Three Types of Athletes

I have never been on a horse. The closest I have ever come to being on a horse was when I attended the Preakness Stakes once in college. But, I didn't even see a horse at the event. Regardless, I like to make reference to horses when I am training athletes. I think I picked this up from Terry Brands while living at the Olympic Training Center. Terry would always refer to us as "Horses."

In athletics, there are 3 types of "horses" who have success:

Work Horses, Show Ponies and the rarest horses of all, Show Ponies who are also Work Horses.

In athletics, a pure Show Pony who achieves success is one that the game comes natural to. This horse is so gifted, that it does not need to work hard. An example of this might be NBA great Allen Iverson. Allen Iverson was lights out on the court. He put up some incredible numbers and has some fantastic highlights on YouTube, including one where he crosses over "His Airness" Michael Jordan. The YouTube highlight that Allen Iverson is most famous for is his "Practice?" video. Over 7 million people have watched this video, where Allen Iverson downplays the importance of practice. Iverson was so gifted that he could cross over the greatest basketball player of all time and was publicly adamant about the little emphasis he placed on practice. All the success Iverson had, all the highlights, and he still never won a championship...


I personally don't think there is any argument that the greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the best example of the the Show Pony who is also a Work Horse. There are few people to ever play basketball that are even close to being as physically gifted as Jordan was and he literally changed the game because of his work ethic. In his original contract with the Chicago Bulls, he was forbidden to play basketball out side team practices or games. Jordan refused to sign the contract and added the "Love of the Game" clause that stipulated he could practice and play as often as he wanted. Jordan also implemented "The Breakfast Club," which was an extra strength and conditioning program held at his own personal gym that he and a few of his teammates would take part in prior to rejoining the rest of the team for scheduled practice. Unless you have been living on the moon the last 20 years, the result of this story is already known. Jordan would go on to win 6 world championships and go down in history as the greatest to ever play. How good would Jordan have been if he didn't train so hard??? I'm guessing he would have been more than pretty good, but he did not want to leave it to chance. He wanted to make to most of his gifts, which is why he trained harder than everyone.

Chances are, you are not as gifted as Allen Iverson and won't be one of the greatest in your sport while not seeing the value in practice. There just aren't that many true show ponies out there.

The model of success to follow is that of MJ's. Regardless of your God-given ability, be a WORK HORSE!!! Don't leave anything to chance. Out work all of your competition.

I know this is a wrestling blog and we aren't suppose to like basketball, but I always loved it and I think this is the best way to explain the difference between Work Horse and the Show Pony.

Show Pony on Practice:

http://youtu.be/eGDBR2L5kzI

Show Pony/Work Horse on practice:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w39-_rauFSk