What traits does it take to be a champion?

Following on from the last blog about ‘Perfect practice’, we are going to take a look at personality traits of a champion. So what does it take to be a champion?

Commitment – Turn up to every class, without fail. Even when you don’t feel like going, you still pick up that training bag and drag yourself down to the gym. This is when you normally have the best sessions because you have no expectations of performance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dedication – Prioritising training over everything else. It becomes the reason why you go to bed early, eat the foods that you do, drink what you drink, even down to the way you cut your hair!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honesty and Integrity – Your coach will know if you haven’t been doing your extra training outside the gym. This can include, sprints, weights, calisthenics; And the last two which are equally important, rest and diet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loyalty – It’s better to have one-voice in your corner so you can tune in to that in the gym, which will also then carry through in to the fight.

 

 

 

 

 

Attention to detail – How can you get that extra advantage? Are you training with the best coach you can find, or are you just going with your mates for a bit of fun? How experienced is your coach? What are their credentials? If your experience exceeds theirs, then who is teaching who?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Control of your mood and emotions – Red mist, anger and over-aggression do you very few favours in a Thai boxing fight. It just means that you over-commit in to your shots and start to telegraph your techniques. If you are feeling down/low/flat then you need motivation. Your motivation can be to feeling better, and this will happen when the endorphins kick in when you are training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work ethic – Anyone can ‘coast’ through a session, but real champions give 100% for the full time they are there, and literally have to drag themselves out of the gym.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Superstitions – When I first started, my coaches would bringing in their championship belts, and my superstition was that I wouldn’t even touch them as I hadn’t earned the right. I wanted my first experience of touching a title belt to be when it was being put around my waist.

 

 

Investment – If you want to go further than your peers, then you have to have an investment in time, money, effort and all these personal traits above to achieve that goal

 

How can you apply these traits to your thaiboxing as well as other areas of your life?

Are there any other traits would you like to add in?
Feel free to comment…..

**********EDIT**********
But dont just take my word for it, here’s what Damien Trainor has to say