I first discovered kickboxing in 2006. I started with the intention of building my fitness for a few months and then moving on to a traditional martial art. Instead, I got the kickboxing bug, and I’ve continued to train in kickboxing ever since.
Competing in kickboxing helped me focus on my priorities in training and forced me to tackle some of the issues that can hinder training progress.
I wanted to pass on some of the lessons I learned from getting punched in the face, so that you don’t have to try it yourself. I’m no superstar kickboxer, but I clocked in enough time in the ring to have learned some useful lessons that you can apply to your training, whether that’s for a competitive sport or just in the gym.
1. You Can’t Predict The Future
Fighting has always been a scary experience. At the amateur level of kickboxing, you spend the day of the fight sitting in a waiting area for hours, waiting to be told it’s time for your fight. Naturally this is a time where negativity can take hold of your thoughts.
I used to wait and watch other fighters walk past me to have medical checks or get weighed. When you don’t know what your opponent looks like, every person seems like the biggest, meanest person there. I’ve spent hours trying to work out who my opponent was, making all sorts of assumptions about them based on their demeanour, their kit, their tattoos or their supporters.
But I’ve never correctly guessed who my opponent was before a kickboxing fight. Usually, it’s been someone I hadn’t even seen in the waiting area. I’ve wasted so much energy before fights, being afraid of people I haven’t even ended up fighting. Even when you do see them, they’re just regular people.
It’s easy to let your mind run away with negative assumptions about what the future holds, but most of the time you have no objective reason to suspect that the worst-case scenario is more likely than the best-case. I’m lucky that my negative assumptions have been wrong so many times that I can no longer trust them.
We make these worst-case assumptions in gym training, too. They can stop us from following our goals, and cause undue stress. Next time you’re worried about the outcome of something, try reminding yourself how terrible you are at predicting the future.
Challenge your negative preconceptions regarding your goals – read more here.
2. Focus On What You Can Do
When I was competing in kickboxing regularly, I was one of around ten regular fighters that sparred and trained together every week. Although we all got on, there were a lot of big mouths. There was plenty of joking, bragging, and general mugging-off.
I have never been completely at home in these types of environments. I’m not the loudest or most socially confident, and it could be exhausting trying to keep up or fit in. I daresay this is a more common feeling than many of us would like to admit.
However, I gradually learned that if I kept my head down and focussed on my actions, none of the talk mattered. I could get a good-quality training session done and make my own progress.
People can make a lot of noise, but they can’t control you. You don’t have to “keep up” with the chat, and you don’t have to talk a big game in order to get where you want to be. Obviously you shouldn’t just ignore someone being abusive to you in the gym, but your self-belief must extend beyond the opinions of other people.
Your source of motivation should not be controlled by other people – read more here.
3. You’re Never Too Good For the Basics
In every kickboxing fight, there are certain fundamental techniques that you will always see: jabs, crosses, roundhouse kicks, and so on. Of course, you’ll see people using spinning kicks and big combinations, but these will never replace the basics.
The basics are less complex skills that demand less energy, but they get the job done most of the time. There’s always something about these techniques that can be improved, and you’re never too good to practice the basics.
In the gym, your basics are your main fundamental movements – squats, deadlifts, pushing and pulling, and so on. You should not be surprised to see these exercises feature heavily in most gym programmes, and it does not mean you’re missing out on some super advanced secret technique. You will get closer to your goals by regularly doing the things that have the biggest impact on those goals.
It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement over a flashy programme or innovative exercise, and you can be forgiven for thinking that a coach is lazy if they don’t revolutionise every workout. However, I’d trust the coach that keeps me on the straight and narrow with minor adjustments over the coach that gives me a different workout every time.
Squash your ego. You’re never too advanced for the basics.
Don’t skip the basics: learn more about squatting and deadlifting.
4. Remember Your Goal
In a kickboxing session, every participant has slightly different intentions. Different fighters have different styles, and some members simply train for fitness or fun. There are different experience levels, fitness levels, and injuries. This means we all have slightly different training goals.
Before a round of padwork, I always used to remind myself what I needed to get from it. As a tall fighter who often fought stronger opponents, I always needed to work on keeping my distance. Another fighter may have needed to work on closing the distance, or may have had different bad habits they needed to work on.
The same goes for your gym training. You have to look at your training through the lens of your goals. Why are you training? What are you doing to ensure you keep moving forward?
If you’re looking to change your physique, then seeing who can lift the most for one rep between you and your mates is not really a good use of your time. If you’re training to improve your strength, then ditch the image-obsession and focus on your lifts.
Maintain your focus in training – read more here.
5. Not All Problems Can Be Solved With More Hard Work
Kickboxing can be hard, painful, and can force you to overcome challenges through sheer force of will. As a result, when people prepare to fight they look to extreme methods; they want to find workouts that are more difficult, more painful, and more challenging on their willpower.
However, none of these things will help you outclass a more-skilled opponent. No amount of toughness will help you beat someone you can’t hit. Some obstacles are too big to be overcome just by “wanting it more”. Sometimes you need a change of strategy instead.
In the gym, you can’t make five lifestyle changes at the same time. You can’t fix your squat technique whilst maxing out every week. Sometimes, you need to go back to the drawing board and change your strategy.
That means slowing things down, making things easier, and giving yourself time to learn and change.
Despite what Rocky might tell you, it’s not always about taking hits. Read more here.
I hope you found this useful, and I hope it wasn’t simply an excuse for me to revisit past accomplishments! Be sure to follow me on social media (bottom of the page) or sign up to the newsletter to stay up to date!