Everybody Needs To Fight.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Like many others, at the beginning of this year I set goals.

Goals for how I personally approach my health and fitness, for how I want to further build my online business and generate success working with clients, and overall for how I would like things to go within the next 365-day cycle of my life.

One of these goals, specifically, was learning to better defend myself and to get more proficient in physical combat. Why? Because I feel like it’s a missing part of my fitness.

I’ve spent a lot of time one-on-one with weights working to build and improve my body, but here lately I’ve started to feel an interest in applying that toward a sport or a skill. An idea-seed budded within me to take on a combat sport or martial art.

There are many potential styles of martial arts to choose from.

As an ex-high-school wrestler, I’ve felt no stranger to being up-close and grappling. But, I wanted to try something completely new. Punches, kicks, and striking? That was new.

This led me in mid-January of this year to walk on over to my nearest boxing gym and to get myself signed up for twice/weekly hour-length classes led by an instructor.

Thus begins my journey into learning the skill of fighting.

There’s a lot that you can learn from putting on a pair of gloves.

A metaphor can be derived from even the simplest drilling or sparring session.

We go into our life and fitness pursuits with a plan, but when sh*t hits the fan? We have two options: react involuntary (usually poorly) or fall back on a foundation of habits.

One of the all-time greats, Mike Tyson, once said…

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.

There are so many lessons that can be learned from training and from fighting.

Over the course of the past several months donning gloves, I’ve discovered that fighting truly is a skill and one of the most valuable that you could ever possibly possess.

Imagine the following scenario.

You are with your family, friends, or out taking a cute girl on a date and suddenly a violent rogue stranger approaches and provokes you and those around you.

Ask yourself, could you honestly de-escalate the situation?

Beyond the skill-set fighting brings, the act of drilling and sparring carries the same elements of lifting weights. It reinforces the idea of pushing your body’s physiology, focusing on skilled movement, and seeking temporary discomfort to improve.

It’s something that I can see myself continuing to explore.

And something that I think everyone should dabble into for the reasons above.

Plus, let’s face it. Physically-speaking, fighters are jacked.

You ever see a pro-boxer that didn’t look downright impressive? (me neither)

Maybe taking on other elements of fitness, like combat sports/fighting, can be another way to keep our bodies healthy, moving, and avoiding the toll of a sedentary lifestyle.

As a side-effect, you may just become a little bit more of a badass.