This week as always has been a good week training and its good to be back on track. It seems at present that  there’s an influx of people wanting to shake off the effects of Christmas and the festive season and it’s always interesting see whose still there come the end of February beginning of March. New years eve resolutions never really to seem to last that long, so I’m glad I’ve got a few new goals to work towards for the new year.

I’ve spent some time this week and last working on basics as well as spending quite a lot of time clinching. January being January has relegated me to training just in Bristol at present but I want to get myself back to Cheltenham next month onwards.

I watched my last fight yesterday and was pleased to see it actually went a lot better than I thought it did. Most importantly, I can see what I need to improve and what some of my strengths are but it seemed a little less scrappy than the fight prior to that I won.

I guess really when it comes down to it you need to be able to take the fight back to the gym and work on what you need to ready for the next time. And speaking of next times I’ve already been matched to fight on my gym’s show in March of this year and all being well I should be out in France next month competing in the WRSA Tournament that is happening there. It’s not 150% definite but it is looking promising and that’s pretty exciting.

I’ve come to the conclusion that fighting and myself has pretty much gone the same as interclubs and myself. It took me quite a few interclubs before I got ‘the hang’ of  them and even then I realized quickly you never know what is going to happen until your in the ring with someone. Really that’s just the same as fighting for real.

I’m still strongest when I’m in the clinch with someone but having watched my last fight I was pleased to see I was kicking a lot more than in my previous fight. Although technique is something we always work on (being honest it wasn’t that bad anyway) at heart I love the way Thai’s fight and I am doing my best to bring  that into my own style of boxing.

A great channel to watch some of the fights in Thailand is Muay Ties. You can find it here. I’m looking forward to getting back out to Thailand later this year. I used to watch fights a little ruefully wishing I could be that good then I realized the amount of time those fighters put into their art to get to that level. It’s achievable.

Anything is achievable when you put your mind to it but I think it’s also important to remember we’re all on an individual journey too. Comparing yourself to others doesn’t really get you very far but then again neither does assuming you will only ever remain at a certain ‘level’. I don’t do self imposed limitations. Just pig headed determination. 🙂

And as far as my own fighting journey goes I can see improvements happening, and to me that’s important. Especially on the back of a loss. There’s a few things I want to improve granted but I can see what works and even what needs tweaking.  I was pleased to see that my movement and footwork has improved over the course of time and that I’m getting faster as well as still remaining pretty strong.

Of course, I’ve still got a long way to go as a fighter but as always I do my best not to put any limit on what I can and I can’t achieve. I just keep training and keep competing when I can. After all it’s important to walk the talk as they say. I think I’m going to be doing that for a little while to come. Have a good week, and just like the last time, I’ll see you on that road.

Forced smile. Rest of the year is about ard Thai boxing faces in photos.