My Fighting Fit DXB Journey (so far)

This article is dedicated to my 4 coaches — Astrid, Wayne, Maira & Red. To our head coach Astrid — who is as much of a badass in the ring as she is fun and kind outside of it. She could give any guy a run for their money in a fight. To Wayne —for consistently instilling me with confidence from day 1 with patience and faith in my abilities. To Maira — a super-talented, dancing ball of positive energy who has taken time out to help me build up strength for inside and outside the ring. Last but not least, to Duncan aka Red — our team mentor who’s magnetic energy can make people laugh when their bodies want to cry, but equally knows when to get serious and get a room full of people focused on the reason we are here. Also special shout out to Roy “winners never quit, quitters never win” Gumbs — former commonwealth boxing champion — for keeping an eye out on all the crazy people on the journey that is Fighting Fit DXB — 2016.

I’d like to start this article with the answer to the question many people have asked me in the last few months: Why boxing?!

For me, boxing is the pebble I am throwing into the lake. It’s the ripple effect I predicted it would have and now, as I begin writing this article 5 weeks into training, can confirm is having on the rest of my life. In an effort consolidate the masses of lessons I have been taking away from this 8 week challenge, I have split up my lessons under 3 main umbrellas.

The first and the most obvious is physical — i.e the stamina, fitness and nutrition.

The second is mental — i.e. the discipline and the powerful ability of the mind to keep you going when your body is running low on fuel.

The third, and probably the least obvious is social i.e. power of proximity and the fight against FOMO

1.0 PHYSICAL

1.1 NUTRITION

In true geek fashion, I studied the theory inside out beforehand, but there is a fine line, yet a big difference between knowing and doing. I listened to the podcasts, read the articles and watched the videos but this was my chance to put it all into practice. I practically cleared out my kitchen and started again. There are different schools of thought on the subject — but I decided that the best thing for me to do was to pick one and stick with it. For context, I applied the principles of alkalising your body through diet — using mostly the methodology taught by Tony Robbins during one of his seminars which I attended earlier in the year.

I won’t bother regurgitating all the theories because there are many out there who can do this better than me. But I will talk about the learnings that have had a direct impact on my journey.

1.1.1 WATCH THOSE CORTISOL LEVELS

I am sure everyones journey was (and continues to be) unique in terms of their peaks and troughs, but for me, Days 6–15 were by far the hardest. At the time, I just could not understand why I was struggling more than most, or at least that’s how I felt. I really didn’t want anyone to know how hard I was finding it, or have any reason to fuel the perception that someone of my body-type/background/personality is not cut out for this — so I’d hold it all in until I could be on my own — and then I’d break down. My body hurt and my muscles were torn, but it wasn’t that. I struggled most with what was going on in my mind. In the run up to the show, I thought if I got on, I would be on top of the world and my life would be transformed for the better. Then I got on, but the high just wasn’t coming. Instead I was snappy, anxious and hyper-sensitive. I couldn’t taste food or hear music the same as normal. Thankfully, logic crept in when the emotions were quiet and I recognised that this was too far out of character that there must a scientific explanation to what I was experiencing — turns out this logic was right.

I was running on 5–6hrs sleep / night. Doing 1–2 hrs of exercise everyday (from doing an average of 1–2 hrs a week) and drinking lots of coffee to compensate for the above. All these factors, plus trying to stay on top of normal work and life responsibilities, meant my cortisol levels peaked and I felt a mental drain that was preventing me from sleeping properly, yet not wanting to get out of bed to face the world. My advice based on this would be simple:

• eat right (see 1.1.3)
• sleep right (8hrs!)
• have some very patient friends on speed-dial. There are some people out there who I could not do without and I’m pretty sure you know who you are! Thank you for being my rocks.

1.1.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF PROTEIN

This sounds like the most basic of lessons. But there may be people reading this out there who are just as novice as I was not so long ago, so I’ll put it in here anyway. A somewhat unique challenge that I have faced is the inability to put on enough good weight to build the kind of muscle mass required to get safely into the ring. The amount you need depends on a variety of factors such as your age, weight, goals and how much exercise you are doing per day. But there are many tools online which can work it out for you in seconds such as http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm.

Plan your meals ahead of time (in the words of Joe Wicks — Prep like a Boss!) or sign up to a meal plan such as Pura or Fuel Up if you don’t have the time to cook for yourself like me. Because without it, your body won’t be able to build or repair all the muscles you have spent hours tearing up in training.

1.1.3 SUPPLEMENTS & SHOPPING

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information on offer — not only by trained professionals, but every gym-going-yoga-doing, semi health-conscious person I have met of late with regard to what is good and bad food to fuel training. Out of hundreds (no exaggeration) of conversations, I started to noticed some common staple items so I have made a shopping list of items that I think should be mandatory in anyone’s kitchen. I thank Vicki Tipper — who has been my nutrition-angel throughout this process particularly for the of supplements list which I really believe have made a significant difference to my diet and training regime.

I now make sure I keep my kitchen stocked with the following essentials:

• Extra virgin coconut oil
• Baking soda
• Himalayan Salt
• Whey protein or vegan alternative protein supplement
• Organic fish / chicken
• Apple cider vinegar
• Good fats i.e. avocados, walnuts, almonds and organic peanut butter.
• A cold-press juicer (for making green veggie juices. My daily juice consists of kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, broccoli, ginger, carrots, green apples and some pineapple to sweeten)

Supplements

• Omega 3
• Probiotics (30 billion+)
• Tumeric & black pepper
• Vitamin B12 (either alone or inside a multi-vitamin)
• Magnesium (alone or inside a multi-mineral supplement)

1.2 YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF THE LITTLE THINGS YOU DO (AND EAT) EVERY DAY

Aside from freak accidents and genetic predispositions, you really can control your mental and physical health. It’s not about looking good (as much as that is a great bonus) But your body, your vehicle, is largely a physical representation of what you choose to do with it. This is literally one of the last things I imagined I would do sports-wise/ever. As a kid, I would find every excuse to skip PE class. But as the age old saying goes, it’s never too late. This challenge has required a huge time commitment from everyone involved, but when the drive is strong enough, you can and will make time for them. Even if it means waking up earlier everyday and saying no to other things which you enjoy, but are not necessarily adding the same value to your life.

1.3 START EARLY!! (I DON’T MEAN IN THE DAY, I MEAN IN LIFE)

At the beginning of the show, I had some conversations with other contestants who said they hadn’t done exercise for months / years…and I felt a sense of relief that I was not alone. However, I quickly noticed the progression of those who had mastered some form of exercise earlier in life — be it rugby, dance or water polo was evidently quicker. Muscles have memory and the younger you are when you start, the easier it is. That’s not to say that it’s ever too late, but don’t wait till you “have more time” or “after I come back from my holiday” — because goalposts in life will forever change but these facts will not.

2.0 MENTAL

2.1. A FAILURE TO PLAN IS A PLAN TO FAIL

It sounds cliche but is extremely relevant in this case. You need to prepare everything in advance if you want to get the best out of your training. Your clothes, your food, your work, even your sleep. Because when you’re waking up at 4.30am — every minute counts. I have never been one to wake up early and I knew that aside from the physical conditioning, this would be the hardest aspect for me. It took a few weeks but now i’m finally getting into the flow of it. I’m not saying I will continue to wake up at at the same hour once the training is over…but I will be moving my workouts to pre-office hours which is something that before this, I would never have even considered!

2.3 STEREOTYPES DON’T DEFINE YOU

I personally feel like I’m fighting a lot of stereotypes in taking on this challenge. I’m a 5ft tall, British-Indian, female interior designer, and I have weighed on average 45kg for the last 10 years. Not exactly the first adjectives that would come to mind if you were asked to describe the typical candidate for a spot on an intense combat-sport training program. I have never mastered a sport before, nor had the interest to — until now. I won’t lie, there still are times when voices creep into my head which stir up self-doubt. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have heard that I’m too soft or smiley or just not assertive +/or aggressive enough — even after signing up, getting on and getting in the ring! Confirmation bias is a very powerful thing and sometimes no matter what you do, you won’t change others opinions and you shouldn’t have to. Now, instead of wasting my energy getting frustrated at perceptions that I don’t necessarily ‘like’, I just thank them for the compliment, and do it anyway.

3.0 SOCIAL

3.1 POWER OF PROXIMITY

Who you spend time with is who you become. This is a concept that I believe massively in. And it is one which applies as much to health as it does to business, career and personal relationships. I’m lucky enough to work with people I admire professionally, and now I train with people who have made me push my physical capacity to new extremes. Being competitive by nature, my self-esteem has taken a battering as I have taken on on challenges where I have not been the strongest or fastest. But above all else, I am happy to be surrounded by people who’s fitness is further advanced, because even though I still have a long way to go, I feel like it has accelerated my progress significantly than if I were to be training the same number of hours alone.

3.2 NO-FOMO

For those of you unfamiliar to the acronym — FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out. The training has meant being up at 430am and in bed (ideally but rarely) by 9.30pm. Meaning I have had to say no to pretty much all social events. I have had to plan my days down to the minute and say no to any spontaneous ‘dinner and drinks’. This has been a huge lifestyle transformation being one to thrive on the unknown and crave a little spontaneity. But on the flip side, I have shared this experience with some awesome, inspiring and fun people — from contestants, coaches and crew — people who I may never have otherwise crossed paths with, and if I were to be asked whether I would do it all over again even now I know how tough it can get? The answer would be- hell yes.

3.3 BECOME A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF, NOT A BETTER VERSION OF SOMEONE ELSE.

While I think it’s healthy to draw a few comparisons (with the right people) for motivation and growth, i’ve learnt from doing this that what really matters is if you are progressing in the things you have set your mind and heart on. A lot of the way people project themselves to the outside world is an edited version of reality so if you keep comparing yourself to others generally you’ll be fighting a losing battle.

Rather than comparing yourself to a limitless pool of people — find people you admire and trust to help you set your own new benchmarks. I have been lucky enough to meet a handful of people who have become my go-to guru’s in life, and because of this I am huge believer in the power of mentorship and coaching. The big things in life will always require your own grafting, sleepless nights and tears, I have had my fair share of those and sure that will continue; but there no shame in asking for some direction from people who have already done the things you want to do. There is common misconception that coaching is a form of therapy for lost souls. When I first decided to get coaching I had people ask me “why - what’s wrong with you?”, “how can someone who doesn’t know you know how to advise you on your life?” and my answers are simple. It’s not about someone else telling you what to do and you passively doing them. It’s about dedicating that 1 hour a week / fortnight to consciously strategising ways of meeting your goals — whatever they may be. It’s also about doing so with an educated and objective ear, and finally it’s about accountability — adding leverage to your commitments you’ve made to yourself. It’s something I would recommend to anyone to try and I hope that this article will offer a little inspiration to someone out there reading it to take a leap, big or small, and make your move :)

And i’ll end this here for now…if you want to watch the journey unfold for yourself— the first episode airs tonight // Weds Oct 26th OSN Sports 4 @ 8pm

And I will end this with one more dedication to my Dad who, in parallel is en-route to hitting his own health goals. I know it hasn’t been an easy journey for you but I am proud of all the hard work you have been putting in — keep it up.