Week 12 - Competition of the Mind

I guess you could say that it's been 3 months now, given that this is week 12.  Although by the calendar it's just shy of that by a few days.  With a drop of 1.3 kg on the day and a weekly average loss of 1.1 kg, I weighed in at 103.6 kg (105.3 average) this morning.  That puts my total loss at 15.8 kg and about 60% of the way to light heavyweight.  Looking back at previous attempts at losing weight, in my most recent 'successful' attempt, it took me about 3 months to drop below 100 kg from here.  Admittedly, I had started from 10+ kg heavier than this time and had been going a few months longer.  So whilst my motivation was still there, I know from experience that the healthy obsession it takes to lose weight can suffer from ups and downs.  I have a system of training and diet this time that is working well.  All I need to do is maintain the effort and stick to the plan....simple as that eh....

Last weekend I travelled with a small band of fellow enthusiasts to watch the live finale of Wimp 2 Warrior.  It doubled as the filming of the final episode of a web based series of the same name.  The first episode of the show went live the following day.  You can check it out on their website - LINKY.  The remaining episodes of the series will be released weekly.  The show itself is about everyday folk who are offered the opportunity to train for several months and then compete in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) match.  So the parallels with any number of them to what I am trying to do are obviously quite salient.

The man behind the concept and head coach for the competitors is Richie Crannie.  He came to Synergy where I train in December last year to run a workshop that was an eye opener in terms of the skill and intensity he brings to the mat.  He also brought a few of those training in the Wimp 2 Warrior (W2W) program with him.  There I met Ben, one of the competitors and trained with him for the duration of the workshop.  Which was great, because not only is he a great guy, he is a man of similar dimensions to me, which is often hard to come by.  I kept in touch with Ben and followed his progression towards his match as best I could.  It was in support of Ben in the main that I travelled to Sydney for the final.  Of course I was interested in seeing a professionally run night of MMA, but, isn't it really those connections that you make that get you to go the extra mile in the end.

Ben fought a another one of the W2W participants and went down swinging.  This is often the case with heavyweight bouts.  Whilst we are all born with relatively the same ability to take a punch, the big boys tend to have the chips stacked in their favour in relation to throwing them with the heat required to sit you on your backside.  I was resoundingly impressed with how Ben handled himself on the night.  He looked as calm as I could imagine anyone to prior to engaging in a combat sport when I ran into him before the match.  Afterwards, he came out and visited the tables of supporters in the audience who had come to see him and did so with a quiet, humble way that I admired greatly.

Since the weekend I have been reflecting on how to process the idea of competing in the context of winning and losing.  In particular, I have been dwelling on my own reactions to how I handle being on the wrong side of the ledger as it were.  It's easy to be gracious and for most, humble in victory.  But, how much more does it speak of someone's character, how they carry themselves in defeat?

I had some of my deficiencies highlighted in training over the last week.  I mean in terms of MMA skills tested in friendly competition and not by someone standing there pointing out to me where I need to improve or anything like that.  More of an epiphany style of moment where you come to a stunning realisation that people are just that much better at something than you.  I'm pretty comfortable that I am not the best at anything in particular and that doesn't particularly worry me.  What I did resolve out of this week was that in order to compete in MMA, if I get there, I have a lot of work to do and I had just better make about getting it done.  The competitor that lies within me wants to know that I have done everything in my power to be the best I can be so that when I stand up to be called to account, I've left nothing in the sheds.

I hope that win or lose, I can be one of those people that can carry themselves with the quiet dignity that I admire so much.  I guess that forms part of the training as well.  Better be prepared!