Don't train for failure

Years ago, I was doing my usual rope skipping warm-up when my coach Mike quite uncharacteristically walked up to me and said,

 "Today I want to you relax as much as you can in the ring, but when you do strike, I want you to do it as fast and hard as possible, then relax again as fast as you can."

The rhythm of the skipping rope didn't stop during this conversation but my mind was racing.

This advice was coming from Mike Smallwood who as a fighter himself was a ferocious "pressure fighter". For those unaccustomed to what a "pressure fighter" does it is simply this, exhaust your opponents by constantly coming forward behind a barrage of punching and kicking. If the pressure fighter has a motto is might be 'Don't let your opponent have any air or space'.  The pressure fighter is accustomed to suffering and their joy in life is to ensure that their opponent suffers more.

THIS man was telling me to be tactical in my approach!

So, being a good student, I did what I was told.

I kept the session crisp and explosive. I fired rapid combinations and then found rest where I could during the hour.

After the training session I left to go to work, and then something interesting happened....
...for once I didn't fall asleep in my truck before work started!

This is important because every. single. time. that I did a session of kickboxing previous to this I desperately needed a few minutes of sleep in my truck after the session was complete. Each time I was exhausted.

I kept this new style of training for the remainder of the month. At the time I was preparing to enter a tournament. My new mindset was to train as often as possible while staying as fresh as possible.

The day of the tournament I weighed in to determine the division I would be fighting in and to my surprise I saw that I had lost 9lbs. I ended up fighting in a lighter weight division then I had ever fought in previous.

I also managed to win the tournament which was held at Mike Miles kickboxing gym. 

The fights were 'easy' and I had 'gas to sell' so to speak.

So, what happened?

The lesson I learned was simple and is part of my training philosophy today.

I believe that the purpose of a training session is to store energy in the body rather that exhaust it.

It is in this way that training should have a tonic effect on the body not an exhaustive one.

I think that is a powerful mindset and leads to better health and better performance.

Dedicated to your athlete's success,

Greg and Charmayne