Greg Kirkpatrick

This is an email sent out from Greg Kirkpatrick, Head Trainer at Ringside Gym in Newcastle California to all his boxers to keep them motivated and focused.

“Champions do what other’s won’t do.”

It’s easy to find reasons to NOT go to the gym.  It’s easy to come up with a reason to NOT go running.  It’s easy to quit – Anyone can do it.  Quitting is actually a habit.  Some people get used to quitting things.  They get used to not sticking it out and not accomplishing.  They are the ones who look back and think… “I woulda, I shoulda, I coulda.”  Or they just get used to not accomplishing things and they don’t even care!  They live their lives as quitters.

Real fighters and people who really want to reach their goals find reasons to go to the gym.  They find a way to go out and run.  A goal is not something you have two weeks out of the month.  A goal is something you need to continually strive toward.  BOXING IS A LIFESTYLE.  To be a boxer you need to keep yourself healthy by eating good, and by running and by getting to the gym and by making sacrifices in your life and by taking some lumps and then going back and taking more lumps.

There are always reasons to NOT train.  Always reasons to QUIT or take time off.  But CHAMPIONS DO WHAT OTHERS WON’T DO!!  They don’t quit.  They don’t take time off for any and every stupid little reason.  Did you take a little nap on Thursday and didn’t show up to the gym?  There was someone there to spar with you Thursday.  You passed up a learning opportunity because you were napping!  Did you train hard for one month and then quit for a month?  That’s like two steps forward and then two steps backward.  It’s called going nowhere!

The mentality and training of combat sports is all the same.  Boxing, kickboxing, and MMA all require the same type of mindset.  So even though the sports are not exactly the same the mindset and training attitude are the same.  These are all dangerous combat sports and the goal of all the sports is to hurt the other guy or make him quit.

If you want to be a good boxer you need to study your sport.  That means watching fights.  You will not be all you can be if you don’t watch fights.  You will not learn and improve as quickly as you could if you don’t watch fights.  You must be a student of the game.  All it requires is a little effort on your part.

All fighters experience losses.  Any real fighter will lose.  Losing is part of the game.  You always train to win and strive to win and expect to win and you MUST WANT TO WIN!  But losing may happen.  A champion doesn’t let it get him down.  Learn from the loss and move forward and TRAIN TO WIN.

Set goals and strive toward those goals.  There will be days you don’t want to train.  There will be days you don’t want to run.  There will be days you are tired.  Those are the days you need to remind yourself of your goal.  Those are the days you need to push yourself to train even though you don’t really want to.  Or you can just take the day off… in other words you can quit… because quitting is easy… anyone can do it.  Every little bit of quitting adds up.  When you are tired and sore & don’t want to train GO TRAIN.  You will be glad when it is all done with.  That’s the difference between the champ and the chump.