Afternoon all. I’ve got here a little later than planned but it’s good to be back. I have a tendency to arrive late at most things these days including training. It’s something I’m intending to change from today going forward. My trainer said to me yesterday that fighting takes discipline (ok so I do totally get that but maybe recently I haven’t been as disciplined as I’ve been in the past) and that being a part of a team means not walking in late and choosing to warm up on my own whilst everyone else is doing exercises. To be fair, I was expecting a bit of rebuke as I have a tendency to work on my own standard time and at points can be so laid back  I’m almost horizontal.

If gyms are microcosms of life one thing Muay Thai teaches you very quickly is that we’re all the same in and out the ring and no one is better than or treated differently from anyone else. It also taught me that a little humility goes a long way and when your coach tells you off for things you shouldn’t at this stage be told off for it’s worth taking it onboard. Besides, when it comes to fighting a fighter has to work with their trainer and their teammates to get the best results. 

Anyone who thinks Muay Thai “is all about respect” (let’s be honest, we’ve heard that before from the egos in gyms) is probably a ridiculous little authoritarian who deserves very little themselves. Mutual respect and friendship develop with your trainer and your team over time. It was nice yesterday evening to get a message from my coach saying “sorry if I was hard on you but sometimes that’s my job” Likewise, sorry if of late I’ve taken your patience for granted. I’ll pull my finger out and be at my best. I mean that. When it comes to fighting, like in the rest of my life it’s nice remembering I am never alone.

You know It’s funny because I’ve been thinking about focus a lot of late. Like most people in life, I often have varying plates to spin and the trick is really obtaining the right balance. Sometimes it’s easy to carry the outside world into the gym and it’s very easy to find yourself distracted. Of late I’ve started to try to switch off the internal dialogue and focus on the here and now. Being a human being I’ve found that this takes practice but it’s getting there. Sparring and fighting are the times I usually find myself in the moment so I want to start bringing that into drills.

I think just staying present and attentive all the time especially after a long day is never easy but you know if you want to get good at something you have to be at your very best. Right? Cut out the distractions and feed the focus. I find when I’m fighting this happens naturally. All I can hear is my corner and the rest is muffled background noise. I get tunnel vision.

I think next time I’m fighting I’m going to use that tunnel vision to go through the person in front of me. To get to that point again it’s going to take a team effort as well as a lot of graft from myself and I’ll make sure I remember that in the future.

I find myself caught up a lot at present in procrastination due to that plate spinning thing I talked about a minute ago. I want to be able to take charge of a few different areas of my life and it’s good to know that when I need to do that the right situations and people often present themselves. I’m going to remember to take the energy from training and apply it to all areas of my life and hopefully get the work-life balance addressed, keep my dedication to what I do and feed my focus.

Speaking of working days I’ve got a lot to get done before the end of the day and it’s been nice taking a pause to get my blog written. Sorry, it’s a bit late. (Again.) I’ll make sure that improves from here on in. Have a great week, train hard and as always.. I’ll see you on that road.