At the end of a long day, how do you want to feel? It's obvious our decisions during the day will influence how we feel. I firmly believe that the small decisions we make all day will truly shape our lives and inevitably how we feel. The question is, what choices will lead to a feeling of fulfillment? It's safe to say that fulfillment is not going to be found in short-lived pleasure and instant gratification. Our pursuit of mastery and purpose is what leaves us feeling fulfilled at the end of each day. The sport of boxing has been an excellent way to continuously grow and challenge myself over the years. This highly nuanced sport provides a lifetime of challenging techniques, movements, and strategy to stay on a path of growth. Boxing, because it's so highly focused, offers me the much needed mental break from the endless, monotonous cycles of life. In addition, the focus on daily practice and improvement will surely snowball into other areas of your life, just like negative habits will.
The word Kaizen is a compound of two Japanese words that together translate as "good change" or "improvement". Today, the word has come to mean "continuous improvement" via lean methodology and principles. Starting and maintaining a positive habit can influence additional positive health changes. If our focus is further down the road, say 5 years, we can plan a course of continual growth and change which can lead to remarkable results. For example, Mike Tyson went from a 13 year old lost boy to the heavyweight World Champion in a 5 year window. Typically, I notice most people set much too aggressive time windows in order to achieve their desired result. Essentially, we overestimate what we can do in 1 year and underestimate what we can achieve in 5 years. When starting out, forget the instant weight loss goals, focus on small incremental changes to your boxing skill-set. When the focus is placed in the proper areas, just six months of training will produce remarkable changes in your boxing ability and inevitably your physique. It's in the enjoyment and nurturing of this growth, both mentally and physically, that will yield the long term changes we all desire. The sport of boxing, when maintained and practiced over the long-term, will have a profound influence on the aging process and how our bodies function.
Dr. Peter Attia, in his latest book Outlive, outlines his obsessive research into the fascinating area of longevity. A key aspect of the book is based around the unreal benefits of physical exercise and its ability to extend both the quantity and quality of our lives. A finding that should interest us all is that strength, stamina, and stability are all key components of longevity. With time being the limited resource that it is, the sport of boxing nicely incorporates all three of these necessary components. Combinations in boxing involve movement in every direction, bending and flexing the body, explosive movements, stability from head to toe, and massive positive pressure on your cardiovascular system. In addition, the complex puzzle-like nature of the sport is excellent for slowing down cognitive decline and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Our primal ancestors, who spent much of the day walking and carrying impressive amounts of weight, developed intense wrist and hand strength plus aerobic endurance. Not surprisingly, it turns out grip strength is strongly associated with longevity. Boxing, putting intense tension on both your cardiovascular system and joints, turns out to be an ideal activity for both of these focus areas. Group exercise, and joining a TEAM that is focused on this kind of positive growth and change, is 100% necessary for long term success.
Group related exercise has long been proven to be much more effective than individual workouts. It's not everyday we feel like doing a hard workout, but others within the group who feel great can push us to perform. That way, there are days you are responsible to push the group, and there are days the group will push you. This daily back and forth will build camaraderie and close bonds like nothing else. Even better, challenging group sports like boxing allow us to improve our skill sets together using both cooperative and competitive drills and games. Besides these advantages, working out with other people is more fun and enjoyable than solo practice. Our sense of humor, the ability to smile and laugh while suffering together, leads to impressive group accomplishments.
Working out and bonding in groups, challenging sports, and learning basic combat skills are all deeply rewarding.
