Do

1. Plan your work outs
If you plan your workouts you will be more inclined to stick to the plan, rather than your workout being a whimsical default through boredom.

2. Drink plenty of water
In the holiday season, a regular problem for people working out is dehydration…..Whether this is through alcohol or even eating too much. One of the regular problems that people have during the festive period is eating too much which can cause blockages in your digestive system. By drinking plenty of water and eating fibrous food this will avoid any digestive blockages.

3. Eat properly so you are fuelled for your workout
Over the holiday period, you will be breaking your body’s normal natural cycles, with times of breakfast, lunch and evening meals, so this may mean that you do not have your normal levels of energy. If you are planning your workouts (Lesson #1) then you will be able t plan your nutrition. As my MBN Clients will tell you, timing of meals is just as important as the requirements your desire from that nutritional energy.

4. Give away food gifts
I don’t know about you, but I always get hundreds of chocolate bars and selection boxes, and this can lead to the poor nutrition mentioned in #3. An extension of gratitude and passing on these food gifts will keep that karma come back to you.

Dont

1. Sit on your butt all week
Stopping training totally will grind your metabolism to a stand-still. This means that you will pile on the fat, and it will be easy to drop in to two of the main dieting problems
• Unconscious eating
• Eating through boredom

2. Go back for seconds
Over Christmas, a sign of your hosts lavishness, is to put on more food than is necessary. Going back for seconds means that you are not regulating how much food you are taking on board.

3. Over-indulgence
It takes over 20-mins for the ‘full sensation’ to get from your stomach to your brain, and hence you will tend to eat for a further 20-minutes, when you have already taken enough food on-board.

4. Get wrecked
I am not saying that you have live this Christmas period as a monk….but what I do suggest is limiting the amount of booze you do drink. Drinking over 6/7-units of alcohol will mean that taking that many toxins on-board will make you feel terrible….But by following the ‘DO’ list, you will stay hydrated and be able to process these more minor toxic problems.

This is a quick and easy guide that you can pass on to family and friends which will mean that your holiday break is more enjoyable and vibrant.

Many thanks for reading my blog for this past eventful year and we will be offering some fun offers in 2012, so watch this space

We have put out 14-fighters this year across a wide spectrum of shows, from local feeder shows through to the elite level of national competition. We have come up with a record of 11w 2l and 1 NC, which boosts our winning ratio to 85%.
The winning momentum just keeps us getting better and better.

Chokdee welcomed in our first Champion in Danny Harrison-Little, winning the Northern Area WRSA Welterweight Title in fine style against the illustrious Carl Tankard. This was on the Cage Confrontation 3 show half way through the year. Its astounding to hear that Danny had only been training with us for 6-months before winning that title. There are plans forming at the moment for him to train in Thailand and fight for an English Title at the start of 2012.

But its not only about the fighting side of things. I would say that competition is only a small part of what we offer…..

Over the course of the past 12-months one of our students has shed over 22kgs, merely as a by-product of the functional training that we do….AND also learning a new skill at the same time. This then has had a knock-on effect with confidence, self-esteem and communication skills.
This is only one of the 143 clients we have helped this year for weight-loss, through the MBN Programme.

Not only have we done all this, but we have moved in to the new academy!!!!!

The kids classes are going well ……and I have to tell you about Little Tom (7yrs old).
He is an absolute star! He came to the first ever kids class at Chokdee Academy and has battled colds and flu to make his way to as many classes as he can. After only 3 weeks training he is hitting the pads like a seasoned professional. He is doing so well, blocking every kick, he is even getting his own little ‘thaiboxing swagger’ going on.
I can see a great future ahead for him.

The thaiboxing classes are going from strength to strength with new people starting all the time. Its also great to see the York University guys pursuing additional training in readiness for their inter-University MMA Competition next year.

The all new Kettle-bell classes are going well, with all the guys picking up the new techniques so efficiently and discovering new muscles all the time! LOL

The Brazilian Ju-Jitsu classes are developing and we are attracting people from as far away as Hull and Scarborough to come to these growing classes. I want to say thank you to the instructors Danny Mitchell, James Stafford and John Webb. I think its time we take this to the next stage of development, so watch out for some exciting news early in 2012 (…..if not before).

We are hardly closing over the Christmas period, so keep an eye out for the classes which we will be hosting over this festive period.
Closing dates – 24/25/26/27th December …..and the 1st January.
All other days we will be open at some time.

Many thanks for all your support this year and keep an eye out for some of the exciting and fun prospects we have in 2012…..

Let me whet your appetite with:
• Strength n Conditioning improvements
• Diet n Nutrition /Weight-loss programmes
• Competitions
• Seminars
• Special guests from Thaiboxiing/MMA/BJJ
• Fitness Events
• New Classes

So let me now, tell you the story.
As you may or may not know, Chokdee Muay Thai used to run out of Fitness First on Clifton Moor. We had full use of all of the equipment, state of the art treadmills, cardio-vascular machines, weights, personal training, as well as all the classes we were delivering. But since being made redundant from the railway, just over 2 years ago, I have been looking around for the perfect place to set up my new academy. It just seemed like there was never anything quite right.
A few different options came along the way.
I was invited to join forces with the local MMA Gym (Multi Masters) based down Layerthorpe. I even saw ex-students of mine set up their own gyms….. But for me, it was never quite right. I wanted my own place, but whatever I seemed to do, I was either dodging corrupt estate agents or was avoiding stepping on other instructors toes by setting up within their catchment area.
I mean, if you are going to set up your own martial arts academy then you have to embody the ethics that go along with it (Respect, Honest, Humility, Confidence, Commitment etc).
I must have looked at over 200 properties!!!!!!

And then I came across this real gem of an industrial unit on Rose Avenue, on York Business Park in Poppleton.
It fit the bill perfectly.
It was a new build (3 or 4yrs old), totally blank canvas, bare breezeblock walls, toilet and just under 2500sq ft. The artist in me could now go to work. I worked out what we needed, took dimensions and revisited the unit several times just to make sure everything was going to fit perfectly. I even took down some masking tape and marked-out the areas on the floor so I could take people down and walk through the design with them.
All was going perfectly,….until……

When we looked at all the planning permission certification, the unit was listed as an industrial unit so we had to go through a ‘Change of Use’ at the council. This was a painstakingly slow process, and was essentially the lynch-pin of EVERYTHING.
If we didn’t get the planning permission, it would be back to square one, so needless to say this was probably the most stressful experience I have ever had…..but through this stress I rationalised and learnt some great lessons, not only about the bureaucratic systems that council run but more importantly about myself.
I was investing my life-savings, my hopes and dreams, putting everything on the line to make this happen. But to the Planning Officer at the council, this was just another day at the office, stamping another piece of paper. There was no emotional investment, and as such was no even remotely passionate about what we were striving to achieve.
D-day came, the date when we were supposed to be getting our decision from the planning people.
We were told that we would be getting an e-mail, so I was up at the crack of dawn. 7:30am. No e-mail had arrived. Refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh every 10-mins….. My patience wore thin by 2pm, so I phoned them.
“I am sorry. I am on annual leave until next Thursday. Please call back then!”
After another call to the central office, I finally got through to someone who could help. The head of York City Planning, and he said the 3rd-most beautiful sentence I have ever heard “Yes, I can confirm that planning permission has been granted on Unit 24 Rose Avenue!!!!!” ***
BOOM!!!!! Get in there!!!!!!

It was all systems go.
Check list:
• Rental agents
• Bank Manager
• Equipment suppliers
• Matting
• Joiners
• Plasterers
• Electricians
• Industrial Paint Sprayers
• Carpets

I am not saying there weren’t any other stumbles along the way, there were, but everything else just seemed to happen in an instant. From signing the lease to construction work to fitting it out to running the first class was only 14-days!!!!!!!

I will tell you a little bit more about the quality of the equipment and a few other things in the next blog.

Chokdee Academy

PS ***The 2nd and 1st most beautiful sentences are when my wife said that she would marry me, and when she told me that she was pregnant with our child (in case you were wondering)

GI VS NOGI for MMA.
Hi I’m John, I’m 36 years old and I’ve been doing some form of martial arts since I was 7 years old.
I think as people we find ourselves drawn to specific areas or ways of doing things that are more natural to our physical and or mental makeup and although I’d studied mainly striking arts for many years I first caught the grappling bug when I was in my first year in the army (1991).
I agreed to spar with an army PTI (physical training instructor), who I later learned was half English half Russian, and had spent 3 years in the Russian military sports program and gained the grade “master of sports”( a very high grade) in something called Sambo Wrestling. This is a combo of judo, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and submission wrestling.
So we sparred, after a short period of fairly even stand up sparring he suggested allowing ground work …I agreed after all I did Japanese Jiu Jitsu right? …Wrong! I was taken down at will and totally dominated on the ground, I couldn’t even get a punch or kick off. And when I did, he would catch it and use it to take me down. From then on I needed to learn grappling. A few years past and I had trained Sambo (without the GI top that is traditional) with him and Thai/kick boxing elsewhere.
By the time I left the army in 2003 I had been training MMA for some time, I even ran my own MMA classes from 2008-2010 in which we had some good success at amateur competition level, it’s fair to say I thought my grappling level was of high calibre.
After I decided to close down my classes I dropped off martial arts training due to Injury and time constraints and in my head I had all but resigned myself to never grappling again.
I have the pleasure of being a friend and former student of 2 time world Muay Thai champion Richard Cadden, and it was during a period of adjustment in my life that I called upon Rich`s skills as a mind coach from his business Star performance mind coaching. and it was after this session that I got talking to Rich about grappling. He mentioned that he had recently started training with a Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (with the GI),and he invited me to join them in training, which I declined stating for MMA gi work has little or no benefit compared to nogi.
Rich and I proceeded to have an in depth discussion about the differences between nogi and gi Jiu Jitsu and their relevance to the MMA fighters and practitioners, it’s fair to say the discussion was divided with Rich explaining how good it was for the MMA fighter to learn BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and with me staying firmly on Team No-Gi fence, explaining that “why train with a gi when in the cage or in normal training in MMA gyms no one would be wearing them! So the techniques would not carry over”….
It’s fair to say I thought I had all the answers to this conversation…but I like to think I am an individual that is open to new ideas and a positive free thinker so I thought this would be a good way to try out BJJ and get myself back into what I loved doing…GRAPPLING!
I arrived for my first BJJ session one Saturday afternoon and I wasn’t sure what I would find on arrival, I wore MMA shorts and a rash guard as the last gi I owned was when I was 15.
I arrived at fitness first gym in York at midday and the class started the area was small and unimpressive it had a few mats pushed together to roll (slang for grapple) on.
After a short warm up we went through a few techniques starting with the correct way to transition from mount all the way around the body back to mount. We also went through getting the arm bar from mount (a technique a thought I knew well) we also did a few techniques I recognised from my traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu days.
I was extremely impressed with the teaching and the attention to detail in which every technique was taught with, every technique was practiced 20-30 times in succession alternating with a partner, and every rep was scrutinise by our resident blue belt instructor for mistakes in the technique of which (to my surprise ) there was many.
I was shocked at the level of my own sloppy technique.
As the weeks passed I continued to train BJJ at Chokdee Muay Thai and MMA eventually purchasing my own gi…and restarting my martial arts education from white belt again, and it is fair to say that I have learned more in the last 6 months in these sessions than in the last 29 years of training, my game has ultimately gotten better and this I believe this is due to a few factors. My willingness to engage in something different without fear or prejudice and good coaching and good team mates.
The main difference in the grappling styles is this …in nogi there are opportunities for escapes if you have made mistakes, in gi there is nowhere near as many opportunities to escape from bad positions this then carries over into MMA. So instead of banking on you being able to slip out of a bad position you put yourself in you learn how not to get caught in the bad position in the first place, it forces you to think a few moves ahead because the chance of rectifying any mistakes made in BJJ is a lot slimmer.
Also what I have noticed is that in any position gi work is harder to escape because of the handholds that are available for your opponent to lock onto, for instance if you are being set up for an arm bar you can’t just pull that arm out of there because your opponent has a fist full of gi stopping your escape, again …this teaches you not to get caught in that position in the first place.
Rolling in a gi is also good for your conditioning as it is very restricting sometimes to be wearing this heavy suit that is also used to by your opponent to pull you around and strangle you with.
BJJ also teaches you to be very tight with your submission attempts as you have this thick material in place to squeeze through as well as your opponent resisting you.
For me techniques that I thought I was good at have got better, tighter and sharper, techniques I thought I was bad at have got better and have become my new go to moves.
I agree for MMA fighters and practitioners you need to mix it up with striking and grappling but what I’m saying is give the gi a go even if only once or twice a week as a change from your nogi routine it WILL ONLY HELP and it breaks the monotony of everyday training.
It’s fair to say I’m sold on the gi….do it take the red pill!
JL Webb.

Dont just take our word for it…… Heres what Carlson Gracie has to say:

http://thefightingphotographer.blogspot.com/2011/09/to-gi-or-not-to-gi.html

Thanks to Carl Fisher from Combat Base for directing this to us

Serm Damriram

By the end of the three week preparation, I was walking around under the fight weight, and Jitti was telling me off for losing so much weight. The night before the weigh-in the trainers were forcing food down me at the communal meal-table. After the meal I weighed myself and I had only just got to 67.5kgs.
I woke up the next morning at 6am the gym, walked downstairs and stepped on the scales at 66.2kg which I put down to a slight bit of dehydration. I had a mug of hot-chocolate from the 7-11, over the road from the gym and then we took the subway to Lumpinee Stadium.
We walked in to the stadium via the side entrance, straight in to the weigh-in area. There were hundreds of people milling around, watching the weigh-ins and officials taking details of the fighters weights. I stepped on the scales at 66.6kgs. This was the first time I saw my opponent Mohammed Rhom-Pho, stepping on to the scales at bang-on the 67kilo limit.
When he stepped off the scales and started getting dressed, I noticed how grey his skin looked and how much he had drained himself down. I could see how weight-drained he was and I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. I asked how he was feeling, and he told me that he hadn’t eaten for 3-days and had cut from 76-kilo’s!!!!!!

That evening, we took a taxi from the gym out to Nonthaburi and pulled in to the temple where the show was being held. We bumped in to Rob Cox, the international sports correspondent, and Phil McAlpine who were based at Kaewsamrit Gym.
As we were getting ready, Jitti turned to one of the other cornermen and asked where the pradjet’s (arm-bands) were and there was a confused look, before Jitti disappeared. Moments later Jitti came back and as it transpires, he had asked a local monk to take the bottom 2” or 3” of his orange robe to make in to pradjet’s.
Could this get any more sacred?
Was this another sign?

I started to look around for my opponent, and I couldn’t see him….
Had he not turned up?
Was I still fighting?
I didnt know what to think…..
Then I saw him….He had filled up on water and food and must have ballooned back up to the mid-70kgs. He was huge!!!!!
The fight was being televised and I got told to hurry up with my ram-muay.
As we came face to face in the centre of the ring, I was literally looking at the centre of his chest and the top of my head came to his chin! The fight started out and he was a heavy-hitter. I could really feel that extra weight. I had a good exchange of techniques throughout the three rounds with neither of us taking an advantage.
At the end of the 3rd round I landed a peach of a right elbow on the side of his nose. For the rest of the fight I kept on landing jabs and elbows on his broken nose, scoring well in the clinch and good boxing.

Then at the end of the last round, Mohammed wound up a monstrous left kick, I leaned back out of the way and countered with a body kick clean across his back. Just as the kick landed, there was an echo of “TEEP, TEEP, TEEP, TEEP” that echoed around the ring from all the betting fraternity who had bet money on me. To this day, I still get goose-bumps when I tell this story as it was that exact moment that I knew that I had won. For the rest of the round to worked behind my push kick to secure the win.
The final bell went and I was awarded the win and the WPMF World Title Belt.

This was being filmed on TGN (Thai Global Network) and beamed across the world to 50+ countries. One of which was the UK, and my friends from Bad Company had watched it at Liam Harrisons house.
As I came out of the venue after the fight, I got a text message from Liam saying that he had seen me mouth the words “I cant f###ing believe it!” as the belt was being placed around my waist and is still a text message I have on my Thai phone, that I still have to this day….. Great memories

So I would say that this is a question of recognising the sign-posts, going with what feels right and picking up on that positive winning vibe…..

What sign-posts can you see now?
What is going to help you improve?
What is going to help you win?
What do you have to do to find victory?

Let me explain this a little further.
I had just spent 6-months training at the World famous Jitti Gym where I had about 10-fights, the last of which was for the WMC World Title at 61kgs (135lbs). I was ridiculously fit as I was in fight-shape all the time, doing 6-8 laps of Queens Park (the big park behind Chatuchak) in a sweat suit in the Bangkok morning sun, every morning. This works out to about 18-24km. Every morning I used to see an old Thai man walking to work with a ‘Maintenance’ label across his back. It stuck in my mind as I would guess that he wouldnt speak/read English. Was this a sign-post?
Jitti would sometimes come along and set the pace on one of the bicycles, and also instruct us (the fighters) to have sprint races. As the bout approached I found out I was matched against Khongphipop Nakorn (later moving to Petchyindee Gym), Lumpinee ranked #3 and a master of the elbow. Jitti told me to start with a fast pace and keep the pressure on from the early rounds. My boxing was working very well and I had Khongphipop wobbled at the end of the first round. Could this be the perfect end to a 6-month stint in Thailand? Second round came and the boxing was working well but Khongphipop was wrapping his guard up tight around his head. I spotted an opportunity to land a sweet body and whipped it in. Unfortunately I left the kick there a little too long. Khongphipop caught my kick, pulled me in towards him and right elbow landed on my eye socket ripping the skin upwards causing a massive gush of blood to come pumping out.
Needless to say I was gutted.
The Thai commentators summed it up by saying “Chok mai dai”, which literally translates as though they had been robbed of a fight.
I boarded the flight home less than 5-hours later with 15-stitches in my forehead. I even got recognised in the airport by some of the staff as the fight had been televised.

I thought this was it. I thought I had had my opportunity and that was that. But in Sept 2005 I was still in the UK and my Bad Company team mate, Liam Harrison, rang me from Thailand. He told me that the wizard, Jitti Damriram had been able to secure another World title fight off the back of the reputation I had built up 10-months previous.
As soon as I put the phone down, I was walking through Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester and a billboard caught my eye:

Some people said I was Too Old
Some people said I was Too Slow
Some people said I had missed my opportunity

….Fortunately, I’m not a good listener
REEBOK – Kelly Holmes – 2004

Was this a sign-post?

I felt a new found zeal for the impending trip to Thailand.
When I arrived back at my second home (Jitti Gym) I found out the fight was at the higher weight of 67kgs, but with the quality of tuition I was getting from Rajasak, Serm, Camron and Jitti I had no qualms. So training started up and….

To be continued……

Jongsanan wearing the ISKA World Title I challenged for in 2008

If you ask any true muay-thai historian, the most famous fight of the past 100-years has to be the epic battle between Sakmongkol Sitchuchoke and Jongsanan Fairtex.

This was a welterweight contest, matched at 140lbs.
This fight took place at Lumpinee Stadium. I was considering talking you through it blow-by-blow, but I think to really appreciate the quality of this bout, the ferocity of the technique, the heart and determination, the electric atmosphere and ram-packed crowd….You simply HAVE to see the fight in all its glory.

I think you will be able to see from this video why Jongsanan’s nickname was ‘The Wooden Man’, because he was (and probably still is) teak-tough.

Recently, Jongsanan and Sakmongkol have been doing seminars together showing the healthy spirit of muay-thai as a sport and that we are all friends. They can have the battle of the century and still spend time together like this.
I think this, again, shows how real nak-muays conduct themselves and are a credit to the sport.

I read a quote this morning from a lad who recently attended a seminar with both Sakmongkol & Jongsanan:

“How did Sakmongkol manage to not get cut with all the elbows Jongsanan landed on him?

He said that Jongsanan was too close, landing more on the forearm than the point of the elbow, and that he was throwing them too stiff. Jongsanan said he threw from that range because he didn’t want to back up and get hit by Sakmongkol, and that he was throwing his elbows too tense because he was dead set on dropping Sakmongkol as payback. Jongsanan admitted the technique in his elbows wasn’t good, ironic considering that fight is so highly regarded for the elbow technique. Jongsanan also said that he fought back hard because he wanted to make some money.”

Darren Currie from Combat Base in Pontefract, posted this, which he found on one of the BJJ FORUMS:
This, in my experience, has manifested itself in a number of different ways, including but not necessarily limited to:
- Fear of losing to people lower in an imagined ‘hierarchy’ of skill
- Fear of losing to someone with less fights
- Fear of trying something new if it involves risk
- The belief that ‘not getting hit’ is equivalent to a good performance/increase in skill

The irony is that all of these fears actually are the root cause of a permanent skill plateau. This vicious cycle, after a while, seems to almost paralyze development.

This is when I recognised some habitual patterns in my martial arts growth and development

When I first started at Bad Company and we were about to start sparring, Mr Smith used to generically say to the class, see if you can get the biggest, baddest, hardest-hitting opponent that you can find (And in his comical way used to add on “And if I am taken, then I am sure you will find someone else!”).

At the time there were three guys who I found RIDICULOUSLY hard to spar against:
• Steve ‘Pitbull’ Rutherford – British and Northern Area Champion
• Steve ‘Steppin’ Razor’ Deane – Commonwealth Champion
• Mark Rollinson – A 100kg phaenom
• Dave Riley – Northern Area Champion

The “Pitbull” was super-fast and never gave you a moment to breathe.
The “Steppin Razor” had lightening quick counters and stung you at the first opportunity.
Mark was a solid wall of muscle you just simply couldn’t move him.
Dave had a lightening-fast kick and had fought the likes of Christian Di Paulo

I put my early success down to training with these guys as I had to modify my game and learn different styles….but as I grew, learnt and developed, these guys moved on. I spent a lot of time training and competing in Thailand (twice a year), as a new generation emerged from Bad Company with the likes of:
• Liam Harrison
• Jordan Watson
• James France
• Andy Howson
These guys need no introduction.

This is how you learn. If you stay in your comfort- zone all the time, you are not expanding or growing…..
However, now that I think about this issue, the ideology goes back a bit further….

When I was younger I did judo for a few years. When I first started as an ungraded judo player, I used to ask the black belts for sparring when everyone else was taking a break and the mat was empty. I was more akin to the combat side of things anyway.
I used to get thrown all over the place, literally bounced from pillar-to-post, I earning the nickname ‘makiwara’…..and to be honest I thought this was pretty cool nickname until I found out that it meant ‘punchbag’ in Japanese
Regardless of how many times I got thrown heavily, I’d just get back up and carry on.
I basically got nil’d every session, 30-0.

One thing I learnt is that I couldnt change the past, but I could change the future.
I’ll never forget the day that I got to 29-1
Needless to say, when I did grade, I achieved the highest leap of grades ever recorded in the club (straight to orange belt) by beating 6 or my 8-man line up with clean scores…..
This is what competition is all about.
I guess sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes you the nail!

Some of the legendary names we focussed on were:
• Yodsanklai Fairtex
• Coban Lookchaomaesaitong
• Saenchai Sor Kingstar
• Ramon Dekkers
• Hippy Singmanee
• Sanklai Sitkru-ott
• Rajasak Sor Vorapin
• Lamnamoon Sor Sumalee

The benefit of this is not in the particular strikes that are thrown, its more in to ‘how’ the techniques are used and how to feed hem in to the sparring. I know there is a flood of knowledge that went on during the seminar and there maybe the tendency to try and use all of these all at the same time….but the way in which to truly embed these within your sparring is to focus on one technique at a time and slowly but surely make these a regular thing. For instance, if you focus on the Coban techniques of catching kicks, have a full night just looking to perfect that one technique. Then next time you will have developed a muscle memory to repeat it easier next time. It doesn’t matter if people figure out the technique you are working on, as it just means that you will develop sharpness in that technique.

Saenchai SinbiMuayThai and Rich Cadden

As you may see from Saenchai doing pads, he throws 5 or 6 cartwheel kicks per round when doing pads. This means that he will develop a muscle memory and will be able to do this EVEN when he is tired, without thinking, making it automatic. As soon as he see’s that opportunity he will be throwing the technique without considering his energy levels, checking his balance or any of the other things discussed at the seminar. The awareness of all these things is already in place as he has delivered these techniques so many times.

Hope this helps with the development and I look forward to hearing about all your success in sparring over the coming months

And one more time, thank you to Jamie McCrae for your hospitality and organization, Keith Middleton for use of your gym and all the guys for taking me out for some beautiful thai food on Saturday night.
Great to see you all keeping it professional for your up and coming fights… CHOKDEE

Do you really have what it takes to be a fighter?
Being a fighter has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world. Health and Safety would have a field day if they had to do a ‘work-place assessment’ of working conditions and managerial expectations.
….But this is what we do.
All of these traits above are used, in some form or another, to punish crime, and most are even used as hard line interrogation techniques (allegedly)

So, what is it that people find so alluring about training as a fighter?
For me it is that rollercoaster of emotions. You are either riding high on cloud-9 after a win, feeling on top of the world….. Or you are at the depths of depression feeling so low. I think the enjoyment and excitement of putting everything on the line is what keeps fighters coming back to the ring.

Rollercoaster of emotion

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!