The Power of Mental Strength: Lessons from a One-Legged NCAA Champion | Ep. 121 with Anthony Robles

:: 00:00:00

Host

Man, I am so pumped for today's episode because I got to sit down with Anthony Robles, National Wrestling Hall of Famer, ESPN analyst, best selling author and subject of the new film Unstoppable on Amazon Prime. Born with one leg, Anthony never saw that as a limitation and went on to become an NCAA wrestling champion. This episode we talk about training the mind, trolling your attitude, how to show up as your best self even when the odds are against you.

:: 00:29:06

Host

This is one of those conversations that sticks with you. Let's get started.

:: 00:41:04

Pat McCalla

Anthony Robles, thank you so much for joining us on the No Gray Areas podcast. I'm so excited about this. I know you have limited time. You are a busy, busy

:: 00:49:15

Pat McCalla

me just jump right in then. And ask you, looking back, what was one of the hardest choices you had to make and how did that shape who you are today?

:: 00:57:20

Anthony Robles

Yeah. I would say the hardest choice that I had to make was one of them was, whether or not to go to Arizona State University. You know, coming out of college, I had one Division one wrestling scholarship offer, and that was to Drexel University. And, you know, the coach there was amazing. You know, I met the team and they're great guys, and it all sounded just perfect on paper.

:: 01:15:16

Anthony Robles

You know, it was the one school that believed in me and gave me a shot. And so to turn that down, you know, a lot of people thought I was crazy. Even in my own mind. I thought it was crazy. But I made that decision because I wanted to stick close to my family. You know, I felt like they needed me.

:: 01:27:17

Anthony Robles

I needed to support them. But

:: 01:29:09

Anthony Robles

also along the way, I realized that I needed their support. I needed to lean on them. And so that decision, it was difficult. You know, I second guess myself at times. But looking back now, man, it's it's made me who I am. It's given me the people in my life who are still close to me to this day, my, my circle of people.

:: 01:45:09

Anthony Robles

And, it's just blessed me in so many ways. So tough decision. But I'm grateful for the decision I made.

:: 01:51:07

Pat McCalla

You know people that watch the unstoppable movie or have read your book or have seen you, on social media or anywhere else they know. They realize and I said this

:: 02:00:06

Pat McCalla

in the intro, you were born with one leg, but you never saw that as a limitation. Where did that mindset come from? Was that your parents? Was that some a coach?

:: 02:07:20

Pat McCalla

was that you? Were you just born with that, with that drive?

:: 02:11:03

Anthony Robles

Well, it definitely started with my mom. You know, because my mom when I was born this way, you know, I mean, basically, the doctors and everyone at the hospital were telling her what I wouldn't be able to do. You know, that that I would need full time care of the rest of my life. And so pretty much they just set me up with low expectations from the very beginning.

:: 02:27:13

Anthony Robles

But my mom, she refused to think that way. You know, her mentality was, no, we're going to figure it out. We're going to I'm going to teach him to find a way. And so growing up, I didn't have any other choice in my household but to figure things out. You know, I wasn't allowed to make an excuse because I was missing a leg.

:: 02:42:04

Anthony Robles

You know, I feel sorry for myself. It's like, no, you can do this. Let's just make some adjustments.

:: 02:45:23

Anthony Robles

So it started with my mom, but then as I got into wrestling, my coaches really did a great job of echoing my mom's words in their own way. You know, my high school coach, Bobby Williams at Mesa High, he used to tell me, we're going to focus on your strengths and camouflage your weaknesses.

:: 03:00:22

Anthony Robles

He said, you know, all your opponents and your coaches are thinking about what you don't have, what you can't do. You know how your balance is going to suffer. You know, you're on crutches all the time. You're going to have a strong upper body. You're gonna have a strong grip. We're going to build a style around that.

:: 03:12:22

Anthony Robles

So it's just the two of them, and then just the people that came in around that, that really just helped to enforce that mentality of, you never let make an excuse for yourself. You know, you find a solution. You find a way because there's always a way. You know, it's not going to be easy, but there's always a way through.

:: 03:26:06

Pat McCalla

Man. Anthony I love that so much because I think that fits all of life, doesn't it? I'm a huge believer. Like the strength finder. That's a personality test. And one of their big mantras was Excel at your strengths and manage your weaknesses. But we're always taught or most often are taught the opposite. Like we go to school and we have four A's, one B and one D on a report card.

:: 03:44:13

Pat McCalla

Anybody's like focus on the D, focus on it. Instead of saying, what do you do really well? How are you gifted and wired and focus on that. And it's kind of what you were hearing then growing up from your coach.

:: 03:54:05

Anthony Robles

100%. You know, it's just this matter of doing the best with what you have, you know, giving your very best effort. And at the end of the day that's the only thing that you can control. You know is your attitude. It's your approach, it's your effort and everything that you do. So if you can walk away, you know, it's great to set a goal.

:: 04:08:17

Anthony Robles

It's great to accomplish the goal. But, you know, let's be real, sometimes you're not going to always reach it. You know, sometimes you are going to get a loss. You're either going to get knocked down. But you know, if you can get, get back up and, you know, maybe walk away from that loss is no, you know, I did everything I could, you know, I gave it everything I had.

:: 04:22:06

Anthony Robles

And

:: 04:22:11

Anthony Robles

that to me is what's to be celebrated. You know, it's just like I gave my most I maxed out, you know, my every effort to do this. And, you know, if I fell short, I fell short. But at least I know, you know, that's everything.

:: 04:33:02

Pat McCalla

yeah

:: 04:33:19

Pat McCalla

talk about attitude, right? And your right attitude is the one thing you can control. The older I get, the more I realize there's so much in life I can't control. But that's

:: 04:42:00

Pat McCalla

easy to write on a coffee cup. Right.

:: 04:44:03

Anthony Robles

Yeah.

:: 04:44:16

Pat McCalla

can control your attitude.

:: 04:45:23

Pat McCalla

Tell us about one of your lowest points and how you had to work through,

:: 04:50:11

Pat McCalla

having the right attitude toward that probably wasn't overnight,

:: 04:53:12

Pat McCalla

tell us about one of those moments.

:: 04:55:08

Anthony Robles

Yeah. I'd say a low point for me when I was wrestling in college. You know my, my junior year I finished seventh place. You know, and I was projected as a possible winner that year. So it broke me, you know, that that it was like, man, I put all this time and effort into something. I fell way shorter than I expected, and it's like, I have another year.

:: 05:13:16

Anthony Robles

But man, you got to put everything in. You got to go all out all over again just for a possible chance, you know, at your goal. So that was, frustrating and it was disheartening. But what helped me through it was, you know, setting up smaller goals for myself along the way, you know, so for my senior years, I guess my ultimate goal is winning the national title, you know, getting that bracket.

:: 05:32:07

Anthony Robles

But you know, my goal today, my goal for practice today is to get five takedowns or it's to defend this five times, you know, just to have those little goals to where you can track your progress and celebrate those little victories.

:: 05:44:16

Anthony Robles

You know, I think that's something we don't do enough. It's like, you know, we set the end goal, the end get, you know, where we want to get to and we just take off for it, not realizing how far, you know, we're going along the way.

:: 05:56:10

Anthony Robles

And so just if you can take those moments along the way and just remember how far you're going, you know, how far you come that's going to give you that energy to fight through those times where you're like, man, I'm not there yet. Man, I messed up again and I lost again. It's like, yeah, it's okay, but look, look how far you've hit the ground.

:: 06:12:09

Anthony Robles

You've covered, you know, so my senior year just been able to do that and just kind of go back, say okay, I'm improving here. I'm doing this better. You know, I'm checking these boxes off every single day. That kept me in the fight.

:: 06:23:13

Pat McCalla

You know Anthony I talked to a therapist a while ago who worked with like, Type-A people, like, like really driven people. And he said one of the main reasons he had them on the couch often

:: 06:35:04

Pat McCalla

was because they didn't learn to, to celebrate the small wins. And that's

:: 06:39:10

Anthony Robles

Him.

:: 06:40:02

Pat McCalla

talking about, isn't it? Where they had these lofty goals and, sometimes they were they got to a point where they just crashed and burned because they didn't celebrate these little wins along the way.

:: 06:50:22

Pat McCalla

And that's what you're talking about. That helped you move through the disappointing part of getting seventh place your junior

:: 06:55:16

Anthony Robles

It absolutely is.

:: 06:56:19

Anthony Robles

it all goes back to the mindset, you know, to that mentality. And it's like if you think of a wrestling match in college at seven minutes, you know it's seven minutes. It's broken up into three periods. There's a lot that can happen during that time. You know, you can you could win six positions in a row and all of a sudden you lose a seventh.

:: 07:11:09

Anthony Robles

And then if you allow your mind to dwell on that seventh situation that you lost. And what about the rest of the match?

:: 07:18:01

Anthony Robles

You know, there's you just go downhill from there. It's like, no, you just you focus on the things that are going right. You focus on the things that you've already done, and that's going to help power you through it.

:: 07:25:22

Anthony Robles

You know, that's where the energy comes from. It's not the negative stuff. You know, it's not just focus on what you you know, the defeats, like, just let's keep going. You know, I'm okay. This is part of the part of the process. You know, that's something my coaches tell all the time. You know, you got to trust the process.

:: 07:38:16

Anthony Robles

You know, it's not fun all the time. It's not easy all the time. But, you know, that's how you get there. Trust the process. Go through the grind.

:: 07:44:10

Pat McCalla

know, I'm a person of faith, and I actually believe

:: 07:47:23

Pat McCalla

that's what God calls us to as well.

:: 07:50:11

Pat McCalla

it's the process. It's the journey. I'm a driven person. And I spent so much of my life so focused on the end goals that I sometimes miss the journey. I'm trying to do a lot better in my life now.

:: 08:00:04

Pat McCalla

I'm focusing on the journey and the process like you're talking about now. You mentioned that you coach now, right?

:: 08:05:02

Anthony Robles

Yes, sir.

:: 08:05:19

Pat McCalla

you enjoy coaching more or competing more because you don't compete anymore, right.

:: 08:10:11

Pat McCalla

other than

:: 08:11:21

Pat McCalla

some of your athletes you get out there. So but do you miss competing or do you like coaching just as much or more?

:: 08:17:20

Anthony Robles

You know I think I don't know, I think that competition is always going to be there. You know I love competition, I love competing but

:: 08:23:22

Anthony Robles

love coaching. You know it's so much fun

:: 08:26:08

Anthony Robles

to be able to impact my my high school kids, my high school team now, you know, like my, my coaches did for me. And but I feel like I approach it with the same mentality as I did as a competitor.

:: 08:35:00

Anthony Robles

You know, now that I'm a coach, it's like when I was wrestling, it's like, okay, how can I how can I beat my opponent? You know, what are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Where can I, you know, and now as a coach, like, okay, how can I how can I inspire my athlete, you know, how can I impact them?

:: 08:48:03

Anthony Robles

What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? What's their biggest challenge? Is it mental? Is it physical? You know what. Where is their mindset at. So you know it's taken that approach. And you know it's kind of interesting being a coach now I feel like I ride the highs and the lows just the same with my team, with my kids.

:: 09:02:23

Anthony Robles

You know, when they're winning, when they're happy, it's like we're up. When they're down, it's like I'm down there with them, you know? I'm I'm hurting with them. So that that part didn't change at all.

:: 09:12:07

Pat McCalla

You know, it's funny because, I used to compete in athletics not near the level you did. And then I coached as well at a high school level. And I always tell people what I didn't like about coaching is the highs are so high and the lows are so low.

:: 09:24:22

Anthony Robles

Yeah.

:: 09:25:15

Pat McCalla

basketball.

:: 09:25:23

Pat McCalla

You come back after one, you have a big win in the last second and

:: 09:30:13

Pat McCalla

that night because you know, you're just you. The adrenaline's still pumping the next night. You can't break the press and you lose by 20. And you can't sleep that night because you're down right. So you deal with those highs and lows now, don't you?

:: 09:41:13

Anthony Robles

Oh, absolutely. Do. Oh, yeah.

:: 09:44:17

Pat McCalla

me ask you, because I know some of our listeners

:: 09:46:14

Pat McCalla

myself, I catch myself believing these false beliefs sometimes I think a lot of people feel disqualified before they even start.

:: 09:55:04

Pat McCalla

would you say to someone who feels like the odds are stacked against them? And this is great coming against you because that's just part of your life story.

:: 10:02:14

Pat McCalla

In some ways, the odds were stacked against you and you could have disqualified yourself, but you did. What would you say to someone who's like, I just I don't even know how to start? It just seems like everything's against me.

:: 10:14:07

Anthony Robles

I can absolutely relate to that. You know, it's something I've been dealing with my entire life. And you know one thing I would say it's like for everyone out there you're all in your own wrestling match. You know you're all facing your own opponent that you have to compete with on your mat of life, you know, on that wrestling matter of life.

:: 10:27:23

Anthony Robles

And so,

:: 10:28:21

Anthony Robles

really check your mindset, you know, check your approach. Because, you know, if you walk into a wrestling match, you know, say you're standing right there on the edge, you're waiting to get called the center to wrestle the next challenge. Right? If you're just focused on what the challenge is, good at what their strengths are, you know how they can beat you, what they're better at than you.

:: 10:45:09

Anthony Robles

You're setting yourself up for failure, you know? Or you can choose to say, okay, these are this is what I'm good at. This is what I have been training. You know, these are the areas where I can win. Then you're setting yourself up to be successful. So,

:: 10:55:22

Anthony Robles

you know, if you're dealing with something and everyone deals with something, you know, everyone has their their setbacks, you know, their challenges.

:: 11:01:21

Anthony Robles

You know, mine happened to be a physical one, but everyone has something, you know, it's going to be there, but you can't control that, you know? But force your mind and you'll make a list. Force your mind to focus on your opportunities, your strengths, your blessings. You know, what can you utilize to your advantage at that moment and just build on that, expand on it?

:: 11:18:23

Anthony Robles

If you can do that, you know, you can overcome and it's not going to be easy, you know? But the more you do it, the more you fight, the more opportunities they're going to present themselves, you know, the more support is going to come around you. And then before you know it, it's going to start getting that, get that momentum for you.

:: 11:31:13

Anthony Robles

To really start really taking over in that match at your wrestling through.

:: 11:35:13

Pat McCalla

Man I could just tell talking to you. I'd love to get coached by you.

:: 11:38:17

Anthony Robles

Yeah.

:: 11:39:05

Anthony Robles

I think.

:: 11:42:14

Pat McCalla

You mentioned two things. You said two words that I want to just pull out really quickly. You talked about control. Again, I think we often focus on things we can't control and get overwhelmed with that.

:: 11:52:19

Pat McCalla

Right. So speak into that for a moment

:: 11:54:14

Pat McCalla

You also use the word mindset and I love that. So first of all talk about control, focusing on the things we can control.

:: 12:01:11

Anthony Robles

Yeah. That's key, you know, and that's something that it's, I'm still learning how to do it today. You know, you can never be perfect at it, but it's challenge for everybody. You know, it's you focus on what you can control. It's just choosing to put your energy into those things that are going to impact you. You know that that that you have the power over it because you know the things that are going to be there no matter what.

:: 12:22:18

Anthony Robles

Like why worry about it? Why stress about it? No matter what you do, it's going to be there, right? So just focus on the opportunities in front of you, like in a wrestling match. And I keep referring to wrestling. But, you know, when I was facing guys that were quicker than me, you know, who had more experience than me?

:: 12:37:12

Anthony Robles

Yeah. I'm not just stressing about that. It's going to be there. Yeah, I know they're going to be fast. And yeah, I know they have more experience. But what can I control right now? You know what? I can do these things. You know I have this at my disposal. You know, the more you do that, the more you train your mind, you know, to focus on what you can't control, to focus on the positive things.

:: 12:54:13

Anthony Robles

The more you're naturally just going to gravitate to doing that, and then strong you become. You know, I feel like

:: 12:59:11

Anthony Robles

mind is just like any other muscle in the body. You just got to train it, you know? And the stronger it is. But,

:: 13:03:23

Anthony Robles

you have to force yourself at the beginning, you know, because your mind's going to want to go to or all those things that I have no power over.

:: 13:10:05

Anthony Robles

I get it, you know? But you got to bring it back, you know? Let's, you know, and what helps me is make an actual list, write it out. Like, what can I control? What are my strengths? Make that list. So when your mind starts going that way, you have a visual to force your mind to focus on right here.

:: 13:24:19

Anthony Robles

You know, this is the blueprint. This is the map. This is what's going to get me to where I want to go, to help me to be successful.

:: 13:30:01

Pat McCalla

You know anything? I know I want to challenge our audience to really take to heart what you just said. And I might as well. I'm going to start doing that.

:: 13:36:15

Pat McCalla

down. Sometimes and make a list of what can I control, what is within my control right now, and what I love about this. I just mentioned I'm a person of faith.

:: 13:43:21

Pat McCalla

theologian and a philosopher: 2000

:: 14:01:18

Pat McCalla

Is is can I control this? Can I not control this?

:: 14:05:00

Pat McCalla

then I love what you talked about making that list. I'm going to start doing that. That's that's powerful. So speaking of mindset really quick thing. I think that kind of goes along with it. But you talked about mindset and I think that's so important. I think so much of life comes out of our mindset.

:: 14:19:17

Anthony Robles

Yeah. 100% mindset is everything, you know, I mean, in athletics, they're always saying it's, you know, 90% mental, 10% physical or whatever the. Yeah it's it's truth. You know, where is your mindset and the things that you're going through. You know you have to check that constantly. You know, you have to reset it. Because just thinking in a negative light, you're setting yourself, you're putting all this added weight on top of you.

:: 14:41:06

Anthony Robles

You're draining your energy, and to ultimately lead you to failure, you know, so as you're going through your life, and it's not just about goals. It's just going through your day to day, you know, it's like something,

:: 14:52:13

Anthony Robles

negative can happen. Someone can put you in a bad mood, you know, and it's just like, okay, just take a moment after that, you know, take a deep breath.

:: 14:59:13

Anthony Robles

Just like recheck your mindset like, oh, you know what? It is what it is. You know, I got the rest of the day or you know what I mean. Today was a bad day. But man, I'm going to wake up tomorrow. The sun's going to come up and that's another opportunity. That's another day and and another day is a blessing.

:: 15:13:22

Anthony Robles

You know, I think

:: 15:15:08

Anthony Robles

we just focus on what we don't have. We focus on the negative things. We focus on what went wrong, you know. But, you know, the more you can focus on the positives, you know, just adjust yourself and adjust the way you think about things, and treat every day like an opportunity.

:: 15:28:20

Anthony Robles

Then you'll be so surprised at how much further you'll get in life, but also how much more happy you're going to be.

:: 15:34:06

Anthony Robles

for me, being on crutches, you know, growing up that way, everyone saw me for what I didn't have. Everyone saw me for what I couldn't do. If I saw myself in the same eyes, if I had the same mindset as them, I never would have gotten into wrestling, you know?

:: 15:47:02

Anthony Robles

I would have just been stuck on the crutches and been stuck in my room thinking, you know, I can't do any of these things. So, you know, don't limit your potential, don't limit your life by just, you know, having that negative mindset force yourself to be positive. And that's gonna open up a lot of doors for you in life.

:: 16:00:05

Pat McCalla

I'm smiling so big. Because you are the perfect guest on this

:: 16:04:04

Anthony Robles

Thank you.

:: 16:05:03

Pat McCalla

about,

:: 16:05:14

Pat McCalla

we make our choices, and eventually our choices make us. And what you just described. We make our choices about what we allow ourselves to think and what we allow ourselves to dwell on and what we allow our mindset to be.

:: 16:15:18

Pat McCalla

And you're talking about disciplining the mind and and choosing to have an attitude, to focus on what you can control and what you can do, not what you can't control and what you can't do.

:: 16:27:10

Pat McCalla

Well, Anthony, this was like just a teaser for audience. I wish

:: 16:32:03

Pat McCalla

hour. How would people get Ahold of you or connect?

:: 16:35:15

Pat McCalla

I'm sure a lot of our audience is like, I want to know more so they can certainly go,

:: 16:39:10

Pat McCalla

unstoppable. That's on what platform

:: 16:41:16

Anthony Robles

so the movie unstoppable. It's on Amazon and people can find me on my social medias Instagram and Twitter. At a robust 125 or my websites. Just my name is Anthony BlizzCon. So.

:: 16:52:07

Pat McCalla

Yeah. I would encourage people

:: 16:54:13

Pat McCalla

if you haven't seen this movie, you have to see it. My wife and I watched it in the last month or two. I believe it was. And it was so good. You wrote a book as well?

:: 17:03:17

Pat McCalla

Anthony. Thank you. Thanks for, living a life that is really a model.

:: 17:08:13

Pat McCalla

And and motivating and encouraging and challenging for all of us. We really appreciate it. Thanks for your time today, Anthony.

:: 17:15:10

Anthony Robles

I'm on it. Thank you for opportunity to share.

:: 17:17:16

Host

Well, thanks for tuning in with us for this raw conversation with Anthony Robles. If you love this episode, share it with a friend. Leave a review. Follow us on all social media platforms to never miss an episode. We'll see you next time. A no gray areas.