Utah Man Uses Ranch Work To Train For NBC’s ‘Titan Games’ Competition

DRAPER, Utah – Spending time in the stables isn’t something new for Cole Wadsworth. The comfort of being around horses stems from his childhood.

“Really it was my family’s background. My dad is a huge endurance racer with horses. He was a world champion in ‘Ride and Tie’ so I’ve always been around horses,” Wadsworth said.

Taking care of the animals was just one of the many responsibilities he had growing up in Peoa and Draper. He says these backbreaking tasks on the ranch have helped shape who he is today.

“Things like hauling hay barrels, you know, doing fence work, moving this that are super heavy,” he said.

He says growing up in a hardworking, competitive family pushed him to be the best in everything he did.

“I played sports in high school and got into wakeboarding,” he said. “When it comes to competition, you win or you don’t win, I mean there is no in between. That is kind of how I was raised and fortunately that has got me to where I am.”

But the 32-year-old father of two said he wasn’t always this big and strong.

“I was the lean, tiny kid in high school,” he said “I was good because I was quick and stuff but after high school I just kind of decided I got to do something different. I wanted something more for myself and decided to get into weight training.”

That journey led him to train for Spartan races and to compete on two seasons of “American Ninja Warrior.” His latest venture is training for NBC’s the “Titan Games,” a competition where athletes compete in epic head-to-head challenges designed to test the mind and body.

“It is just totally different obstacles, totally different challenges than anything anybody has ever seen,” Wadsworth said.

Wadsworth said because they didn’t know what they were going up against until competition day; he had to get creative with training. He set up strength conditioning courses in his stable and obstacles around his property.

On Thursday night, his efforts paid off. Wadsworth beat his competitor in the last five minutes of the 2-hour long episode, advancing to the next round.

He said like anything in life, the key to winning it all is to be mentally tough.

“You push past any limit, you think you have and then you go beyond that to eventually win the challenge and move forward,” he said.

You can watch NBC’s “Titan Games” on KSL Thursdays at 7 p.m. MST.