I’ve started off this morning in the same way I intend to start the rest of the week ahead at the gym. With a purpose. When I woke up after a nice evening out with some friends, after what seemed like an eternity of procrastination I hopped on the scales and was dismayed to see me sitting at around 63.5kg this morning. ‘Right.’ I thought to myself. ‘I’m not having that.’

So I went for a run. It was a long drawn out thing that made me wonder why I was doing what I was doing, but when I got into my rhythm as usual, it was something I enjoyed. So cutting to the chase (no pun intended) I’ve got home and I’m pleased to say I’m down to 62 kg. My goal was to shift at least a kilogram and I did what I set out to do.I think that classes as a Sunday win.

I’m going to adopt the same approach in training next week, because I think it’s important to train with a purpose rather than simply go through the motions. It’s important to be pushed but we’re often told it’s just as important to understand why your doing something, and in that respect there’s a few things I want to spend some time working on.

When it comes to fighting I’ve found that it’s equally important to set your intention in training as well as in the fight in itself whether that be moving forward more, working in combinations or defending and countering well it’s something that I think is important to set as a training goal, and it’s very true that what you will do in the gym you are more than likely going to do in the ring.

In other words, if you quit when the training is hard your going to find the fighting far from easy. Fight training and regular training can be two very different things, but I’m going to make sure that just like with fight training I always have a purpose or intention week in and week out at the gym. I’m very big on goal setting as you know, and it makes me feel even bigger when I achieve them.

Despite being far from happy with my last fight it feels like it’s given me some additional focus, and I’m hoping a little more fire and determination than I had before. It was tough in there but then again I knew it would be, and although it didn’t go my way I’m pleased I rose to the challenge. I’m going to make sure I keep my weight low and my fitness good as well as working on what needs to be worked on as I’m already thinking about fighting again. I think I now have something to prove to myself and I haven’t felt this way for a long time. Intention is a powerful thing and it’s good to move positive energy into the right place.

I’m hoping the next time I fight I can apply more of what I’m learning in the gym and in the meantime I want to make sure I’m progressing rather than staying stagnant. It’s certainly not going to be easy and I realized earlier on this week what I intend to let myself in for. To me really it’s just part of the journey and it’s good to be around people that will always push me to be at my best. My goal at the moment is really to break my mould and show myself that if I can change everything else in my life for the better, I can certainly improve as a fighter too. I know it can be done because since I came to Bristol I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would.

So next week I’m back on the horse, training hard and most importantly with a purpose. It’s a long journey but it’s worth every second of my time. Have a good week, train hard and just like the last time.. I’ll see you on the road.