TRAINING

When health is absent, wisdom cannot be applied. What do you gain in life if you don’t have the health to enjoy it? You can be wealthy but if you’re not healthy are you happy? Health is something to be focused on in our everyday lives because it affects how you think, feel and act. The healthier we are, the more energy we have to do the things that we value in life. How well do you think you would perform if every day you had to deal with an illness, injury or pain? Of course there are warriors that live with these challenges every day and succeed in spite of them but that is not the norm. Some people can rise above their challenges no matter what they are but again these people are not like everybody else. Health, by definition, is a state of physical, mental and social well-being. It implies the absence of infirmity or disease, but their mere absence does not define health. Earning and maintaining health is an active process. Good health is a result of proper nutrition, regular exercise, health care and hygiene.

Stretching is a form of physical exercise which increases muscle control, flexibility and range of motion. Increasing flexibility through stretching is one of the basic excersises of physical fitness that will help one avoid injury and increase blood flow to the muscles being used. It is common for athletes to stretch before and after exercise in order to reduce injury and increase performance. Stretching can strengthen muscles, and in turn strong muscles are important to stretching safely and effectively. Stretching can be dangerous when performed incorrectly. Stretches should be held for a given amount of time and should not be "bounced". Before you do your warm up stretches it is recommended to get your heart rate going by doing 10 minutes of warm up exercising. Performing Warm Up Stretches is recommended to be part of everyone's exercise workout, it not only prepares your muscles for exercise but will help prepare your mind to exercise as you slowly build up to the main exercise component. Feeling the benefits of improved range of movement and the mental preparation will help you stay motivated to continue the workout and will assist you in achieving greater results and reduce the chance of injury. You should stretch before your main exercise because cold muscles don't stretch! Spending 5 to 10 minutes doing some aerobic workout and then performing warm up stretches will make all the difference to your main workout.

Everyone says it but, stretching really is the most important part of any exercise workout. Warm up stretches aren't just about avioding injury but they also help you perform at a higher level during the main exercise session. And cool down stretches can help with muscle recovery and developemnt, everyone who exercises should understand the benefits of stretching.

FIVE FIGHTS, FIVE VICTORIES

Sometimes there is not much difference between winning and losing in life. The winner can look worse than the loser but perhaps the most telling are the victories and losses we encounter on way. I came to understand this from my experience in the ring. Here is an overview of what I have come to realize about fighting

In fighting in the ring there are in fact five fights to be faced and there are five victories to be had.

Fight #1

Accepting the Challenge

For some accepting a fight is easy, for most though, accepting a fight is hard. It is done with careful consideration, can they endure the training? Can they win the match? Can they take the time from their family or their commitments? Are they ready for the challenge?

If all of these questions are considered and a commitment is made then this is the first victory. It is a victory of courage and character.

If a person turns away from the challenge because they know they are not in a position to take the challenge then this is also a victory. It is a victory of reason and character.

To take the fight without consideration of any of the consequences is a defeat. It is is a failure to be cavalier with ones life and commitments. Ultimately it is a defeat of reason.

Fight #2

Training for the fight

Training for the match is the hardest part of making the commitment to fight. Vince Lombardi the famous football coach said, “The will to win is not as important as the will to train.” An amateur fighter will train between 2-4 hours a day for a fight. A professional often doubles the amount of training. The training also includes a strict diet and brutal conditioning exercises. Most people can do this for a week or two, but what is needed is a commitment to carry out this regimen for six to eight weeks before the fight. This is physically exhausting and mentally challenging, and that is what makes it such a difficult victory to achieve.

The training for the fight is not just for physical strengthening and skill development, it is also to develop the relentless determination to be an unconquerable force. Those that take a fight without considering this challenge often fail to do the work needed to have this victory, but it is ultimately the most satisfying victory of all.

Fight #3

Climbing into the ring

After the weeks of training there is the eternal moment of waiting for the turn fight. The fighter is often anxious to get the match over with. Here is a chance for another victory. To climb in the ring with the knowledge that anything is possible, but that regardless of what happens in the ring a warrior will not fail to do their best. This is a victory. It is a victory of achieving serenity in crisis. It is a victory of reason over fear.

There are some who travel to this point and then refuse to fight. It rarely happens, but I have personally had to convince a fighter to to fight. They would not go, their fear was too great. They ultimately went out and won their match, but they nearly lost a far more important fight in the locker room. It is a crushing loss to allow fear to defeat reason. Life is full of scary moments; to give into fear is a defeat that can haunt us forever. To have victory over fear is a moment of discovery about our very nature. It is a gift we give ourselves, a treasure to draw upon when life’s challenges arise.

Fight #4

The Match

Finally the moment of touching gloves. Up to this point there were three victories to be had. If they were achieved this fourth fight is simply a matter of doing our best with what we have prepared to do. The fight may be hard, but it will not be harder than the training. It may be painful, but it will not be as painful as the conditioning we have endured. The will to win will have been created by the daily practice of showing up to train and doing our best. The fight will take care of itself. The fight will be a reflection of our efforts to be there. Relentless determination to be an unconquerable force will be our nature because that is what we created in our regimen of training.

Fight #5

The Fight with Ourselves

After the fight whether our hand was raised in the air or not we will relive the fight in our mind over and over again. We will think of the things you could have done better and the moments that went well. Our thoughts will be, “I should have done this, or I should have done that.” This is our nature, and we must allow ourselves the time to celebrate our successes and to mourn our losses, but then we must let it go.

This is a torturous seemingly unending fight. You can spend hours beating yourself up over the fight even if you won the match! We can let this fight go by creating a plan to improve your deficiencies. Once this is achieved we can forgive ourselves of any perceived flaws. We can enjoy all of the victories we have had throughout the journey to the ring.

Remember, a victory in the ring is really only one part of the whole story. If you have won all of the other victories but you were not victorious in the match then you will have a tremendous sense of loss, but this is temporary. You will look back at the other successes and take solace in that. If you learn from your loss then you will snatch victory from defeat. When you fight again you will have another piece in your game that is better than it was before.

If you won your match you may feel it is a complete validation of all of the other victories you have achieved, and to some degree it is true. Remember though, that victory and defeat are opposite sides of a coin. Ultimately they are the same thing. A victory is a moment of happiness; defeat is a moment of sorrow. Both are simply personal reflections of the match. Do not allow victory to be more than it is, or it may blind you from seeing the importance of all five victories.

You may have won the match but lost some of the other fights, in doing so you may have had success doing things wrong, and that may lay the seeds of future failure.

Our victories and losses must not impair our judgment. In the grand scheme a win or a loss are a small thing. It was not the match that really mattered anyway; it was the victories along the way.

Good luck in your fights may you be five for five!

Meinmachine