Coach Keith Keppner | December 3rd, 2018
We all idolize The Fighter, whether it be the the warrior of times long past, the individuals that stood up for human rights or the athletes who compete in combat sports like Boxing. Something inside our human DNA connects with the fighter, the person battling against a force, putting everything on the line for something or someone they believe in and abandoning all other options and committing to one thing, the goal of succeeding and winning.
I’m writing this to tell you that you have something inside of you too. Maybe you don’t show it to other people, but sometimes it will creep out, maybe sometimes at the wrong times or maybe on occasion, the right times. Sometimes this is associated with being passionate or enthusiastic, but deep down inside of you, you got it. You are a fighter. Maybe your initial response is “Nah, I’m not” well then maybe you haven’t strengthened that side or your personality and/or fully embraced it yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. We all have muscles. Some of us have bigger or stronger ones and the same goes for being a fighter. Anything through use increases, and anything ignored diminishes.
Before I got into Boxing I never considered myself a fighter, but I realized later that I was a fighter long before and was fighting one of the greatest battles of all… fighting for my own physical and mental health from an illness that attacks your central nervous system and rots you from the inside out. In simple terms, I was fighting to exist. When I finally got a proper diagnosis (Lyme Disease) I also gained had an opponent that was visible. Shortly after my diagnosis, I begin to change every aspect of my life. One of the biggest tools I used to do this was Boxing. It helped build my fighting muscles mentally, emotionally and in the literal physical sense as well. I believe it was one of the foundations to me breaking out of an illness that permanently disables many who contract it and who go undiagnosed for as many years as I did.
It’s important to remember that often times the people who we consider fighters are people who happened to be in situations where they had no other choice, and the best HAD to come out of them. Then, with time, they became stronger, sharper and more capable to beat and overcome better and better obstacles or opponents. You can do the same! In whatever context of your life that you think it would be a benefit for you to be a little more assertive, decisive, or tenacious, then that is where you need to grow your inner fighter. If you grow your fighting ability in one area of your life, it helps build up and strengthen you across all areas. This is what I did and my level of health, joy and fulfillment is closely tied to me using Boxing to break out of some of the darkest times in my life.
The Final Bell
I’ve trained hundreds of people at our Athens GA gym and surrounding areas in Boxing and I’ve been fortunate enough to see the dramatic positive changes people can go through. They’ll walk with a little more confidence, composure and purpose. Some of the changes I have seen are not only with weight loss and gains in lean muscle, but I’ve seen people look totally different in a short time because of the boost in confidence and the change in their inner self that Boxing creates. The outer person is a reflection of the inner person, so when you grow your inner fighter you see the difference on the outside as well.
Do you really live too far from a Boxing Gym like ours to train regularly? Is your schedule really that busy that you couldn’t take a fraction of your week to increase the quality of your physical and mental health all at once? Do you want to grow your inner fighter? Then… Let’s begin!