Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Do you workout or do you train?

Do you work out or do you train? 

Have you ever thought about this?  If not, then you are probably working out, like I was.

What's the difference?  

A "working out" mindset is a calorie burning, "just get it done", exercise to feel good, or to lose weight mentality.  You may show up to the gym every single day and do what's asked of you to check the box, but it may sometimes feel like a chore.  You may improve some, but not much.  Losing weight may be your only measurement of "success".

When you switch your perspective to "I'm in training" everything gets so exciting.

That hour in the gym is used much more effectively.  In training I purposefully practice various mental strategies in my workout that reduce stress and improve performance.  I'm working my body and my mind at the same time.  I use these same mental strategies in life outside the gym to guide me through stress or challenges.

In training my goal is to be better than I was yesterday.


How do I do this?  


  • Change perspective.  The first step is to literally just say "I'm in training." Change the way you think about exercise.  

  • Measure yourself in any way you can so you know if you're improving.  I keep a record of how much weight I lift, how many burpees I can do in a minute, how many pull-ups I can do...whatever I can measure I do.  Weight loss/gain, or how tired or sore you are is not a good measurement of success.  


  • Challenge yourself and your numbers.  I lifted 100lbs last week but I'm not going to be satisfied with that.  Today I tried 105.  When I hit 105, like I did this morning, it is a really proud moment. In training mode you will improve and it is really exciting to know that you're better than you used to be.  


  • Be present in each movement that you do.  I'm constantly asking myself how I can do something better.  How can I find more power in my punch?  In class I don't just go through the combinations.  I experiment.  I try sinking into my stance more, I consciously engage my hips, core and glutes into my punches.  I play with my breathing and posture.  I'm always looking for a way to move more efficiently.  


  • Surround yourself with a coach or personal trainer who knows your goals.  They will teach you and push you.  Today after I hang squat cleaned 105, I smiled in celebration, then immediately tried 115. I had several failed attempts and asked a coach for help.  He video-recorded my lift in slow motion to show me my form and broke down what I need to do to become successful.  Now he and I will work on it until I have it.  Personal Training is a powerful training tool.  A trainer holds your goals as a measure of their own success.  They see what you can't see, make you do what you would not do on your own, and they believe in you when you aren't feeling confident.  


  • Get uncomfortable.  Work on your weaknesses.  Only highlighting your strengths is exercising.  Working on your weaknesses is training.  Training is uncomfortable.  Embrace it. It's how you improve. Don't forget - weaknesses include nutrition and sleep habits.  When you're in training your mindset includes fueling and resting your body for optimal performance. 

  • Compete.  Sign up for a race, a fight, sparring, a challenge with a friend, a competition of any kind.  Having an upcoming competition helps to focus your training with a short term goal.  I also like competing because it is scary.  I want to practice performing under pressure.  This is part of my mental training.  I want to have the experience of being in stressful situations so that when life gets hard I am resilient.  Competing is a safe way to practice this important skill.  It also helps me measure myself against my peers.   Although my focus is internal (competing with only myself), it motivates me and often inspires me to see my peers perform.  


Why?  What am I training for?  

Life.

Recently I was doing a ropes course with my daughter for her 10th birthday and as I was one of the only adults participating it occurred to me...this is what I train for...to have the strength, confidence, agility and courage to have fun with my daughter today.


We never know what type of fun or dangerous situation we will find ourselves in, and having the mental and physical strength to meet the unknown is important.

Growing older yet stronger is the reason I train.

Are you in training?  Why?  Share in the comments!


 - Coach Amy
http://lipstickonmygloves.blogspot.com
fsuamy@gmail.com



Monday, October 2, 2017

The main event - from my couch

A few weeks ago, like most of the world, I watched the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight.  I watched it with my Husband, Dave, who, like most of the world, has never been in the ring, nor desires to.

We watched the same event, on the same couch, very differently.

He watched as a spectator.  The whole world was curious what would happen.  I watched excitedly and humbly as a student of the sport, and pridefully and empathetically as a fellow fighter.  He watched the whole picture.  I watched each combination, angle, and weave. Between rounds he took the time to grab a drink or go to the bathroom.  I was fascinated by the coaching in the corner and wanted to hear every word. I imagined what my trainer, Sione, would be saying.

It then occurred to me that most people watching the event have never trained for a fight. They couldn't understand the physical and emotional rollercoaster training is, the pressure of the night, the lights, the crowd - nevermind half the world watching!  There was so much context that they were missing!  To be fair...I'm quite sure they don't care, but to me it was like reading a quarter of a book. How could you fully appreciate it?

I enjoyed the pre-fight press conferences as much as the fight itself.  McGregor's personality is brilliant, his outer confidence unwavering.  You may have thought that he is entertaining or obnoxious - or even that he's just raising the purse of the fight.  Before I trained and fought it annoyed me when fighters were so over-the-top cocky. Now I know that if you don't wholeheartedly believe you are superhuman, you literally can't do this.  McGregor's press confidence made me believe in him - that he actually had a shot - simply because he seemed to steadfastly believe in himself. One ounce of doubt in yourself or your training and you are done before you start.  Fighting is as much, if not more, mental than physical.

Of course, if the physical goes, like it did in round 10, then the mental follows...and vice versa.  I used to wonder how such well conditioned and trained athletes got so tired that they actually stopped fighting to hug each other.  Now I know how three minutes can feel like 30. How self doubt can grow exponentially by the second and can destroy you.  I know that you need to train harder than the fight is going to be.  You need to do more rounds, with less rest, not only for your physical conditioning, but so that when you are tired you can remember that you have done more than this, and it will give you confidence to endure it.

Post fight McGregor posted this on social media about his camp:

"I feel with just a little change in certain areas of the prep, we could have built the engine for 12 full rounds under stress, and got the better result on the night.
Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp. We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way. If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight."


Do I need to mention that I also love the post fight analysis and camaraderie?  It might surprise people to know that once the fight is over you don't hate your opponent - no matter how much trash talk and head games happen before.  In fact, it's the opposite.  You don't respect anyone in the room more than them. This was evident even at this top level with both fighters.


Mayweather and McGregor put on a good show.  It is fun for everyone to watch a good fight, but boxing is hard.  Not everyone can do it.  Boxing is scary.  Not everyone can face fear. Boxing is humbling.  Not everyone has the resilience to continue.  Boxing is introspective.  Not everyone wants to be tested so hard they see what they're made of.  

But those of us who do are bonded through these things.  We are different than most of the viewers...we are fighters.

- Coach Amy

*Training for a fight is one of the most important things I've done in my life.  It taught me what I am capable of.  I had absolutely no idea of my personal potential before training. I thought I did, but I was limiting myself incredibly.   It gave me extreme highs and lows and taught me how to manage them both.  It gave me self confidence that I didn't even know I was lacking.  It gave me perspective. I measure everything in my life to - "no problem...at least I'm not being punched in the face right now".  :)   It got me in the best shape of my life.  It gave me belonging - in a community of fighters, and here at my gym home FA Boxing.  It has given me some of the best "fox hole" friends I have ever had.

If you have ever even considered for one second that you'd like to be a fighter, FA Boxing has an exciting announcement just for you.  Maybe I'll see you in the ring soon!  


**Written for and published on www.faboxing.com**





Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Extraordinary People


I admire extraordinary people.  I strive to be extraordinary. I intentionally surround myself with it, and seek out opportunities to achieve it.  

My personal definition of an extraordinary person is simply someone who faces fear.    

A person who sees or creates an opportunity that scares them, and yet still goes for it, whatever "it" may be - big or small.  I don't care what it is, or if they win or lose.  I just admire them for daring greatly.   

These extraordinary people are obviously military and first responders, but they are also the shy student who runs for student body president, the grandmother who earns her black belt, the single mother who goes back to school, entrepreneurs, good samaritans - anyone who is faced with two paths and they choose the one that shatters complacency and is uncomfortable.  

I have learned that only when you do this do you feel fully alive.


I don't like the term "fearless". Fear is real and alive in all of us. I'm completely fascinated by it.  Over the past 4 years I have been studying it in my life and it is now one of my favorite emotions because fear separates the extraordinary from the ordinary.  

It is the secret to living greatly, but so many people are scared to unlock it.  

If they only knew what was on the other side...




This post is dedicated to my brother.  




Monday, April 24, 2017

Lessons from my 1st CF Open




**Published on https://morningchalkup.com 4/25/17**

Lessons from my 1st CrossFit Open

"You signing up for the Open with me?"
Me: "No.  I'm not making The Games.  Why would I give them $20?"

A week later my husband convinced me to sign up for the Open in order to compete in the internal gym competition.  He also convinced our 14 year old son to do it.

It was my first CrossFit Open.  I've been doing CrossFit only about a year and I didn't consider myself a "CrossFitter".  I don't look like a sterotypical "CrossFitter".  I don't lift heavy weights. I am a boxer.

17.1 - 

Friday 5:30am - there was a new energy in the gym.  I had never felt it before.

Okay, I thought.  Burpees and box jumps are 2 of my favorite exercises and I even like dumbbell snatches.  This will be fun and maybe I can even RX it.  I don't RX anything that involves weights.

Then I picked up a 35lb dumbbell and didn't even try to snatch it. I put it back down.  A woman from class, Amy, sees me and tells me that I can do 35, but I decide that I can't.  I scale the workout.  20lb snatches are too light and I am able to fly through it.  It felt good, but I was disappointed that I couldn't do 35lbs.

On Monday morning I see Amy again.  She tells me that I am strong enough to do it RX and for a second I believe her.  I do 17.1 again.

With my husband judging and Amy and her husband cheering for me I painfully and loudly get through each rep and officially RX 17.1!

I hadn't known Amy very well and it felt really great to have her encouragement.  I learned that I should not automatically scale everything. RX can be within my reach.

17.2 - 

With my newfound RX confidence I went for it again.

I need to do more weighted walking lunges.  My butt hurt for days!

I am motivated to learn muscle-ups before next year's Open.

I loved this workout because I got to watch my husband and son compete together in our box's Friday Night Throwdown.


Damn You 17.3 - 

I was humbled by the weights of the squat snatches so I had no choice here but to scale it.

I got a few rounds in and unfortunately the last few snatches I squeezed in were VERY ugly and I hurt my right shoulder pretty badly.

17.3 taught me that I am not invincible.  If I lose my form the reps are not worth an injury.

17.4 - 

I had to scale this one as well due to the weight of the deadlift.  This made me mad and motivated to work on my deadlift for next year because I actually love handstand pushups and I didn't get to do them in the scaled version.

As I judged my son I challenged him to beat my score and he did!  I've never been so proud to be beaten.  It has been really fun doing the Open with him.  It has given us a new connection.

17.5 - 

I had really been hoping to end the Open with an RX performance, but I don't have double-unders yet.  Another goal to add to the list.


So why did I give them my $20?  


To make new friends.  Amy C. now holds a special place in my heart for believing in me like she did.

To strengthen connections.  It enriched my relationships with my teenage son and husband. Doing this together we coached each other where we struggled and celebrated our successes.  It gave us a lot to talk about.

To have fun.  We had an internal box competition - morning classes vs. evening classes. Friendly trash talk is always fun.

To build community.  Our box held a couple of Friday Night Throwdowns where members did the Open workout in heats and everyone was invited to come watch, hangout, eat, drink and cheer.

To be a part of something bigger.  After each workout I texted both of my sisters-in-law to see how they did.  My son found out one of his teachers was doing it, as well as my husband's co-workers - and they talked about the workout each week.

To measure up.  It is interesting to see where you stand in your age group - in your box, in your region, and in the world.

To be inspired.  Seeing the elite athletes' scores, watching them workout and move on to Regionals and The Games is inspiring.  Seeing athletes from our own box move on to the next level is motivating.

To learn.  I will no longer compromise form for reps.

To grow.  Sometimes it takes a competition or an audience to push you to do something you have never done before, or didn't know you were capable of doing.

To fail.  I now have new goals and a plan to achieve them.  I will be better next year.

...and I'll be happy to pay $20 for all of this again.



 - UPDATE:  The power of CrossFit is that I was better the next year.  I was able to Rx all of the Open WODs (not necessarily well) and 35lb snatches are no big deal anymore.  Everytime I do them now I think of my very first Open and Amy and smile.  Oh, and I'm starting to think that I might be a "CrossFitter" now.  :) 




Friday, February 17, 2017

The gifts of H4H



When you are selected to fight for Haymakers for Hope you can't anticipate the gifts it will bring, how it will change your life, or when it will stop.

My training alone was gift enough.  I had never done anything so mentally or physically challenging. The process left me with a profound confidence that can never be taken from me.

Later in life when some others slow down, I have a new passion.  Sparring, learning, and improving make me feel alive and happy every day.

My trainer and the women I trained with are now family to me.  "Foxhole friends" who I love and trust.  I feel very lucky to have them in my life.

Outside the ring, I was offered a job at my gym, and a position on the advisory board of Haymakers for Hope. Previously I had been home with the kids for 12 years so these changes were very exciting.

After my fight, other women followed.  One by one I became their sparring partner, mentor, and friend.  I was able to help guide them down their own paths to profound confidence and it is such a blessing to me to go through it again and again with each woman.

All of these gifts have changed me, and I am so thankful for each of them.  I didn't think there could be more, but now there is.

My brother has joined the Haymakers family!

Mike McGonagle is fighting on May 18, 2017 at The House of Blues in Boston.

Michael is my baby brother.  I've always tried to take care of him, but as he grew up he's been someone that I admire very much.  He's done a lot of courageous things.  I am honored that he would want to do something that I have done.

I'm so excited to share this experience with him.  I love that he will have the same bond with my trainer, and shares my friends.  I love that I get to see him every day and see my niece and nephew more.  I love doing drills with him, watching him spar and improve. I love that he knows what I went through.  I love that I can help him.  I love that we will have this extra special connection forever.

I'm excited to see the gifts that H4H will bless him with.

Please help me support him.  Donate! Come watch him!