Boxing, my meditation

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Boxing, my meditation

By Neil Perkins

Nothing compares to boxing. I am sure other combat sports such as MMA and Muay Thai give the combatants the same inner peace? I am not talking about the boxing workout of bag work, skipping and fitness drills, I am talking about sparring, fighting and combat. Recently as part of my self-development I have been listening to pod-casts and reading books, this is a desire to become a better version of myself. My downfall is sometimes I am so obsessed with getting ‘there’ that I fail to take stock of my achievements and also don’t necessarily ‘plan my route’ to success as I charge forward….or sometimes I forget where I’d actually like to be – my mind is always ‘busy’.

Combat offers me peace, it is the one place in the world I feel completely at ease. As an early teen I was petrified of violence, in my early 20’s I was fronting some of the most troublesome nightspots and by my mid 20’s I was trading punches with the most destructive punching boxers on the planet – a somewhat cataclysmic transformation. In my experiences, I have found that combat no-longer causes me fear, rather it gives me definitive focus.

 

Back to my current self-development and looking at the tools of successful people and there is one thing I am struggling to comprehend – a clear mind. I am aware that my goals would be more defined, my route would be better, and I would become more successful if my mind was clearer and less ‘busy’. Meditation is commonly used. The ability to ‘zone out’ and think about nothing is a powerful tool, and I like many other people really struggle to switch my ‘monkey mind’ off. I realise that during my early years at Fighting Fit (2008/2009) I was less stressed than I became from 2010-2016. My decision making inevitably became better with business acumen, but my clarity, stress and direction was better early on, recently I have understood why.

 

In 2008/09 I was boxing professionally, whilst running a new business. Admittedly, I was a little naïve to the depth of the task in-front of me, but I could switch off from it – how I ask myself? I had no choice but to. My dual career saw me regularly sparring with some of the most dangerous men in the world. Many people who run businesses or have stressful careers struggle to switch off from their work and the mountains of tasks they have to perform? When your driving to London to spar a world champion you have no other option but to concentrate about what you are about to do and during the 6,9, 12 or 48 minutes of combat time, one mistake could get you seriously hurt. Equally, ‘shit or bust’ and relying on your ‘monkey mind’ wouldn’t enable you to survive with a novice amateur boxer, yet alone a world champion. The only thing you can concentrate on is what is in-front of you – you need a definitive focus. After the event of sparring and competition my mind had been cleared – a bit like when you clean your house or desk from top to bottom – it is incredibly rewarding and refreshing. No other training has ever replicated this sense of escapism and release – it gave me inner peace. Even now, when I ‘work out’ business, work, debt and family are never far from my mind. Working out alone doesn’t do it for me and I am struggling to get full clarity even when I meditate.

 

When I do manage to have moments of clarity my objectives and targets are simplified. Switching off your mind gives it clarity – this is something boxing always enabled me to do – boxing was my meditation. I realise that for me that boxing is something I can’t do forever, although I am always willing to help out recreational boxers with sparring – providing I am not likely to get damaged. Switching your mind off from the stresses of the world and escapism is a very rewarding experience. That moment of ‘clearing your desk’ of all the clutter in your head gives you a new stating point and a fresh perspective on things. This perspective makes decision making easier. If ever you want to ultimate switch off, take up a combat sport and progress to sparring. Initially your mind will be cloudy and adrenaline filled throughout combat experience, but as you learn to relax it will give you a clarity of mind that you can not explain – make boxing your meditation. You are always welcome in my church.

Part of history

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Part of history

by Neil Perkins

 

I have become very deep in thought about the direction of my life recently. I think with the acceptance of my official retirement from boxing, my physical condition reducing (although I am back on the comeback) fatherhood, a stressful few years with the launch of a business and approaching 40 I have thought about my ‘direction’ a lot more – Some would call it a mid-life crisis.

 

What would I describe myself as and more importantly what would others describe me. Well for those of you who know me would probably have one of the following three come to mind?

 

Lunatic, inappropriate or David Hayes sparring partner.

 

I am guilty of all those thoughts as it is my actions that have triggered these responses. In the last two years my cortisol levels reached new highs, but now my business is paying bills and out of the financial storm and I have had a little reflect before progressing on – I am entitled to that? This gasp of air after been submerged for two years allowed me to sit and take stock of my achievement’s and direction I am going. This reflection of where I have been, allows me to concentrate on where I am going and more importantly what I would like to do more of.

 

What do I do for a job? I am a business owner (Henrietta Street Gym), I am events organiser (Fighting Fit Events) and I am a boxing coach – all three are Neil Perkins and my passion runs through the veins of all three. Henrietta Street Gym had less of a direction that Fighting Fit City Gym did, and it ceased to become me, this is something I am rectifying and re-discovering. I understand the Javelin Block intervention for a cool space, but white towels handed out on reception and metal canteen water bottles to appeal to the influx of hipsters in the JQ should never have been my focus, yet unfortunately this was a direction I briefly moved towards. No matter how many tattoos you have on your hands, how much gin you sip or how much coffee you drink, a gym isn’t a place to look cool – it’s a place to work. This ethos is something that is back flowing through our veins and a culture I am going to nurture. I will focus on what I am good at, the fact that we are in a Javelin Block gym that looks the nuts will be a great benefit. I’m worried about getting our training on point, the rest will take care of itself.

 

This reflection has allowed me some time to think how I evolve my brands. I have the reality and not feeling morbid that one day I will leave this planet. I realise I am in a service industry and my goal is to positively affect as many people as I come into contact with, not to wow them with my reclaimed wood floor, lights form an Indian cargo ship or a recycled lift shaft – my job is to make them fitter, stronger, healthier and more confident than ever before.

 

The White Collar Boxing shows have always given me some of my fondest memories and I would like to think that of the 348 contest’s we’ve scheduled and the 400+ people who’ve completed this journey under our guidance have had a positive experience? Not just for the memorable night they have been a part of, but the self-challenge of the journey, the camaraderie of the fight camp and the ultimate sense of achievement. I would like to think that everyone who has completed this under our guidance rates it in the top 100 memories of their life.

 

I think that in continuing to run these events I will continue to be part of some epic nights (and I am not just talking about the after show party) where people can push themselves above and beyond their capability. These boxers aren’t boxing for world titles and there are so many memories I can take from the 35 shows we’ve run. These events will continue to enrich the Fighting Fit Events Brand, Henrietta Street Gym’s unique vibe and Neil Perkins boxing coaches achievements. I have never trained a boxer for a show that has disappointed me, some have under-performed, some didn’t follow instruction and yes some got beat – but I will share five of my favourite memories for cornering a boxer on a show.

 

Tim Hufton L v Dan Ricardo March’11 on Blood on the Canvas

After an impressive first victory I was happy to train Tim for a bout that many people in the gym thought he was out of his depth with? An expertly executed game plan saw him up at the end of the second round and protecting a lead. He listened to instruction to the letter and I think we were the only two people in the venue who thought he was capable of outboxing Ricardo? Tim had suffered in the build up with a virus and lack of energy ultimately led to his undoing as he couldn’t hold on to his lead in an enthralling last minute of a contest which saw Ricardo turn the tables and go gung ho. Ricardo can box and fight a bit – he also makes a pretty good website.

Julia Sturgess W v Julie Haycock November’13 on Ring Kings

The first lady of Fighting Fit and it was Julie v Julia in our first all-female bout. The actuary was calculated in her approach and ‘Tigger’ Julie Haycock with her BJJ background was the more natural fighter. Julia, like many of my clients wasn’t given an option about boxing – she was told she was doing it. I anticipated a high guard coming at her and not only did Julia adjust her feet well to marauding attacks, the body work was a master stroke that accrued points for a great victory.

Matt Davies W v Ben Mortimer December ’14 on High Voltage

I had the pleasure of preparing Stave Con’s MD ‘The War Horse’ for his rubber match with Mortimer. I didn’t feel a technical approach would work and instead opted to go blow for blow with Mortimer and out hustle the younger man. I was convinced that his opponent would tire and re-enforced the anticipation throughout fight camp. Going into the last round a point down didn’t concern me – I knew this is when his opponent would fade in a high paced contest – a high pace that we’d forced. When it comes to attrition and the desire to win – no one beats the war horse, we just had to bring his opponent down to that style of boxing.

Jenny Thompson W v Natalie Jonson March’17 on Broad Street Brawl

The most educated debut I have seen from any combat athlete – amateur or pro. As a writer on BBC radio 4’s The Archers, Jenny wasn’t your average pugilist. As a coach/ boxer relationship she never questioned instruction or reason, occasionally she moaned that something was ‘dumb’. On fight week, she had a focus that I have never seen from a novice boxer and on fight night warming her up I genuinely felt sorry for her opponent. I’ve seen this before, but also seen it fail when the bell goes. A ram-rod jab was prevalent throughout her contest as she controlled the contest off an educated lead hand.

Richard ‘The Badger’ Willets L v Brindley March’17 on Broad Street Brawl

Giving away 20 years is a big ask for anyone! This task is even harder when your opponent captained the rugby team and has a steely intensity. The battleplan was drawn up and the objective was to step right away from the right hand and drive his opponent backwards. On the opening bell Brindley pushed Badger back with the jab and volleyed concussive shots of his jaw. You can talk about white collar boxing with big ‘over-size’ gloves been safe – but this was venomous and brutal. The onslaught didn’t stop there, I had the towel in my hand throughout and contemplated throwing it in to stop the contest. I did genuinely see something that gave me hope and a bit of kidology in the corner between rounds seemed to resonate ‘You’ve got him Rich, he has punched himself out. Step right and drive him back’ The second round was a much slower pace and towards the end Badger had started to execute the game plan and Brindley was slowing. Eight points down going into the last and it was something that only certain boxers respond to –  the headbut onto the headguard and lots of obscenities – Badger came out like a man possessed. Brindley to his credit resisted folding with the turn of momentum and fired back when he needed to neutralise the scoring attacks and ran for the large part of the last session to win by one point before collapsing at the final bell.

The Kettlebell Swing – A love hate relationship

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by Henrietta Street Gym

The Kettlebell Swing – A love hate relationship
by Neil Perkins

 

Kettlebell training is an emotive subject with fitness professionals. It has the Marmite effect of ‘you either love it or hate it’. I am very much bipolar when it comes to my relationship with the kettlebell. In my hands or under my tutelage on a one-to-one basis, I love this training tool. The issue arrives when other people utilise it and don’t understand it design and implementation into a training regime.

 

In the correct hands Kettlebells are a fantastic tool that for correcting postural issues, engaging the posterior chain and providing a full body power endurance workout. In the wrong hand they are likely to make the highlight reels and When Exercise Goes Bad and CrossFit Fails. They will also bolster the profitability of the local chiropractors.
I’ve recently scheduled a training workshop with my own training team and one of my things to rectify in 2018 is ‘bad swinging’. The kettlebell swing is the primary move that Personal Trainers, S&C coaches and Bootcamp instructors chose to use (you’ll understand that PT’s, S&C and BC’s coaches are not the same!) This movement should see your hips hinge forward (from the hips not the knees bending) as your posterior chain activates to drive the kettlebell up. The kettlebell should hang at your crotch and an uncomfortable closeness to your genitalia and when descending the momentum of the bell should drive under your crotch and bounce of your backside – the kettlebell ‘tapping your ass’ should be your cue to engage your glutes to thrust the hips forward in an almost sexual motion. I have heard all sorts of teaching points for teaching kettlebell swings that include

‘tapping that ass’

‘Squeeze a walnut between your ass checks’

‘Thrust the hips forward’

‘Like your trying to bang your last inch in’

 

Even with such graphic and sexual descriptions, people still don’t get it. Either the population have not experienced the same ‘horizontal activities’ that I have? Or they are very poor at it?

 

NLP teaches you the art of coaching and communication with visual, audio and kinaesthetic learners and how to cater for them, but with the kettlebell swing for some reason you get the fourth type pf learner – the learner that doesn’t want to learn.

 

Why Swing?
The kettlebell swing is the primary exercise for engaging the glutes and the posterior chain. When it comes to group exercise it can be added and implemented into fitness classes such as bootcamps and providing it is performed correctly it is a safe exercise and requires far less technical input and equipment than say the deadlift or even the squat (90% of gym goers think they are firing their glutes when they squat and deadlift, but in reality they’re not)
Most people in sedentary jobs really could benefit with engaging some posterior chain and getting their glutes firing a little more. For the everyman stronger glutes will improve your posture, reduce risk of injury and help you perform day to day tasks like walking upstairs, standing, walking and sitting. For the sports people, your gluets are you power base – you will not become strong and powerful with week glutes.

 

The kettlebell is used a pre-cursor to Olympic weightlifting and I think this is where part of the problem with the end user comes from. I have always trained, not worked out. Training is for the definition of an end goal, people who ‘work out’ will ‘work out’ to sweat. I used to integrate Olympic weightlifting into my training regime – why? Olympic lifts are great for developing explosive power, as a boxer this transfers well. Lifts are also incredibly mentally taxing – you must think about technique, movement and patterns of muscle firing. For those of you who have ever learnt to box, you will see the frustration of learning the mechanics of punching correctly – this is how you enhance power. You don’t learn to throw the perfect right hand with effort and muscle alone – you need to learn the mechanics that go into the movement – then you develop power. Olympic lifts and boxing are very similar and the mechanics of co-ordinating your whole body to throw a punch is the same as learning to co-ordinate your whole body to move a weight. The kettlebell swing is a pre-cursor to Olympic lifts and to perform correctly, safely and beneficially you must think about your positioning and movement, you can’t do it on effort alone – we’ll you can, but you’ll spend a fortune at the chiropractors.

 

The ‘Form Nazi’s’ will argue this, but you can perform a shoulder press, press up or box jump with bad form and not risk injury. If you perform a kettlebell swing badly, you will inevitably see some tightness in the back at best – you’ll slip a disk at worst (the form Nazi’s will agree). You need to engage your mind and think about your form every time you swing a kettlebell. You need to think about hinging form the hips, driving your heels into the floor, and thrusting your hips forward. You also need to think about your start and end position. In group exercise situation when I have a group to take care of I have been guilty of this, but if your back hurts you shouldn’t lower the weight – you should stop and learn to swing correctly and think about you teaching points.

 

I could reel of a list of examples of bad kettlebell form, I’d like to say that I have never seen it in my own classes or my own gym but that would not be the truth. We are in the top 10% with our effectiveness and safety for using this tool, one of my latest targets is to make our delivery of this exercise a 100% effectiveness record and get people using the ultimate training tool to its maximum potential.

 

Think about your swings and get swinging.

Diet dilemmas, which way to go?

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Diet dilemmas, which way to go?

by Neil Perkins

I start this blog with a statement that is controversial.

‘I am better qualified and more experienced to discuss nutrition than any member of my team’

Despite my somewhat portly appearance, I have attended four courses on nutrition and I am accredited with two bodies (albeit joke organisations) then next statement will cause less controversy.

‘I am the least conditioned (and fattest) member of my team’

Nutrition has been described as the icing on the cake when it comes to clients achieving their goals, but this isn’t really true – it is the cake. The training is the icing.

For achieving fat loss, the science of quality nutrition is the key to sustainable fat loss. Gyms and Personal Trainers (myself and my gym included) like to avoid the topic of nutrition. It is like the Catholic church discussing paedophile priests – it is better off avoided and brushed over.

Nutrition is such an emotive and controversial subject and I have been unable to control multiple professional athletes I have worked with and their nutrition strategies, to tackle it with a newcomer to the gym is a much bigger task. The issue with the modern world is the various sources of information available to you and the contradiction of these sources. Couple this with our ‘I want it now’ attitude of the world, there is a big problem to tackle.

Despite the science of Cain Leathem, Charles Poloquin, John Buckland and the NAR – I learnt more about nutrition watching ‘Secret Eaters’ than I ever did from any of these persons – it is an insight to people.

I am evaluating my own journey and it isn’t just decline and decondition that have seen my body fat slide into the early 20’s from 8% in 2007 – it is the habits I’ve formed over the past 10 years. With the nature of the industry I work in, I am more thoughtful than most about the food that goes into my body. I have attended three of my four courses since 2010. During this period despite my knowledge increasing, my decondition has increased.

In the ‘nutrition tackling’ problem, this very often is a side effect of emotional, cultural, habitual and lifestyle factors – no one eats a bag of sprouts when they are stressed. From a lifestyle perspective, pretty much any nutritionist of note recommends quality food preparation and the counter argument to this is that ‘I don’t have time to prepare food’ – this is an excuse that I have made and many “successful” city centre professionals have given me.

As this puzzle unravels I am going to share a secret with you, recently I undertook some business coaching – this was the best money and time I have spent. I was given lots of reading and Tim Ferris was one of the extracts I was given to read.  Ferris wrote the ‘Four Hour working week’. Ferris also wrote ‘Tools of Titans’ –  A breakdown of 100’s of successful people, he observed similarities and differences in all of them and their tools of success. The people interviewed included successful business people and sports starts.  For those of you who have read the book, there are some interesting finds in relation to nutrition to exercise, lifestyle and nutrition with the ‘Titans’ he interviewed.

  • Less than 50% of them had breakfast
  • Everyone of them made ‘me’ time and formed some kind of meditation ritual
  • Everyone of them ate whole foods conscientiously and fuelled their body well (yes even if they did miss breakfast)
  • All of them value their body as their ‘machine and ensured they exercised

I think the above four points make you aware of the importance of making time to why you should make time to prepare and eat whole foods. Every year we have the fresh draft ascend on the gym who have joined either one of the big law firms, accountancy firms or recruitment firms. With their freshly picked Ted Baker suit off the ‘two for £150 rack’ they strut in full of self-importance asking do we offer a corporate rate as they list the name of their employer with pride. For those that start their journey, when nutrition is mentioned in relation to training results, they give you the answer that ‘with their busy schedule that they don’t have time to prepare food’. Eating better foods will not only make you perform better in the gym, it will make you perform better in life and work – it is not that you don’t have time to prepare and conscientiously think about what fuel you put into your body – you can’t afford not to if you want to succeed in the gym and in life.

We are identifying our goal driven culture at Henrietta Street Gym and striving to make our members improve. October 2018 see’s the launch of our members area on the website, we are finally tacking and talking about nutrition with our members – for our success and theirs, we can’t afford not to.

Sorry if an exercise pumped man who has read too many books has made you sit up and reflect on you actions and lifestyle. You clearly don’t have time to prepare food and make better choices – it would interfere with your time browsing social media and reading blogs written by a man who’s chastises you and who is half your intelligence.

More to come, if you aren’t too busy preparing food, I hope you have time to read. This will be life changing…….

How hard to push yourself – The 3,000 revs rule

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by Henrietta Street Gym

How hard to push yourself – The 3,000 revs rule

by Neil Perkins

For exercising regularly, managing my time a little better and controlling my lifestyle I am in a much more positive place. With them words echoing in your ears my next statement is little strange – I HATE BUDGET GYM WANKERS.

Recently I faced my reality and decided to start training again and employed the excellent services of two of HSG’s finest. Steve Foster is passionate about training, is a great communicator and would ensure I reach my goals. Paul Gough is one of the country’s finest boxing coaches and has coached an array of top level combat athletes. These two men were chosen to take me out of the gloom of my deconditioned state.

 

My end goal was ambiguous, and I suppose like many first-time gym goers I had a similar goal – I wanted to feel a bit fitter and lose a bit of weight. That is a standard response to most people when you ask them the goals for training. And I suppose they are ‘safe’ goals. I am not deluded and thankfully I haven’t told Paul Gough that I want to box professionally again, and I haven’t told Steve Foster that I am an entry for the summer CrossFit games – I think no matter how good their skill set both would struggle to get me to achieve these goals, well at least not by Summer. To say to a coach ‘I’d like to get fit and lose weight’ is a “safe” response and the reality is that I’d love a six-pack, to be able to deadlift 200kg and spank David Haye in a sparring session (again) and who knows if my journey continues I may aspire to greater goals, but for now I need to get back to some form of ‘shape’.

 

As an ex athlete, your fall is greater as you are aware of your previous capabilities. I recall as a teenager listening to an old man tell me how great he was in ‘his day’, now I am starting to wonder if these people were telling the truth? This bump to reality can be found at the hands of a coach, someone to take you out of your comfort zone – this is what they are employed for.

 

Paul Gough knows me inside out as a person, he coached me for 21 amateur boxing contests and five professional outings. He has been ringside when world champions including Tyson Fury and David Haye (I had to get the names in here) have been landing hurtful shots on me and equally when I have been dishing it back. He knows what it is like to travel back on a long car journey on the motorway after a savage KO defeat and a national final loss and equally he has shared the jubilation when I’ve had a quick night’s work and sent someone to sleep early. Paul knows when it is time to instruct me to ‘walk someone down’ and overwhelm them (push harder) and equally he was the person in 2012 who sat down with me after a sparring session that saw my teeth come through my bottom lip that instructed me that enough is enough and its time to walk away before I become permanently damaged.

 

Steve Foster, I haven’t had the same bonds with, but I have observed him work with clients. My concern with Steve was that he is physically superior to me. We have similar body frames and the same age and Steve doesn’t look immense – watch him train and your perceptions would change., I was concerned that I’d feel embarrassed training with Steve and I am like the countless people I speak to who would like to get fitters and stronger before training – you don’t take the car to the garage when it is already fixed.

 

When I looked at my options I thought about taking the solo gym user route with training. In the last eight years I have had six gym memberships. David Lloyd, Virgin Active, Pure Gym, Easy Gym and The Gym all promised so much – but over the last eight years I have progressively got fatter and more deconditioned – Why? I feel into the trap of designing my own training regime and dictating my own routines and training. I have coached elite level athletes and had a catalogue of success stories, why could I not get consistent results? ‘Going to the gym’ makes you emotionally feel better and occasionally I would push out a hard session. Generally speaking it would be a five-minute warm up and then the squat rack (if you could get on it because some twat was bicep curling in it, some pressing movements and the obligatory bicep curls before ‘fat burring’ for 20 minutes on the cross trainer. Then I’d go for the protein shake in the changing room before the male grooming in the mirror began.

 

When learning to drive, I was always taught that you should change gears between 2,500-3,000 revs. When you change gear, you go faster – this is the goal with exercise. You can never progress until your body starts pushing itself. A good coach knows how to push someone and when to push someone beyond 3,000 revs, the exceptional coaches can gauge when they’ve pushed them too hard. Exercise should push you beyond 3,000 revs – you should sweat, you should burn and you should achieve. Get a day pass in Pure Gym and watch the gym users toddle through their routines – one squat rack at best used badly, a lot of I-phone texting and lots of spindly arms doing bicep curls.

 

A gyms role should be to push someone to progress themselves. Change starts with effort and effort and motivation can be hard to achieve and your own. Gym users who get great results are the users who partake in group led sessions or who PT, having owned a gym for over 10 years, I can count on one hand the number of people who have achieved results training on their own.

 

I am on week three of my regime. Today I have taken a day off from my scheduled Hot Yoga Flow session – I am feeling a little under the weather and a ‘sweat shop’ will do me more hard than good. I will echo again how fantastic Yoga complements the HIIT, Lift and Boxing sessions we endorse at HSG. Paul Gough is Paul Gough – he is excellent, and I am learning all the time and been pushed to my limits, this not only improves me physically and psychologically– it improves me as a coach. Steve Foster has been immense, my level of decondition is lower that I thought it would be. A lifting session saw me deadlifting a weight that psychologically I was not happy with, but physically was my limit. If he’d have pushed me beyond this I’d have failed ad become disheartened, if he hadn’t have made me lift this much I’d have been coasting too much – gauging this is the sign of an exceptional coach. Olympic weightlifting is also great fun and the technical work and explosiveness is something I am determined I will master so as my strength base increase I can push some impressive numbers – this is engaging my mind and my body. This has created a new goal – to be at a level when I can train with Anthony Rogan and Steve on a Friday training sessions. I really enjoyed last weeks ‘Boxing Intervals’ class delivered by apprentice Scott Melvin – it was great to push through with a cracking group of people, you forget how strong the community is that we’ve created at HSG. The complement off Scott ‘You can box a bit’ definitely made me smile!

There is reason why I set up HSG was to ‘scratch my own itch’. I saw something missing and we need to offer elite level coaching for everyone. Training, eating and managing my lifestyle in enabling me to perform and function better – I will make this product better and keep sourcing quality coaches to improve. I am glad I didn’t opt to become a budget gym wanker. Training and lifestyle changes in enabling me to think like a business owner, I hope to start looking to a gym owner. With my current regime, change and improvement will come.

Fitness Journey – Scratching Your Own Itch

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by Henrietta Street Gym

Scratching Your Own Itch

by Neil Perkins

It was successful entrepreneur and writer of the 4 hour week, Tim Ferris that said that when setting up a business that you should ‘scratch your own itch’ His reasoning behind this is that you should offer a service that is currently missing and that would satisfy you as a customer. This belief and vision is something that will inevitably drive your brand to succeed. Richard Branson was inspired to set up Virgin airways as the main competitor British Airways was not offering a service that left him satisfied as a customer. I have never flown Virgin or BA and I have no doubt that Virgin isn’t quite as good as he claims, and that BA has rectified some of it’s wrongs. Poorly equipped cabin staff, poor customer service and no ‘fun’ on the airline was the reason that Branson felt he could offer a superior alternative.

 

My self-belief has always enabled me to believe I could achieve anything I put my mind to, on paper in 2007 when launching Fighting Fit City Gym, I would not have financially backed me. Although I had always found some form of employment from the age of 12, with my mum taking (or dragging) me off to work 16-hour days on catering functions, some part time bar work and even some call centre work occupying part time slots in my life. My ‘skilled expertise’ where formed in my early 20’s by either dragging men out of nightclubs as a doorman on Broad Street, punching people in the face as a professional boxer or teaching other people to punch people in the face as a PT…..hardly CEO material.

 

My vision for Fighting Fit was to provide members with authentic boxing training and then offer them the opportunity to progress up to boxing on white collar boxing shows. As far as I am aware I was the first person outside of London that was looking to offer this nieche service? A service that was booming over the Atlantic Ocean in New York. My vision had been formed from my own life and training experiences and I aimed to replicate the community feel that I had experienced as an amateur boxer at Priory Park ABC. I wanted our users not only to become fitter than ever before, but encourage self-development, confidence and a sense of camaraderie. This was missing in regular gyms. I wanted to enable this style of coaching and community to all and I would even recall my original ‘one page business plan’ where I wanted to re-brand boxing so it was no longer exclusively a ‘Blue Collar Sport’ I wanted to open this style of training and the psychological and physical benefits that if offers to everyone. I wanted the ‘world of the fight’ to be open to everyone – elite level coaching for the everyman.

 

Now the last bit of the previous paragraph has shown my evolution into CEO material. It may resonate Churchill’s ‘fight them on the beeches’ speech but this is the truth of my convictions. My evolution into CEO will enable me to tell you some facts about my business, and some of these leave me feeling a little old! My target market/ demographic is 21-45 city centre professionals who either live or work within half a mile of the gym. This is seeing me slide to the higher end of the age spectrum. Although we’ve had members to 74 years old and boxers to 59 box on a show, generally speaking the market place is occupied by this age range, what is worse is that 62% of my members are 21-35 – I am officially out of the cool club! The community vision and interpersonal relationship with members is something I am keen to resonate throughout the brand, the vision for the gym is to be like the bar in TV show ‘Cheers’ and where ‘everyone knows your name’ – for the 62% of my members who are 21-35 probably haven’t got a clue what ‘Cheers’ is 😉 ?

 

It is fair to say that my vision has been a little blurred over the past 18 months. Changes in life circumstance, age and stresses in my life have affected my outlook. With Javelin Block re-branding HSG, my life race was nearly over as I was ready to coast over the finish line and lap up profits, I was nearly there but burnt out, tired and demotivated. Those who work in the fitness industry can not be motivated by money, they must be motivated by vision, belief and passion. April last year we hit our membership targets and were so popular we put a freeze on new members. There were still many things going on behind the scenes and this created stress. Stressed decisions are inevitably bad decisions and natural attrition, bad staffing, poor session delivery and increased competition in the market place saw our number reduce back down below 300. I was ‘the man’ driving my business, community and vision. My lifestyle had slipped, and I was a far cry from the professional boxer who started this enterprise in 2007. I began similar escapism that many clients who come and see us have experienced with stress. Self-medicating on alcohol or recreational drugs, late nights, caffeine/ stimulant reliance and poor lifestyle choices had taken its toll on my outlook. I wasn’t optimistic, driven and energy filled – I was worn out and tired. I had forgot what it was to exercise and what it was to workout, without sounding too deep, I had forgot what it was to be me. I read a wonderful quote in relation to alcohol, especially when consumed on a ‘school night’

‘Alcohol borrows the happiness for tomorrow today’

 

My slick writing, CEO facts or corporate speak hadn’t made my business a success – it was the drive, the vision and the belief. It was the desire to make people change and provide the best service we could in a unique and motivating environment. I had spent 9 months sleepwalking, but I had accrued some very talented coaches to deliver this vision in this time. After a tiring 2017 I took a long overdue break I reflected my 2017 on a beach in Cape Verde. In 2018 I need the last 60 members to once again have my gym on a waiting list. I realised is that no matter how good this service people will come and go, the nature of our client base and evolution means we need to keep striving to improve the service we offer. I am also aware that in the last 10 years we have seen the addition of independent gyms, Crossfit boxes and budgets gyms. The market place is more competitive. I didn’t want just a waiting list, I wanted successful classes, an nu-paralleled vibe and a delivery on the gym floor that no-where else offered. To do this we had to add to our boxing and improve the lifting, hiit classes and the service we offered our members. As a nieche gym we also need to specialise and identify our target market and the service that we would offer them. Equally, we need to understand that we are not the gym for everyone and not be afraid to tell people this.

 

On a beech in Cape Verde I realised that I still loved the fitness industry and if I carried on sleepwalking that this enterprise would carry on ‘existing’ but never flourish. I also realised that unless I made changes to my lifestyle that I wouldn’t experience the same quality of life that my fitness had enabled me to achieve prior. I have a unique opportunity to be crowned head of the very dysfunctional family that is Henrietta Street Gym, this would see friendships formed, memories made and have a positive effect on all that pass through our doors – this is something I am most proud of the business I have created. I have re-ignited my own training regime and I realise that I will never be the same ‘athlete’ that I was in 2008, but I can be a more definitive and successful business owner and make a far superior product. I have ‘scratched my own itch’ and rather than train elsewhere which would have been a break from the day to day routine of work, I opted to use two trainers at HSG. Steve Foster has been recruited for conditioning session and me and Paul Gough are back on pads once per week on a boxing session – albeit a little slower than we used to work together. This has re-ignited my love of training and desires to improve what we offer our users.

I am back scratching my own itch and looking to improve HSG week on week. I am relishing the challenge of making us the best gym in the UK. We have some exciting additions and changes coming this year. I am back in the swing of training….

 

Don’t call it a comeback

Five things a boxer should be incorporating into their training regime…..that they probably aren’t

On
by Henrietta Street Gym

Five things a boxer should be incorporating into their training regime…..that they probably aren’t
By Neil Perkins

They say youth is wasted on the young and I like many wish I had my time again. I let my mind wander during a ‘Yoga Flow’ class at Yoga Haven and forgot how good Yoga was and more importantly why more people who exercise a lot (upwards of 4 sessions per week) should incorporate it to their training regime. As an amateur boxer I accrued a pretty impressive 18 wins out of 21 contests. My physical conditioning played a big part in this and Ashtanga Yoga under the guidance or Robin Aurrora was one of the things that I thank for keeping my core strong, me injury free and functional strength. This was something looking back played a big part in my success, yet this style of training is rarely implemented by combat athletes. Here are five things that boxers should be incorporating into their regime…that they probably aren’t.

1.Yoga
As mentioned above Yoga was one of the things I thank for my early success. It kept me injury free, subtle and strong. A good Yoga instructor will teach their students how to think about movement and body mechanics, this can be transferred well to the delivery of punches and combinations – punches are mechanical movements, not muscular actions. The dynamics of punch are a synchronised action of leg extension, hip rotation, body rotation and arm extension. There is a lot of movement in there and the flexibility of the hip flexors and hamstrings will help the body in its ability to rotate the core and deliver power. The best thing about yoga is the thought time and mental focus – Yoga outweighs running for this and gives the boxer time to plan a fight in their mind. For the recreational athlete, this focus and ‘away’ time from the stress of life offers great value added.

2.Kettlebell Training
Kettlebells are the king of conditioning. The basic kettlebell movement is the kettlebell swing. A posterior chain activator that encourages the hips to thrust forward quickly and aggressively. This short and explosive action mimics the short and explosive hip movements used to deliver punches. It teaches the body how to fire the biggest muscle on your body in the gluteus maximus (your backside) and deliver it through the hips in explosive power. Kettlebells are predominately posterior changed derived exercises, so they work all the muscle down the back side of the body. This engagement of the posterior chain (back) opens the shoulders and hip flexors that traditionally many of us suffer whilst hunched over a desk all day. The big plus of kettlebells is their ability to work the body unilaterally – each side of the body at a time. This not only gets great core engagement but works multiple planes of movement so ironing out weak points in functional strength movements like traditional squats and deadlifts. Kettlebells have the ability to fire muscles again and again under fatigue whilst maintaining form. The kettlebells is the king for power endurance.

3. Olympic Weightlifting
Functional strength is a buzz word for Strength & Conditioning coaches. Olympic weightlifting harnesses power from the floor through the core to extension of the arms in a synchronised movement to generate explosive power. I can not think of a more productive training mode for developing raw power. Sometimes skill emphasis is a big problem as is flexibility. Skill emphasis can be resolved by booking a good S&C coach and flexibility my incorporating things like yoga!

4. Good Nutrition and a healthy relationship with food
This is still a problem with many boxers. The weight making aspect of the sport in conjunction with poor education with nutrition leads to a very unhealthy relationship cycling between eating crap in large quantities during off-season and starving body in season. Boxers would be better advised to eat a diet high of nutrient dense food year round that either swam in the sea, ran on the land or grew out of the ground.

5.Rest
Rest is important as training. Again the cycle between boom and bust associated with the sport very often leads to overtraining, mostly as a consequence of poor weight management.

Managing your fear – Managing your squirrels

On
by Henrietta Street Gym

Managing your fear – Managing your squirrels

By Neil Perkins

For those of you who have spent a considerable amount of time around me, you will have heard me refer to the squirrels in my head? For those of you who haven’t, you now know that I am slightly mad!

The reference of squirrels is a little bit deeper than you might first think. I completed my NLP course and they are something that I self-created. For those of you at this point thinking WTF! I have two squirrels in my head that debate every serious decision that I have to make. The Red squirrel is clam, calculated and thoughtful and the Grey squirrel who is a hot headed, wild cannon and is fuelled on emotion.

I learnt as a young man involved in conflict situations that fear and apprehension of the act is far worse than the act itself. Working the doors on some of the roughest spots in town from the tender age of 18 put in me in plenty of conflict situations, years of boxing and trawling the gyms has meant that I’ve traded blows with nearly every lunatic in the UK at some point. Regardless if I am sparring a world heavyweight champion or someone who was dubbed as Britain’s hardest man (Danny Dyer clearly hadn’t met me!) you soon learn that no man is ever as big as his reputation.

I remember working the door at 18 years old at the Tennis Courts pub in Perry Barr. On a Saturday early evening I’d been informed that a group of individuals had ‘landed’ on the pub despite been barred and we’d have to ask them to leave. I remember the apprehension as I approached the group that were all known football hooligans on the pub watch list. Nervously I asked them to leave with an uncertainty in my voice, the leader of the group left and then when outside shouted a barrage of abuse at me, threatening to come back and ‘slice me up’ the following week. That week I was petrified to go back and literally had sleepless nights all week for the fear that might ensue, my Grey squirrel was in overdrive thinking of ‘what if’ and ‘what might happen’ I even contemplated ‘tooling up’ ready for next week (prior to doorman licensing and when I started it was common for doorman to illegally carry weapons) The following week I went back and nothing happened, this passed and week after week and after 6 years of doing that job I realised that been threatened to be stabbed came with the territory.

Controlling your mind is the key to controlling any pressure situation and I learnt when progressing to working high profile nightclub front doors that any sign of weakness is instantly picked upon. As I galvanised myself against the extraneous noise that comes out of people mouths, I learnt that no man is as big as his reputation and nothing is as bad as the Grey squirrel fears. You shouldn’t let the Grey squirrel (emotion) be your driver for any decision you make, Red squirrel (rational) is the far better choice.

Now we’ve all heard of the stories of a mother who flips the burning car off her child that’s trapped beneath it? She has summoned some strength, probably derived from her Grey squirrel? When a car is on your child, when someone threatens your life and when someone spits in your face with intent, then fight, flight or freeze will kick in as your adrenaline can make you do some amazing things – it can also get you in a lot of trouble.

In conflict, you can unleash a little bit of your Grey squirrel, but you can’t let him be your driver. For that split second in battle he can be a great friend, but prior to battle and with the apprehension of ‘what if’ he will eat you up with anxiety. He relies on fear to make himself drive, but fear requires energy. You will be mentally exhausted by the time you get to battle if you let the Grey squirrel dominate your thoughts – your head will be a like jungle. Yes, we can use him when you are threatened, and you can use him when your child is trapped beneath a car. You can’t use him when you’re trying to rationalise a pre-organised fight where you have no emotional feelings to your opponent – that is what all combat sports are.

Now I’ve had to coach over 600 people through the life changing experience of boxing on white collar boxing shows. This sometimes can be a challenging job! Very often intelligent and high earning people cause me the biggest problems. This is caused by their resistance to a doorman/boxer who is advising them, believe it or not this is my specialist field. As human beings we are all on a cellular level the same. I am not made of anything different to you and you are not different to me (Red Squirrel talking) To rationalise going into a controlled environment to punch each other in the face in-front of over 600 people is a little bit irrational? ALL SQUIRRELS AGREE!

So, when boxers are feeling a little low, nervous and scared (it’s perfectly normal) they need to speak to the Red Squirrel and ask themselves – WHY AM I DOING THIS? Amongst the many reasons that people highlight one of the many could be

‘To prove something to myself’

Now if this was one of your key drivers, then completing our process of preparing for a white collar boxing show will enrich you as a person. The Grey squirrel will think of reasons not to box, I once asked a female client to write me a list of reasons why she didn’t want to box and I got a list with 64 items on it including..

‘What If I trip up on the way to ring’

‘What if I look stupid’

‘What if the shorts don’t fit’

These are all emotional related reasons and the Grey Squirrel talking. For those of you a little bit lost between Red and Grey, you should read ‘The Chimp Paradox’ and delve a little deeper how your mind works?

As you progress as a combat athlete you’ll learn to control your Grey squirrel throughout and learn when he can be let out. As a novice level combat athlete, you’ll inevitably let Grey out throughout the contest when you compete early on. As you progress as a combat athlete you’ll learn to keep Grey locked up throughout 90% of the contest and rely on Red’s calculated thinking (this is why fighters enjoy the art of fighting the more they do it) When people unleash Grey (emotion) during a contest as a novice, this is ‘in the act’ not ‘before the act’ and then you can utilise your Grey Squirrel when you really need him – he and muscle memory will get you through a contest as a novice, as you evolve you’ll need to keep him wrapped up and use Red. Without upselling a second show, you get better as a boxer as you learn to keep Grey locked up during a contest and use Red’s calculated thinking to plan your way through. Most novice boxers remember 10% of their first contest!

As fight night draws nearer, your squirrels will work over time. My squirrels were self-created and when I get the apprehension, fear and think of what is going on I will sit and let my squirrels debate what is going on (they are self-created) in my head. Grey will talk about all his fears, rage and impulse’s and Red will sit down on his hammock wedged between two trees and drinks his hazelnut latte and tell him to ‘chill out’ and rationalise why he is doing this. Greys non-reasons are always emotion and fear driven and Red’s pro reasons are always derived from your real thought process. When I have a lot of pressure on I very often start laughing to myself. This isn’t me laughing at the person that may present me with the problem, this is my visualisation of squirrels arguing in my head – I am laughing at them. It’s a sure fire way to see if someone has antagonised me in an argument, if I’m laughing, my Grey squirrel is bouncing up and down saying ‘chin him’ and Red is cool as a cucumber sitting down on his hammock telling Grey to chill out. I am not laughing at the person, I am laughing at the squirrels in my head not the person infront of me.

If you are approaching fight night and looking for some nuts to feed your Red Squirrel. Here are a few you should think about

Are you appropriately matched? What safeguards have been put into place?

Have you trained for this event?

Do you have a strategy to beat your opponent?

I know that anyone who boxes on my shows the answer to the above and rational thoughts win. The process of boxing enriches people, not the act of boxing.

Enjoy your experience and be safe in the knowledge that no squirrels were harmed in the writing of this blog.

On
by Henrietta Street Gym

Best way to lose weight

By Steve Barber

 

The word diet brings out fear and send shivers down the spine of
near enough everyone. A time of eating bland, tasteless food and
more greenery than a field right? If you answered no then your lying
Rather get the same results while eating the foods you love?
Flexible dieting will give you the same results if not better than most
while you get to eat the foods you enjoy ( in moderation). Using the
simplest of weight loss equations that calories in vs calories out will
produce weight loss which is applicable for most of the world’s
population. While flexible dieting doesn’t mean that you can just eat
whatever and as much of any food that you want, it does mean that
you get to eat the foods you enjoy. Taking into consideration your
daily carbohydrate, proteins and fat requirement they can be
manipulated, whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or
maintain a stable weight. Following the 80/20 rule you can add in
those foods you enjoy in the right amounts whenever you want
them, if you stay within your macro range. With this dieting
technique you can say goodbye to the bland boring dreaded diet
food and hello to the satisfying foods you enjoy and stay dieting for
longer. Like they say the best diet is the one you can stick too.

3 reasons the squat rack is better than the treadmill

On
by Henrietta Street Gym

3 reasons the squat rack is better than the treadmill

By Steve Barber

 

1. Increased metabolic rate
As we progress through strength training our body adapts to the stimulus by
becoming more efficient at the movement and building more muscle. When
we build more muscle, it uses up calories that we consume therefore more
muscle we have the more food we can eat that doesn’t get stored as body fat.

 

2. Time consumed
Anyone who has tried to lose some body fat has spent countless hours on a
treadmill or similar machines and we can all agree it sucks and its boring. when
put onto the right program you can burn the same number of calories if not a
little bit more with an intense strength session, in a fraction of the time than
we would if we were to use the treadmill and it will be a lot more fun.

 

3. Benefits
Doing a squat session rather than just plodding along on a treadmill will do
more than just burn some calories and build some muscle it will also help to
strengthen tendons, ligaments and bones that usually degrade over time
causing pain and inflammation. Strength training can slow the rate of this
happening which will keep you pain free a lot longer, a benefit you wouldn’t
get on the treadmill.

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