All field, court, and combat athletes reach the highest levels because they're the best at playing their sport – not because they're the best in the gym!
All you need to do is look at the NFL combine results for proof. Out of the top five bench press records in NFL Combine history, only one player, Brodrick Bunkley (Florida State, 2006) became a remotely successful player.
The 2008 article titled, "Few recent combine stars have become productive NFL players" stated that:
"Seventeen of the 128 very best combine performers since 2000 went undrafted. Twelve of them never played in an NFL game. Forty-three weren't in the NFL last season. Ninety-five have started fewer than half of their potential regular-season games since they shined at the combine."
And from the "10 Greatest Scouting Combine Performances in NFL History," half the names on the list never panned out into even halfway decent players. However, the other half of the names on the list became superstars.
All these athletes had "raw" physical ability, but what separated the zeros from the NFL heroes was their ability to use that talent as a platform to express their will and skill to actually play the game.
In other words, physical ability is meaningless if you stink at your sport! And physical training will just make you a bigger, stronger, faster dude who still happens to stink at his sport. It's your skill and your will that makes you a winner.
The Truth About the Bench Press -- Nick Tumminello
