5 motivational tips to train Martial Arts over the Christmas period

Christmas is upon us and as the festivities and drinks are flowing, our training usually takes a back seat. Gyms start to get quieter as peoples social calendars begin to fill up with work Christmas events, family parties, and end of year drinks. Here are some sure fire ways to keep you motivated over the December period.

1. Make a promise to yourself and tell someone to hold you accountable. Remain consistent over the break and make a promise to yourself you will attend 2 classes of either Muay Thai or Kickboxing a week. Consistency is the key to success in anything in life. Taking 1 month off training is a terrible mistake and leads to a long hard road back in January 2018. It’s taken you a year to get where you are now, so don’t let it all go to waste. Did you know that de conditioning starts happening a week after no training!
How to action: Message your coach or training partner now and tell him you will commit to the 2 sessions per a week over the December period. Be specific! Eg I will commit to Monday 7:15pm Beginner Muay Thai and Thursday 7pm Muay Thai all throughout December.

2. Get a head start on your 2018 goals. Set your 2018 training goals early and get a head start. Who says you have to wait for January 1st to start? If you start now you will be 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Accountability is an important factor when it comes to setting goals. There is no point setting them if no one is keeping you accountable. Sometimes keeping yourself accountable just isn’t enough. Tell your coach your goals or post them on a public forum!
How to action: Set 2 short term goals. One to be achieved before December 31st 2017 and one to be achieved by January 31st 2018. When you have goals you have direction. Make sure your goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound. Eg: I want to train 3 hours a week every week until December 31st & I want to drop 1.5kgs by the end of January 31st 2018.

3. Change your mindset. So many people see training or attending classes as a chore or something they “have” to do. How about changing the way you think through positive self talk, reinforcement and changing the way we think about training. “I WANT to go to training because it will leave me feel more energised” or “I WANT to go to training because this is my time to do something I enjoy”. Next time you catch yourself saying “I can’t be bothered going training tonight but I know I have to” replace it straight away.
How to action: Like with everything, this will take practise. Everytime you catch yourself pre framing training in a negative mindset use your positive self talk to pre frame it in a positive light. This type of positive reinforcement will make guaranteed changes to the way you think and approach training.

4. Muay Thai / Kickboxing / Boxing are one of the highest calorie burners. This fact alone should be enough to get you into the gym! Did you know that a kickboxing session will burn twice the amount of calories compared to a light paced jog. So would you rather spend 1 hour doing a boring slow paced jog or 1 hour training in a fast pace, high intensity Kickboxing session?
How to action: We are all so busy this time of year so why not maximise your work out time by engaging in activities that will get the best results. If you know you have a Christmas party on a certain date, schedule in a Kickboxing class the day before. 

5. Reflect and look back at why you started. This time of year is a great time to look back at where and why you started training Martial Arts. Why is this important? Because it give you an opportunity to look at how far you have come and if you achieved the goals you set out to achieve from day 1. We get so caught up in our busy lives that we forgot to sit down and reflect on out journey and our achievements.
How to action: Set aside 10 minutes at the end of the day to sit down and think about why you started training Martial Arts. Take a journey back to your first session. Fast forward to where you are now and look how far you have come. Don’t compare yourself to other people because we are running our own race.