Often as a coach I get asked questions like
“Does xyz diet work?”
“How much strength training should I do between Muay Thai sessions?”
“Does running work?”
And these are all good questions, and I’m happy to answer them. But if I had to boil down all my years of experience training people, especially when it comes to becoming fit, it comes down to one thing.
Consistent, repeatable, action.
As human beings, we are designed in such a way that doing things over and over again become a habit and get us results. Whether it’s through running, training muay thai, lifting weights, ect. Whatever your most consistent at will be the thing that ultimately gets you where you want to go.
Even if you walked 30 minutes a day, (most people scoff at this idea, not because it doesn’t work, but because it’s boring. More on how to decrease bordeom in another blog post) and you never skipped a day, considering your diet was moderately on point, you’d be way healthier than killing yourself for 1 hour a week at the gym.
This also applies to life as well. The more you do something, the more reinforced it becomes. If you have a particular vice in your life (we all do) the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Just like if you practice a virtue over and over, the easier that good thing becomes.
There’s a lot of parallels in life when it comes to the gym, and developing your character.
Many of you know that I am a Catholic, and while I’m not here to necessarily preach to you what to believe in (that choice is ultimately yours) do I want to provide you with some wisdom that’s powerful regardless of what belief system you have or don’t have.
And it’s this idea, coming from the philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, that “grace perfects nature”. In other words, your character and virtue, will increase your physical attributes and vice versa. Telling yourself to get up early in the morning, and workout, regardless of how you feel, builds up a natural virtue of fortitude. Being patient with a class mate when holding pads, builds patience and brotherly love. That in turn, makes you more calm throughout the day.
And here’s a big one….and it’s pretty controversial.
When someone is sparring you, with ALOT of power, instead of teaching them a lesson by “humbling” them and beating them up, tell them you don’t want to spar hard. Or worse, thinking you can handle it and not wanting to look like a wuss by sparring hard back.
It takes more of a man, to say “No, there’s nothing for me to gain by sparring hard” that goes for both guys who have been training longer and guys who are just beginning. Of course, you can give warnings and if those warnings aren’t heeded, simply stop sparring rather than letting it continue.
Easier said than done. I’ve failed at this many times too.
I could go on and on, and I know this blog post went in a bit different direction that you expected, but that’s just how I write I guess haha
With so many posts being generated by AI, this is the result you get. An unpolished, unedited blog post lol
Anyways, bottom line, do something habitual and stick with it if your goal is to get in shape. Same applies to eliminating vice, and growing in virtue. Do good things that lead you to reinforce your virtue, and break the chains off the bad habits.
Until next time!
– Coach Taylor Kelley