motivation.
If every practice feels like moving rocks back and forth with no visible improvement, the athlete’s brain eventually asks:
"Why am I even doing this?"
And that’s when burnout takes root.
Why Measurable Progress Fuels Motivation
Humans are wired for progress. The dopamine system in the brain doesn’t just light up when you get a reward — it lights up when you see yourself getting closer to the reward.
Psychologists call this the “progress principle.”
We’re happiest and most motivated when we feel we’re making meaningful progress toward a goal.
This is why my boys, and the athletes I train, rarely if ever feel burnt out.
Because they always know:
- Where they are now (current benchmarks)
- Where they’re going (95th and 99th percentile goals)
- How to get there (the training system)
Strength & Conditioning as a Burnout Shield
When your training system has measurable benchmarks — like squat strength, pull-up reps, mile time, power output in “Fran” — you can actually see yourself getting better every month.
Hit a new personal record? That’s fuel.
Crack the top percentile in a benchmark? More fuel.
Every win in training makes you hungrier for the next one.
This is also why we measure conditioning workouts, not just lifts. If a wrestler does “Fran” in 10 minutes at the start of the off-season, and then in 3 minutes four months later, they see in black and white: “I am three times more powerful than I used to be.”
That’s the opposite of burnout. That’s obsession.
Apply the Same Logic to Wrestling Skills
You can do the same thing with wrestling.
Have a system that methodically improves usable skills — not just random “move of the day” practices. Then go test those skills in competition.
The tournament isn’t just “another match.” It’s the measuring stick.
If your training worked, the results show it. And when a wrestler wins because of specific work they put in, the sacrifice becomes meaningful.
Now the grind isn’t punishment — it’s an investment with a visible return.
The Truth About Burnout
Burnout doesn’t come from starting too young.
It doesn’t come from training too much.
It comes from feeling like the work doesn’t matter.
If a wrestler sees no progress, of course they’ll quit. But if they’re constantly stacking wins — in the weight room, in conditioning, on the mat — they’ll keep coming back for more.
That’s the formula.
Make the progress real. Make it measurable.
And burnout will be the last thing you ever have to worry about.