This fire can burn in many ways.  I feel it inside of me when:

• The Olympic Games is discussed in the news
• One of my friends or team mates achieves a great result (inspired, I want to replicate)
• One of my friends or team mates underperforms (pissed off, I want to show them it is possible)
• Packing my training bag
• Sports movies (I admit this is lame and I’m a meat-head, but I am what I am!)
• After training, can’t sleep because there is so much to work on
• Social outings (when I feel like I’m cheating on my inner meat-head)
• Preparing body armour (buying band-aids, tape, pain killers, ice packs, etc from chemist)

I feel the fire each and every time I experience these things, and for as long as I do, I am obligated to continue on my path.

However, this fire shouldn’t be confused for some sort of joy or fun. I HATE lifting weights at 5 am, I HATE doing 36 randori’s in 1 day, I HATE limping home with ice packs all over me, but THAT DAMN FIRE tells me to keep pushing. Unfortunately, this is where 99.9% of guys pull out and miss the opportunity to TEACH their body the painful lesson that only through HARD WORK can anything good be achieved.

Now if the fire only burns once in a while with you, chances are your goals aren’t really that important to you.  Think about how many guys sign up to train MMA after watching a good fight but never actually do much training.

Despite it being a fairly meat-headed outlook on things, I think it’s vital to keep finding ways to stoke that fire. The last thing you want to go through is a rut or get to a point where you are bored with your training. I reckon I’ve met close to 200 people who I trained with early in my Judo career and then again later in adulthood.  They nearly all mention that they wished that they had stuck with it and hadn’t have gotten sidetracked, etc, etc.

It might not be a bad idea to watch Rocky 4, read the Lance Armstrong autobiography, or whatever else pushes your buttons once in a while. Keeping that fire burning is what keeps you focussed. It channels your physical and mental energy and ignites your possibilities.

You will probably thank yourself in 10 years time

How does the fire burn inside of you?

Ivo