As long as you are in tune with your body and have an understanding of when to work at your maximum and when to back it off a little, all with the aim to be able to get the best from yourself each session. It can be a tough but rewarding journey.
It stands to reason that some days you will feel like shit and won’t perform at your best. On these days you just need to push through and get the most from yourself working with what you have. There will be other days that you will feel like a superstar and perform to your maximum potential. Most importantly, regardless of how we feel on arrival to training, is to consistently maintain a positive mindset and not let our second voice creep in with negative thoughts as that is what holds us back.
Throughout my kickboxing career I always worked hard to be in the best shape I could be in. I felt I had to as Kickboxing was an extremely tough sport on my body. If I wasn’t in great condition my recovery both physically and mentally would have been all the more difficult. Therefore I had to ensure the conditioning I did was nothing but brutal on both my body and my mind.
Another key for me was that I didn’t listen to anybody that hadn’t been in the same position that I was now in. I found that anyone and everyone that had ever watched a fight wanted to offer me their advice. But I was chasing a World Title and wasn’t going to settle for less. I made a conscious decision to only listen to those who had fought at the highest levels. I didn’t give voice the BS about training of those who had never fought at that level.
Over the years I tried lots of different types of strength and conditioning approaches. It was a process of trial and error where some methods would help me find success and others wouldn’t. I kept moving forward through the process until I found the system that helped me perform at my best.
I was a massive believer that in a combat sports you must learn to work and perform in your top threshold. As hard as that can be at times if you don’t learn to thrive under pressure and like being uncomfortable then you most likely won’t perform while you’re there.
The journey of all this allowed me to learn about my capabilities as a person and as a fighter.