I have written in previous columns about the guideposts that have been dropped into my life because of wrestling, but I have been helped to where I am now by some women I have encountered.

Most of the females in my family have had made me better, and by making a list I risk leaving someone out, but I will focus on four for the sake of whatever brevity can come out of anything I write.

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The most obvious one is my mom. She is an example of how persistence can overcome resistance. This was a belief of good friend and former wrestling coach John Fritz, who would head-butt an opponent until he quit. My mom's style is much more subtle. She would pour sugar into a situation until an opponent (or son) quit. She thinks I should weigh 200 lbs, and my visits to her home always include an attempt to accomplish this. Her chocolate cheesecake should be outlawed, it tastes so good, and I always end up "goldfishing" – eating any cake put in front of me. She always wins.

The cake is just one example of a stick-to-it attitude that I picked up from my mother. I don't know how to fight it, but I figure if I can master that kind of persistence I will always win too.

My brother, my father and I will tell you mom is the smartest of all us. She might also be the strongest. Besides, none of the men can make a cheesecake (or any of her other creations) worth a lick.

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My mom's sister Eleanor is the chief sales person for a company called RAMTEL, which helped pioneer the campus safety phone movement at colleges.

Aunt Eleanor and I are very much alike in that we both will work tirelessly to achieve a goal. Of course, she is my mother's sister, so she's also very persistent. And like my mother, she makes me feel like I am talking to someone smarter and tougher than I am.

When we were kids, coming back from Texas when Dad was on school break, Aunt Eleanor would put together giant parties for all the relatives. These parties had all of my cousins (all under the age of 10) running around like nuts in the yard. A recent party we had with the wrestling coaches and their young kids reminded me of Aunt Eleanor and her parties.

She has become immensely successful and is someone I think about often as far as having the kind of drive in me to fulfill what the good Lord made me to do.

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Then there is my wife Jess, who proved the good Lord can drop the right person into your life without you having the foggiest idea. She impressed me to no end with her love of her family, her admiration for her father, and her toughness. I am 11 years older than her (the difference between her late father and mother's ages), but as I got to know her I learned she is someone I can count on, someone who will have my back.

She is the best training partner I've ever had in the weight room. I tell her I saved her life because she was riding the bike but not lifting weights. Now she can put on muscle, speed up her metabolism and eat more.

Jess is also naturally quiet and I am naturally a loud-mouth, but we share the same core values. We both know what it's like to compete, and we support each other in what the good Lord made us to do. She understands what I need to do to "win" at my job, and I understand what she needs to do as a coach to get the bet out of her team. Our kids see that in us and it rubs off on them; they're very competitive. It's not "win at all costs," it's win at the right costs, and figuring out those costs takes prayer and wisdom.

She's the answer to the prayer I never could make. I am twice what I would have been had I not met her, and I feel like I have been chopped in half when she is away.

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Then there is our daughter, Jessie.

Being a gymnast, she and I have a lot in common. We understand that the bottom line is preparation for performance. Jessie was always the one down in my weight room when I was getting ready to compete. (She could do 10 pull-ups when she was 8.) I can remember when she was 4 – cute as a button – she told me after my grueling leg workout that if my legs were the reason I might lose, to do more sets of squats.

I used to always tell her I was going to win her some trophies when I competed, then she started competing and told me she would get her own. She is a joy to me and is now my "trainer," as she has reminded me that since winning my last title in 2006, I have steadily been declining in my placings. She takes her role seriously. While she did allow me my mom's cheesecake a week ago, she stops me from any other wanderings that may leave me at less than my best.

She also does something that can make me laugh no matter what. Like my brother Matty, who could always make me laugh by making the stupidest faces in the world (he had Marty Feldman eyes), Jessie is capable of making faces that have me roaring no matter what my mood is. Just like that, the weight of the world seems to fall off my shoulders.

The gymnast in her bonds her to her mom, but it has bonded her to me as well. We share a certain struggle, and I know she will listen to me when I talk to her. She will also let me know if I am a bit out of kilter as well.

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I turned down all the testosterone for this discussion to talk about the Female Fab Four who I have around: my mom, my aunt, my wife, and my daughter, in the order I met them.

I am indeed a lucky man.