Yesterday I went to my first training session in a gym for almost six months. The reasons I haven't been at a gym in so long are many, including injury, finances and laziness. It felt incredible and scary at the same time to be back in the gym environment.
For those of you that read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I stopped training at The Arena MMA just before my 'hiatus'. I went to Gemina MMA for a single session and ended up injuring my foot. Part of the reason that it was so hard to get back to training was due to the fact that it was a new gym I'd be returning to. I only knew a few people there and none of them well. Walking into a new gym is a very nerve wracking, intimidating experience - at least for me. I also had this feeling that the longer I'd been away, the harder it would be to come back. On some level I knew that these worries were unfounded, but they stuck with me. Leaving a gym to go to another can be a great experience or a horrible experience. For me, it was a bit of both but this was mostly my own fault. I also had to buy a new car shortly after getting injured and I ended up having a pay rise set for June delayed until mid-September. While waiting for my pay to be organised I tried to ensure that I was getting some form of training in. My good friends Floyd & Josh would come over as much as possible and train with me in my garage. Neither of them were either officially training either so we all supported each other or tried to improve where we could while maintaining some level of fitness.
I've found that the longer you wait to go back to a gym, the harder it gets to do so. You very quickly fall out of routine and you start to note how much easier certain things are when you don't train. You have a huge amount of free time, you’re not always worn out and you save a significant deal of money. On the flip side, I started to feel weaker and as though I constantly had less energy. I found myself spending large amounts of time doing literally nothing and worst of all, my stress management all but died. When I started training several years ago I quickly realised how great Martial Arts is for stress relief. For an hour or two you need to focus on your class. You don't have the time to worry about your day, and a heavy bag is a good target to let some bad energy out in a safe way. That coupled with the physical nature of Martial Arts leaves you feeling a very profound sense of relief and relaxation. I felt that very keenly after last night's session, even though I could barely feel my arms!
If I'm honest, I considered completely quitting training many times in the last six months. I started noting how many times I'd been injured in the last 2 years, and in turn started thinking about my back. Although I'm not very vocal about it, I take a great risk in training with a fused spine. All it takes is too much pressure in a certain position, or a bad training partner to damage the hardware in my back. If there's any damage in there, all of the clamps, screws and rods come out and it's possible I'll never walk again. I take this risk in stride and try to train as vigorously as possible while being safe, but it's a risk nonetheless. For all of my thoughts of quitting it always came back to one thing; when I tried to imagine it, I could never picture not training at all. Maybe I'll progress slower than other people. Maybe it will take me 10 years to get my blue belt - bit that's OK. As long as I can train and improve myself I'm happy, even if it's at a lace that my broken body dictates.
I can't lift my arms above my head today without a significant amount of aching and pain so I'm going to skip class tonight and aim for another class tomorrow or Thursday and see how I go from there. I'm so incredibly happy to have walked through those gym doors again and I can't wait to get back into a solid routine of training. Thanks for reading, thanks for the comments you leave and thank you for the support you show me. Whether you just read the blog, leave comments on here or follow my Facebook page, it helps me more than you know. Knowing that at least a few people want to know what I think and how I progress means an awful lot and gives me another boat in motivation.
Until next time friends, stay safe!
Anthoney.
For those of you that read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I stopped training at The Arena MMA just before my 'hiatus'. I went to Gemina MMA for a single session and ended up injuring my foot. Part of the reason that it was so hard to get back to training was due to the fact that it was a new gym I'd be returning to. I only knew a few people there and none of them well. Walking into a new gym is a very nerve wracking, intimidating experience - at least for me. I also had this feeling that the longer I'd been away, the harder it would be to come back. On some level I knew that these worries were unfounded, but they stuck with me. Leaving a gym to go to another can be a great experience or a horrible experience. For me, it was a bit of both but this was mostly my own fault. I also had to buy a new car shortly after getting injured and I ended up having a pay rise set for June delayed until mid-September. While waiting for my pay to be organised I tried to ensure that I was getting some form of training in. My good friends Floyd & Josh would come over as much as possible and train with me in my garage. Neither of them were either officially training either so we all supported each other or tried to improve where we could while maintaining some level of fitness.
I've found that the longer you wait to go back to a gym, the harder it gets to do so. You very quickly fall out of routine and you start to note how much easier certain things are when you don't train. You have a huge amount of free time, you’re not always worn out and you save a significant deal of money. On the flip side, I started to feel weaker and as though I constantly had less energy. I found myself spending large amounts of time doing literally nothing and worst of all, my stress management all but died. When I started training several years ago I quickly realised how great Martial Arts is for stress relief. For an hour or two you need to focus on your class. You don't have the time to worry about your day, and a heavy bag is a good target to let some bad energy out in a safe way. That coupled with the physical nature of Martial Arts leaves you feeling a very profound sense of relief and relaxation. I felt that very keenly after last night's session, even though I could barely feel my arms!
If I'm honest, I considered completely quitting training many times in the last six months. I started noting how many times I'd been injured in the last 2 years, and in turn started thinking about my back. Although I'm not very vocal about it, I take a great risk in training with a fused spine. All it takes is too much pressure in a certain position, or a bad training partner to damage the hardware in my back. If there's any damage in there, all of the clamps, screws and rods come out and it's possible I'll never walk again. I take this risk in stride and try to train as vigorously as possible while being safe, but it's a risk nonetheless. For all of my thoughts of quitting it always came back to one thing; when I tried to imagine it, I could never picture not training at all. Maybe I'll progress slower than other people. Maybe it will take me 10 years to get my blue belt - bit that's OK. As long as I can train and improve myself I'm happy, even if it's at a lace that my broken body dictates.
I can't lift my arms above my head today without a significant amount of aching and pain so I'm going to skip class tonight and aim for another class tomorrow or Thursday and see how I go from there. I'm so incredibly happy to have walked through those gym doors again and I can't wait to get back into a solid routine of training. Thanks for reading, thanks for the comments you leave and thank you for the support you show me. Whether you just read the blog, leave comments on here or follow my Facebook page, it helps me more than you know. Knowing that at least a few people want to know what I think and how I progress means an awful lot and gives me another boat in motivation.
Until next time friends, stay safe!
Anthoney.