BOXING FITNESS NEWSLETTER

Fitness Boxing

UNTIL THE LAST BELL

Another year is coming to an end, and many of us reflect on what we've accomplished in the past year. Fitness is such an important part of life's journey because of the health and physical gains, the psychological, social and self-worth benefits. To begin and continue along a new and different path in life can be exciting and motivating, but more often it is both difficult to get started and to persevere.

Most have tried exercise programs, have read about them, know what they should be doing, and may even have experienced the many benefits. But just knowing what you should be doing will not give you improvements in your fitness level; you cannot just think about it, you can only improve by doing the activity.

Some of the obstacles you may face when starting an exercise program are self-doubt, lack of confidence, nervousness, and self-condemnation.

Self-doubt and lack of confidence are often based on negative past experiences, times when you have not been successful in performing an activity. If you are not in the habit of training or exercising, a positive attitude about exercising will not just occur spontaneously. The emotions readily available are only negative ones or none at all and you do not have experiences to fall back on.

The mind habitually takes you back to unsuccessful times and inhibits you from performing. The lazy feeling or the feeling that you

do not want to workout occur because these are the thoughts and emotions that have consistently accessed and they are the one that most readily available. Try to reflect on moments when you were at your best. Start building successful experiences and train your mind to go to these positive times, concentrating on how great it felt and that you were successful.

Concentrate and focus on what you are doing and just experience the activity. Try not to give any rating to the performance, stay in the moment, and let go of the past and any failures. Remember by starting and doing the activity you have already succeeded. Build on this feeling of accomplishment.

The Ultimate Workout

Fitness boxing is one of the most dynamic workouts to engage in. When hitting the heavy bag, feel the power in the arm, the contact with the bag and the rebound off the bag.

Focus on the smooth rhythm of the speed bag as you improve hand-eye coordination. Develop cardiovascular endurance as you master the jumprope. Try to become only involved in the activity, making the movements spontaneous and automatic. Think about the run that felt great and then just start running.

Exercising regularly gives you a sense of well being. Missing a workout day will just not feel right. On those days that you do not feel like exercising try to discover why and then park that tiny voice that keeps telling you that you really do not want to expend the energy, that you are tired or you have more important things to do. Just start and if it does not feel right, then stop. Most times once you start exercising you will want to continue, and even if you do stop, at least you have done more than if you have never started.

Sticking to a workout program will carry over into other parts of your life and give a feeling of empowerment. How we feel and perform is a function of how and what we think. The sense of well being, relaxation, joy carries over from the workout into the rest of your life. By making the process more important than the outcome, the outcome will result without stress and worry.

Fitness is a journey. The personal challenge of commitment and passion to make fitness a natural part of your every day life. Give yourself time to adapt and grow and make fitness a long-term, lifetime commitment with a goal of making it something that become just a regular part of your every day.

All the best in 2013!