General Fitness

Can You See It?
Photo by qthomasbower

The human mind has a lot of power that no one really knows about.  You will often hear people talk about how humans use 1-4% of their brains with Einstein peaking out at 10%.  Well, what about the other 96-99%?  Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about something called the Law of Attraction (LOA).  In very simple terms, it goes something like this:

Ask for Something ----->Believe it Will Happen-------->Receive it

Sounds literally stupid on the surface, but if you look into it a bit, there is some substance to what these personal development people are saying.  Whether I believe you can actually manifest something physical like money, cars, or situations, is still up for debate.  In terms of this LOA, this disbelief is keeping me from realizing huge dreams.

The Law of Attraction is the guiding principle for visualization and is used to manifest reality.  The term manifest simply means to make it happen or have it appear.  Imagine a cup and the cup magically appears - or has been manifested.

If you are new to boxing or to exercise in general, you are going to quickly discover just how much your body can actually talk to you.  After just one workout, you may find yourself sore in places you didn't even know existed and if you don't understand why, then that pain may be enough to turn you off of exercise forever -- and that isn't a good thing.

Why?  Because it hurts.  The more strenuous the activity and the more new you are to it, the louder your body is going to scream at you.  If you've never experienced muscle stiffness or delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) then you are in for a big surprise.  It will start slowly as a mild discomfort after your workout that throughout the evening will crescendo into searing pain that will potentially immobilize you for days following.  Okay, for most people, I'm exaggerating a bit, but if you push yourself hard enough and long enough, the pain can literally cause your body to seize up.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were little things you could do right now that would result in huge increases in your energy level and the motivation you have?

Wouldn't it be great if there were was some magic pill that you could take that would keep you on track with your training and ensure that 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day you are totally focused on becoming the best boxer you can possibly be?

Well, I'm not aware of any magic pill, but by implementing the following recommendations into your life, you can use the energy you do have a whole lot more efficiently and will notice the benefit. I'm not going to cover the eat right and exercise lines - by now I'm hoping that you understand those as givens. Instead:

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Gerhard Potgieter, a 52 year old who seriously took up boxing to improve his fitness level about 8 months ago. I asked him if he would mind sharing his story and the challenges a 50+ year old newbie to the sport has in regards to training and anything else he might find useful. Thankfully, he did and I think you'll agree that his story below is both inspirational and testament to what you can do if you put your mind to it.

Special thanks to Gerhard for writing this, and I would encourage you to leave comments for him after the article especially if you want clarification or to offer words of encouragement.