This week has been a tough week training wise, but it’s been a different kind of tough other than just the usual pre fight blood and guts I’m used to. I’ve pushed myself in training of course, but there’s been a couple of days where I’ve also learnt some new drills and had to think about footwork a little more than usual too. In fact it’s made me realize that I want to start to step things up with training and spend a little more time than usual at the gym, regardless of if I’m fighting or not.

One of the main things I’ve learnt about Muay Thai is that it has shown me quite quickly that I can exceed my own expectations and push through my limitations when I put my mind to it. When I set my intent. And besides, when it comes to limitations I’ve learnt that their only ever self imposed anyway. I learnt some fairly tricky drills earlier on this week, and at one point caught myself saying out loud ‘this is hard.’ I think really I was missing the point. The drills seemed  tough because they were pushing me more than usual.

If I really want to start pushing beyond my own limits I think I need to start testing myself more. That’s not to say that I haven’t been training hard, but I think it was really these couple of days that broke the proverbial  straw on the donkey’s back and made me want to start committing myself even more, regardless of if I have a fight coming up or not.

At the moment I’m training with my main camp who I compete for and also at my other camp. As I’ve mentioned before I train around 5 times a week on average, but have stepped it up a little recently because of next weekend and have thrown in a sixth session into the mix when I can.

I’m finding it’s something I’ve enjoyed and can see it being of real benefit to me. I guess it goes back to what I said a while ago. The more you put in, the more you get out . Of course, there’s more to life than just martial arts but training is such a big part of my life I’m prepared to commit as much as I can to my journey. It’s going to be an interesting experience seeing how much it helps me improve. What’s really nice is seeing the investment for what it is, and ultimately that’s potential.

I’ve had a couple of moments of clarity this week, and realized how easy it is to push past my own limitations because ultimately their just training plateaus anyway.It’s been nice to hear people I train with tell me that I’m getting a lot better and I was happy when one of my trainers (after those tricky drills) told me that I’ve got the potential to get really good. I guess everyone has. Again it goes back to commitment to what you do and of course applying the right attitude.

In a lot of respects pushing yourself beyond your boundaries in the gym is like pushing yourself in the last rounds of a fight. At least it is for me anyway. You have to give it everything that you have to be at your absolute best, and self doubts are easily put to bed and proved wrong the more you commit yourself to what your doing. I’m out in Thailand for the second time in June, so know that’s going to bring out the best in me too.

I’ve got less than a week till I fight again, and next week I’ll start to slow down a little before next Saturday. Training has been going well, and ok Friday this week was a killer. One of my main fight trainers was back and put us through hell and back. Right now I feel focused and determined to succeed both in the ring and at the gym. In the meantime, have a good week, train hard and I’ll see you on the road.

‘If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.’ -Bruce Lee