How Bad Do You Want It?

There is an author, motivational speaker. educator and pastor named Eric Thomas who became famous years ago after larger audiences starting hearing him speak on YouTube. One of the speeches he is probably best known for is referred to as "How Bad Do You Want It" and probably the best known quote from that best-known speech is:

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful."

It isn't particularly original, as most motivational quotes are not, but but based on my life experiences and many I have heard from others, it is a pretty accurate statement. Particularly when it comes to our own health and fitness, which is what I am going to focus on here.

Of course health and fitness is somewhat relative to the individual, their age, the point they are at in their lives. Being successful in health and fitness was certainly different for me at age 25 than it is at age 50. But most people want to feel generally "in shape" where they can perform activities of daily life without feeling particularly winded or weak

So for that very general, vague definition, how can someone be successful there? Diet and exercise, right? (Sleep is also a component that is starting to get more and more recognition as the years go by). Given that, if someone is able to simply improve their diet, improve the quality and quantity of their exercise, and get better sleep/recovery, they should at the very least be a lot more successful when it comes to health and fitness. Maybe not right away but for most (not all, as there are medical reason that may be prohibitive), they will at least see some progress in the first few months.

So if it really is that simple, why are there not more healthy, fit people walking around? Why don't more of us feel successful in that part of our lives? Because it's hard. It's really, really hard and that is where the Eric Thomas quote comes in.  Most people seem to want to be healthy or at least healthier, but how bad do they want it? Do they want it as much as they want (need) to breathe?

For many of us, the answer is probably no. There are varying degrees for sure. Everybody has a threshold. Like they will tolerate X-amount of inconvenience (making the time for exercise, pushing themselves to work harder, eating healthier even if it doesn't taste good) in exchange for Y-amount of health and fitness but there is a limit as to how much time they can spend and effort they can expend. And that X is based on how bad they want it. There are plenty of people I have encountered who I feel like want to want it. Meaning that they feel like they should want it but aren't willing to get too uncomfortable to get there.

I have mentioned previously that a common thing I hear from clients and potential clients is that they struggle to find the time for fitness in their lives. Whenever someone says the F-word- "find-" I know they don't want it that bad. At least not yet. Because we as modern humans don't really "find" time, by and large. If you want something, fitness or whatever, you have to make time for it. You have to make it a priority. This can be really hard though. Many of us are very busy - work, kids, family, friends, maintaining order in our lives - it is a lot of stuff. To suddenly add in a new hour of the day when we already feel completely overwhelmed seems impossible. Yet plenty of folks still do this. How? Because they want it more and instead of trying to fit it into their schedule, they fit their schedule around it.

To compound the problem, the time that you make won't necessarily be easy time. Whether it is for diet or exercise, it will require more of you. More focus, more energy, more work. So that can be difficult to get up for, even if you believe in the value of your work. Your own brain will naturally start working on plenty of valid excuses as to why you can't do the work. At least not today.

The diet and fitness industries has capitalized on this and continues to grow every year. Social media has had a huge impact as well. This is not inherently a bad thing and I have nothing against someone who wants to sell healthier foods or start a small boxing gym to help their fellow man. But a lot of information out there is also BS, in my opinion. And you can usually spot this pretty easily. As soon as someone starts talking about something that sounds like a shortcut or at least sounds like an easier, less invasive way to get the results you want to get, my guess is that they are selling snake oil. I have talked a bit about this in some earlier posts -

https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2022/09/health-wellness-and-lies.html

https://theboxingmanifesto.blogspot.com/2021/07/why-i-got-into-fitness-industry.html

There really aren't any shortcuts or hacks. There are ways to train smarter and eat smarter but I think if you are looking to make it easier on yourself with these things, that is the wrong mindset. Whatever option you go with to improve your health and fitness is going to require work. Work to start and even more work to maintain. It will not be easy and comfortable and painless. The people who are most successful in this arena are those who embrace the grind. Those who look for a loophole in the system, generally are not, or at least not as, successful. But most importantly, the people who are most successful are the ones who value their health and fitness the most. They need it as much as they need to breathe.

I will leave you with one final quote, this one is from me (I think) and it is not particularly original either but sums up what I have said:

"Those who are really serious about their health and fitness will find a way to get healthy and fit. Those who are not serious enough, will find a way to make an excuse."

Which person are you?

Struggling to learn boxing? Well, all of your problems will be solved if you...

 ...Come to class! As in- come to our boxing classes at TITLE Boxing Club in Pittsford. Okay, maybe not ALL of your problems but certainly those that relate to learning boxing.

As I will continue to say for the rest of my life - boxing is hard. It is not a natural thing to learn. Consciously or subconsciously, I've found that many people tend to think otherwise. They think that boxing is natural because fighting is natural or because a natural athlete would be able to learn it easily (not true) or because movies and TV show make it look easy or they think it's like taking any ol' group exercise class or God knows what. No matter what you have done before in life, no matter how many sports you have mastered, no matter how many street fights you have won, learning boxing technique is going to be awkward and unnatural at first. It's a brand new way to move, as well as a new language.

When someone tries their first boxing class, they never ace it. Some people take to certain things more than others, but nobody just kind of clicks right away. It requires time and practice to learn and really, the better you get, the more you realize that there are things to learn. That being said, I have noticed that if someone trains consistently, like at least twice a week, there will almost always be a pretty big change in the first month. The movements and terminology start becoming a little more comfortable and class kind of slows down for them, in a way.

This learning curve can be frustrating to some and I definitely understand that. As I have also talked about many times before, it is hard to be uncomfortable and feel like you're not getting it. Some people feel like if they don't get something right away, something is wrong and must be fixed. That is pretty natural. There are many ways to learn and "fix" things but I can tell you that 99.9% will be fixed if you keep coming to class consistently, listen to the coaches, and be willing to try.

Thus, you WILL pick this up over time, you just have to be consistent. If you train sporadically, coming once in a while, you may very likely continue to struggle. When someone comes to me and says they are not getting it, I of course try to help them with the specific issues they are having, but also repeat what I am saying here, that if they keep coming consistently and paying attention, they will get it. I have never had a person train consistently and earnestly for more than a month or two and not show significant improvement. Not one person. Again, no one becomes an expert in that short of time, but things start to click.

Another thing I tell people to do is this: if/when they are struggling with a particular punch or movement or general technique in class, make a mental note of it. At the end of every class, I tell people to come to me with any questions they may have and this is the perfect time to bring up what you had the most trouble with. Maybe you are brand new and feel like EVERYTHING was tough. That is normal too, but I would suggest focusing on one thing in particular . Maybe whatever gave you the most trouble or something you want to get good at. Or just pick something at random. We'll focus on that one thing and if you keep coming to class, it will get better and better.

It really is that simple. Be patient, be consistent, be mindful. Even if you are an experienced boxer, looking to level something up, remember that it is not going to necessarily happen in one day. I often compare learning boxing technique to gardening - as coaches we plant seeds in our student and water them consistently. Over time, they grow. Even when people intellectually know what to do, getting their bodies to actually do the thing is a different story.  For instance, on Day 1, I tell everybody new to boxing that every punch and defensive movement involves shifting weight from one foot to another. That is the key to boxing. The seed has been planted. Then when class starts, almost never does somebody actually do this. I cue them multiple times throughout class, I walk over and show them what I mean, watering the seed, but still, it is very unlikely that someone new to boxing will be able to get this on their first day. Again, they understand what I am telling them, it's just getting the body to respond. So we keep watering and watering and after more classes- voila! They start shifting their weight from one foot to another and a beautiful flower blooms!!!