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!