Boxing update – 2 Weeks later.

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve been so quiet, I’ve been recovering from the 8 week training program by eating everything in sight, it’s difficult to write with a burger in one hand and a pizza in the other. In a heathy, balanced diet kind of way. (Just in case Anthony Carr reads this 😉)

So here’s my update, I miss boxing. I’ve had some time off, the gym has been closed for holidays and I’ve been injured. The sprained ankle I suffered in my defeat in the ring has been causing no end of trouble for me. Here’s the 2 weeks in pain. 

Minutes after the fight, ok, bit of pain, bit of limping but not that bad. (I did drink a bit after the fight though 😜)

The following week, pain every time I moved so pain killers morning, noon and night. Sitting, standing and lying down all hurt, I got two training session in though. 

Week 2, still limping, have to go down stairs sideways but ok for the most part, don’t twist though, that hurts. I think no exercise is causing more problems than the rest is helping. I know I need to give my body time to recover. 

What have I learned? Well that’s easy, don’t get hit where possible, I zigged when I should have zagged. Hindsight and watching the fight from a different angle showed I was leaning in on my back hand and not rolling/avoiding the left that was always coming after a thrown right. Never mind it’s all experience. 

That’s not all I learned through the last 10 weeks, 8 weeks training, the fight, 2 weeks recovering. I learned that I loved every second of this program, even the pain and recovery. Why? Why would anyone go through 8 weeks of starving themselves (not really but not eating exactly what they want when they want feels like your starving yourself). All the while excercising 5-7 days a week (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day) with at least one sparring session per week, lose their fight, then spend 2 weeks in pain, and still say they loved every second. 

Let me tell you, I have not achieved anything purely for myself that came close to making me feel as good as I did on fight night, or as good as I still do now. I recently completed a degree, getting a first class honours, that was purely for myself, it was a great feeling, receiving that grade after years of hard work, but it faded after about a day. Got the paperwork, back to work, just another normal day. 

This little trophy is worth 10 degrees to me. It signifies not just physical but mental hard work, dedication, pure force of will and a 13kg weight loss. Not only that but it’s also cooler than a piece of paper and looks much better on the mantelpiece. 

I know it means a lot to me, I’m itching to get back to training, once I completed my degree I was happy to see the back of a class room and couldn’t see me going back to that form of education any time soon. 

I know what your thinking, 10 weeks means more to you than 5+ years studying part time, are you mad? Maybe I am, let me tell you this, I got my degree and it didn’t change my life, I was still doing the same thing I had been doing for the last 20 years of my career, I now had paperwork to say I could do it.

On this program I totally changed my life for the better, with just 10 weeks of hard work, I can run 2.5 miles without stopping, I stopped smoking, I stood in front of 500+ people and didn’t make a fool of myself, better than anything I look and feel 10 years younger, to the point where I met some friends recently and they didn’t recognise me when I walked in. I almost had to introduce myself to them, this is why this program means so much to me. 

Would I do anything differently? Maybe, I should have trained more, I should have ate less, I should have given up smoking sooner, but the world is made of should haves, I didn’t and this is the result, I’m amazed by all I’ve achieved. 

Would I do it again? Definitely.

Would I suggest everyone did something like this? Without a doubt. 

I changed my life in just 10 weeks, what can you do to change your life?

Now there are some photos from the night taken by Andrew Rawlinson you can find him on Instagram here or via his website http://andrewrawlinsonphotography.co.uk/ he’s a great guy and takes some amazing pictures. A small selection are below with some of my comments. 

These are some of the event sponsors massive thanks to all of these, feel free to look them up.My opponent, Paul Bailey bigging it up on his entertaining ring entrance. Pre-fight talk, Anthony Carr laying out the process for the night for all the fighters. The referee, who was amazing on the night. Cpl Harrison- Red corner, brilliant cornerman.Sgt Done – Blue Corner – my saviour on the night congratulations on the overall win for the night.  Me and my fear as I’d just stepped out into the arena. There is literally nothing going through my head at this point. Justin and George after the epic first fight of the night. These two scared my wife for my fight later in the night but still hug it out at the end. Me and Paul again, looking good there, must have been round 2. Lol Jacob and Jack after another brilliant fight. This just shows the mentality of the fighters through the night yet again. As soon as the gloves are off its back to being friends.

Please visit http://www.stealthboxing.co.uk to find out about future events and how you can help out or take part. I honestly can’t say enough good things about this company. 

Remember this is all for charity and so far these events by Stealth Boxing have raised over £8000 in donations for help for heroes alone this year. Long may it continue. 

Please feel free to check out my previous blog posts for more details of my route up to this point, comment below and follow me on Twitter.