On most days when I train boxing with Snickers, I want to cry. Most days I don't cry but usually once every two weeks I do. Other days I simply struggle to digest and swallow the day's piece of humble pie as he does padwork with me and then stands watching me and yelling while I work the sandbag. Consequently, besides my own workout buddy, no one has really seen him train me. Correction, I've made it so that no one sees him training me. He trains me when the club is dead, before the crowds of members start filing in and before my piece of humble pie with a side order of pure frustration becomes a big plate of public embarrassment.
[Quick side note: Snickers is an awesome coach, he knows his stuff, and none of my above comments , or my below comments too for that matter, are meant to discredit him in any way.]
In a random discussion during work today, Snickers turned and asked me if I ever regretted marrying him. "Of course no," I answered, "What I do regret though is not quitting UP Boxing Club sooner than later". He was shocked that I had said such a thing because he knows I loved UP and all my teammates from it, so on that note we started to talk about why I had made such a statement.
I regret quitting my former boxing club sooner. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the long lasting friends and second family I earned there, the hard training and fond memories, and I'm thankful that it lead me to meeting Snickers but I vouch none of that would have changed if I had quit sooner. I did after all cross paths with Snickers years before actually meeting him, twice, so if we were destined to be together than it'd happen regardless. The main reason as to why I regret not quitting UP before I did was because now I'm constantly struggling, on a daily bases, with trying to unlearn bad habits I learnt training with Junior Mint. Over a span of roughly 6 years these bad habits that should have been nipped in the bud when they first arose and that could have been so easily corrected are now so ingrained in me and consequently are holding me back. A simple twitch in my jab and the extra wide stance I use, these are just examples of bad habits I didn't even know I had but that Snickers is constantly pointing out and calling me on.
If change happens when you train outside of your comfort zone than from Sunday to Thursday I definitely train in this zone. Sundays I do sparring with Snickers and then from Monday to Thursday I do padwork with him. Fridays are my day off training and Saturdays I go running by myself and then am left to do Crossfit and boxing. No padwork for me on Saturdays, well 9 out of 10 times no padwork on this day.
I'm back to doing basics when it comes to training with Snickers and today the ten rounds of 1-2, the two most fundamental punches known to boxing, definitely reinforced just how back to basics he's taken my training. It's hard to change old habits, bad habits, but I know I need to. Some days it just a lot more frustrating and difficult than others but it's never easy and it's never comfortable so I constantly have to remind myself to stay focused. I love affirmations, sayings that just hit the nail on the head and stay stuck in my head. These days, I find myself repeating these following affirmations to myself at the start of my boxing with Snickers and often through out training too.
We are what we repetitively do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
-- Aristotle
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.
If you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done.
I'm not super naturally talented like Snickers and so it's humbling training with him but I know I'm passionate about boxing and I know I'm constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone. It's not hard to push myself out of my comfort zone, instead it's hard for me to stay focused while there and know that me being there will be worth it. Today was one of those days, yes in deed.
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