Stages of Change

With the New Year upon us and the accompanying New Year's Resolution, I thought it might be helpful for me to share with you the 5 stages of change. Knowing these stages of change is helpful in figuring out what actions to take to achieve your goals. We all go through these stages and the stages are not always sequential, not to mention we can jump back and forth through the stages.

So whether you are focusing on competition, weight loss, a new career, relationships or anything in between I think you will find learning these 5 stages of change helpful.

The 5 Stages of Change:

1. Precontemplation is the stage at which there is no intention to change behavior in the foreseeable future. Many individuals in this stage are unaware or underaware of their problems.

2. Contemplation is the stage in which people are aware that a problem exists and are seriously thinking about overcoming it but have not yet made a commitment to take action.

3, Preparation is a stage that combines intention and behavioral criteria. Individuals in this stage are intending to take action in the next month and have unsuccessfully taken action in the past year.

4. Action is the stage in which individuals modify their behavior, experiences, or environment in order to overcome their problems. Action involves the most overt behavioral changes and requires considerable commitment of time and energy.

5. Maintenance is the stage in which people work to prevent relapse and consolidate the gains attained during action.

Change is no easy feat and we are most success at making change when we have healthy support. At Warrior, it is our mission to help you achieve your goals, change your life, and be the best you can be in and out of the ring. We are not just a training facility, we have a unique, special community of coaches and students that are here for you every step of the way. We train you hard mentally and physically and give you want you need to succeed!

As the new year approaches this week and you sit down to set your new year resolutions, take a moment to review the stages of change. Figure out where you are at with the stages in relation to your resolution/goal. Each stages requires a different level of motivation, support, and effort. Once you have determined where you stand in the stages you can create a plan to move forward.

We hope learning the 5 Stages of Changes helps you make strides towards achieving your goals. And as always Warrior is here to help you transform inside and out!

Boxing is about Respect

"Boxing is about Respect. Getting it for yourself and taking it away from the other guy." (quote from the movie Million Dollar Baby)

Why do boxers box? I'm sure you could ask each one and get a variety of answers. Well one thing is for sure its not for the money. The paycheck of most pro fighters isn't much at all. And many of them work regular jobs while also training, which you don't see in other pro sports. I would put money on it that most boxers don't box because they want to kick someone's ass.

I believe boxers box for respect. What better way to gain respect for yourself and from others than to be put up against someone who is your equal, test your skills, and be announced as winner. In boxing you do respect the other fighter while simultaneously working the whole fight to be the boxer that takes your opponents respect away. We look for those moments of opportunity to capitalize on our opponents slight mistakes or subtle openings. We learn to read their patterns and act accordingly to lead to our victory. We respect that our opponent is doing the same to us and we must protect ourselves at all times.

There is something that changes inside of you after your first boxing match. Win or lose you have achieved something that many people would never dare be challenged to achieve. Come face to face with an opponent, an equal, and fight for respect. In front of an audience and judges, in the squared ring, with only yourself to rely on, testing your courage, confidence, skill, will and toughness. It is exhilarating, it feels good and it shows you who you really are. Coming out of my first match with a win was confidence boost. Not only because I won but because I did it. I prepared, I fought, I boxed! I didn't brawl, I kept my composure and fought for respect.

When you truly test yourself, win or lose, you gain respect. You gain respect for yourself, and respect from others. Think of the people in your life you respect. Why do you respect them? And then think of the people in your life you don't respect? Why do you lack respect for them? Which category do you fall into? Do you respect yourself? Do you treat yourself with respect?

Respect in boxing is just like respect in life. You must be honest with yourself and keep others honest. You must have integrity, accountability, and class. At Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness, our boxers compete with skill, poise and respect. We understand...

"Boxing is about Respect. Getting it for yourself and taking it away from the other guy." (quote from the movie Million Dollar Baby)

How hard are you really training?

"Never mistake activity for achievement." - John Wooden

Whether it comes to training or life many times we mistake activity for achievement. We can create the illusion for ourselves and others that we are getting a lot done when it fact we are simply engaged in purposeless activity, "to-do's", movement, etc. In life, we may find that we need to get something done and rather than focusing, and making effective steps forward we finds ourselves in a flurry of activities that lead us nowhere. And the same can happen in training and fighting.

Over the years of training we have seen students train and get no where fast, while having the appearance of "doing" a lot. People many times confuse participating in a training program with training. How many times do you see someone working out in a group of sweaty trainees not sweating a bit? This goes back to a previous blog entry about mailing it in. We cannot mistake the activity of participating in a workout as truly training hard. Anyone can say they train, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are really training...

I have had many people over the years ask me, "what do you do?" (meaning how do I keep my body in the shape and conditioning it's in) with the idea that there is some magic formula that I know that if they knew they would do it and achieve what I have. The truth is there is no magic formula, I simply have a training program that I follow with discipline and invest 100% into each training session. What I don't do is mail my training sessions in or half ass them.

We must be honest with ourselves about how hard we actually train. Are we just going through the motions of the activity of training? Do we invest 100% in each session? Do we stay focused and present during our training sessions? We cannot say a training program doesn't work if we have not honestly followed it.

The same thing is true of fighting and competing. We can see fighters in the ring performing with a lot of activity and if we don't understand the sport of boxing we may believe that the active fighter is the one who is winning the bout. The truth is this is not always the case. Again we can "Never mistake activity for achievement." - John Wooden. Boxing is not about always engaging in a flurry of activity, it is not about brawling. It is about taking advantage of opportunities and performing with purposeful actions and movements. Moving around just to move is indicative of a novice or inexperienced fighter.

So whether you reflect on this idea of not mistaking activity for achievement in relation to your life, training, or competition, remember to be honest with yourself. Honesty will lead to awareness and willingness to change. Be purposeful, train efficiently, make what you do count!

Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness trains boxers! We train our boxers to compete and achieve! We encourage and motivate our students to "bring it" to every training session! We train our fighters to understand boxing, to move & take action with purpose in the ring!

"Just Do It": Behavior before Mindset

We all go through times in our training programs and life were we need to prepare to do something but we just can't seem to get our mind wrapped around it. Whether you are starting your training camp to prepare for a competition, making a necessary life change, quitting a "bad" habit, or embarking on something new many times we experience a lack of motivation or desire. On some level we want to do what we are setting out to do, but we simply struggle to get our mind in a place to propel us forward.

This has happened to me many times in my life in both training and my life. I know I need to do something for my personal growth, self-improvement or training goals, I just have this "blah" mentality about it. As I begin to look towards competing in the 2010 Chicago Golden Gloves this is where I find myself. I am in this state of confusion, lack of enthusiasm and indifference, none of which motivates me to get fired up about this goal. At times I wonder if I am feeling this way because of life stress, uncertainty about my willingness to compete, or simply a slump in training. While after much thought I believe I have figure out the "why", I realized that even though I know why I am in this place mentally that is not making it any less challenging to get my mind where it needs to be.

I realized that this is a normal place for us to be at times. We all go through experiences and embark on journeys where we at some point feel a lack of enthusiasm, motivation or desire. And then I came to the awareness that its not always mind over matter...sometimes we must "just do it" and our mind will follow. As a psychotherapist, I have worked with clients many times in recovery (from drugs and eating disorders) on changing behaviors to change the mind. It works for recovery, it can work for training! Sometimes we just have to do in order to get our mindset in a place of success. All of the positive self-talk and self-encouragement in the world may not always work at making the needed shift.

So Nike had it right when they came up with the slogan "Just Do It"!

As I begin my training for the Chicago Golden Gloves even though my mind is not there, I know that training my body will train my mind. As my training gets my body is peak performance condition, it will produce the same results for me mentally. The mind-body connection is undeniable. Sometimes it is mind over matter, but other times we must "just do it"!

At Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness, we train as a team, we develop as a team and we prepare physically and mentally as a team. You will never feel alone on your journey towards success. Train with Warrior and you know you have support, strength, expertise in your corner!