Power in Small Packages: Rocky Marciano & Mike Tyson

Boxing, or any form of fighting, is life broken down into 3-minute rounds.

Life is truly lived when we experience both highs and lows, triumph and failure. Happiness isn’t as appreciated if we haven’t already experienced pain or sadness. Success isn’t as satisfying if it isn’t preceded by failure. In a fight, there are moments where you question if you have ‘it’, where you think about finding a way out, an easier path than the one you have chosen. Just like pain, suffering, and failure help us become better fighters, they also help us develop character and become better people.

Adversity is a part of fighting, and a part of life. Accepting it and appreciating it can lead to greatness in either realm.

Rocky Marciano was a fighter, he wasn’t just a boxer. He took a punch to land a punch. He walked forward when most would take a step back. As such, he will go down as one of the greatest Legends the fight game has ever seen.

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Building Mental Toughness in the Gym

A classic Rocky Marciano pic

It was freezing cold out, and as usual, the heating system in the gym wasn’t working. I covered myself in sweats, a hoodie, a towel around my neck, and even threw on a cap, but I was still shivering my ass off. Needless to say, it wasn’t going to be an easy day.

Compounding the situation was the fact that I wasn’t feeling all that well. But I knew that excuses would make only my day a whole lot harder. That’s one rule I had for myself when I was boxing: never complain.

No matter how hard the training was, no matter what I felt like, I knew that come fight day I wouldn’t be able to make any excuses. I’d have to walk in that ring regardless of how I was feeling, and fight a well-trained and well-prepared opponent who wasn’t about to back down because I didn’t feel 100%. And no fighter walks into the ring on the day of a fight at 100%. There are always little injuries that walk in the ring with you. You have to accept that and move on – or don’t and fail.

Anyways, today was just one of those shitty days that you have to grind through, and do your best. And my trainer knew it. He knew that today would be a test for everybody in the gym.

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How to Not Get Fat and Lazy

I could’ve put a picture of Rocky Marciano here as well. I’m not sure if either him or Jack Dempsey ever took a step back in the ring.

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.”

I’m going to take a break from the “Build the Body Women Want” series and give you guys this article. I’ll be back with the chest and back part to that series later this week.

I think a lot of us look at the low points in our lives as the moments that are going to build our character, and they definitely are, but sometimes it’s those moments when things are going better than ever will ultimately show us more about what kind of person we are.

I’ve mentioned it before but I think it’s a great piece of advice from my Dad who has said it on numerous occasions, “don’t get too low when things are bad or too high when things are going well.” I think a lot of that speaks to what kind of character a person has. They are who they are whether or not they literally can’t lose, or if the shit’s hitting the fan.

You hear it all the time, people changing when they ‘make it’. When they get to where they’ve always wanted to be they feel as though they have to act like someone who has it all, and completely forget about the outlook on life and the values that got them to this successful period in their lives.

This can apply to work, social life, family and yes, training and fitness…

When a lot of us get the body we’ve always wanted, or get in great shape, we figure we’re done, we’re here and now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or when we begin to see some visible gains, we figure we’re allowed to cheat a bit more because, well, we’ve earned it. Read the rest of this entry »

7 examples of real men: Part 1

King Leonidas, Sparta, Greece

Here’s another installment of the”7 things” article series, but with a bit of a twist.

7 men who represent what it is to be a real man.

When I think of what a real man is, I think of character, wisdom, resolve, and a guy who knows what’s important in life. He’s not perfect, but he tries his best.

I think of the guy who isn’t afraid to pull up his sleeves and get some work done, the guy who knows how to treat a woman, opens the door for her, protects her and brings home the bacon any way he can. A guy who would stop at nothing to make sure his family is safe and taken care of and a guy who takes pride in how he looks but doesn’t spend hours in front of the mirror getting ready.

He’s the throwback fighter who’ll never back down from a challenge, the ball player who won’t juice to get ahead, and the father who teaches his children about life more by example than words.

He’s a guy who’s proud but humble, loyal and takes a stance when he feels it’s needed. He has morals and he lives by them as best he can. He tries his best each and every day to live in a way he can be proud of. He’s an open book to the one’s he love’s most and the kind of guy that’ll give you the shirt off his back.

These men still exist, much of our fathers and grandfathers have shown us what real men are, but they aren’t a dime a dozen, not that they ever were. They’re a rare and special breed and here are 7 men who represent what it is to be that guy.

1. Lou Gehrig Read the rest of this entry »