It's a new year and usually around this time of year, I'm quite introspective about the past year. What have I learned? Did I make any improvements to my health and mental? For once, the answer is yes!

At the beginning of 2023, I decided to finally take the plunge into boxing in my mid-30's. Some might find this a bit odd, most martial arts tend to be dominated by younger folks. That said, it's never too late to start anything, but perhaps a sport that involves getting punched in the face, might on paper seem like an adverse choice for a person in their mid-30's.

Beginnings

Growing up, I'd done some different martial arts for periods. As a child, my dad got me into Tang Soo Do, which I practiced for quite some years before deciding to give it up in my early teens. Later in life, around my late-20's, I'd try my hand at MMA and then Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for a couple of years.

All of those martial arts however, never felt quite right. Tang Soo Do was fun for a while as a kid, but hey, teenager growing up in a big city, other avenues in life became more "important" to my teenage self.

MMA felt off because of my own lack of flexibility. High kicks were difficult enough as a kid, but in my adult years, no way I'm getting my leg up to someones head. Quite a disadvantage in a sport that relies on kicks and punches.

At somepoint though, I had landed on BJJ. Despite persevering with it for around two years, my limbs slowly started to feel the effects. Constantly walking around injured wasn't for me and to be honest, I wasn't getting the cardio I craved from a combat sport.

A life in parallel

Throughout most of my life, boxing in some way or another (growing up in London) has been in and around my life. As a kid, various other classmates at school would go to the local boxing gym and would go on to compete as amateurs.

It was always something that was there, but something I personally had a little "fear" of the sport in some respects. I think to most folks, the idea of getting punched in the face is a bit of a daunting prospect.

On top of that, a casual interest in combat sports meant I'd subconciously paid attention to a lot of big fights growing up, including the likes of Prince Naseem and Floyd Mayweather.

Diving in

As mentioned, at the beginning of last year I finally took the plunge. It was a daunting first experience, but I think I also got lucky. I ended up in a place with a great vibe and somewhere with an encouraging atmosphere.

Despite the vibe, it took a while for my body to warm up while starting up. Getting used to that way of moving, getting used to putting that much pressure on my legs to be active was another level I'd never experienced!

Some realisations I had when starting out:

• I had virtually zero hand eye co-ordination.
• Whatever cardio I thought I had from spinning, I didn't.
• Whatever discipline I thought I lacked, I didn't.
• Some days are better than others and that's fine.

The learnings

Without wanting to make this post a life story, I thought I'd dive into some of the key aspects and learnings from the past year.

There was quite a few benefits that also I feel applies to other aspects of my life (work, relationships, dealing with challenges etc).

I'll summarise these in detailed bullets:

Discipline
I wouldn't say I am an "undisciplined" person, but when it comes to sports and training, I'd never found something I was consistent at. Boxing provided me with a long, sustained period (that's still ongoing) of consistent training.

Community
In the past year, I've made quite a few friends through showing up regularly. Living abroad, making and maintaining friends can be difficult sometimes. Boxing has provided me with a community of folks at different stages of the journey. We're always learning from each other.

Mental regulation
For most of my life, I've had issues with a wandering mind. If you give me down time, I'll find a way to fill my thoughts with more negatives than positives. The release that boxing gives has helped keep me focused and in the moment.

Incredible cardio
Okay, so I may not quite be at 12 rounder pace just yet, but I've never felt better when it comes to cardio. In the past I used to do spin cycling quite a bit and the cardio you get from that, doesn't compare to practicing rounds in sparring. It's a whole different level.

Keeping calm
Life throws challenges at you. In moments of stress, I've often found it hard to keep calm. Boxing has helped me regulate this to an extent. When someone is coming at you with a flurry of punches, you have to keep calm and keep moving. I feel this applies to life. A lot.

There are some givens too. Confidence, general fitness and aesthetically you also start to reap some benefits, but these should go without saying.

Conclusions

What am I trying to explain with this all though? Well, this post is a very long and round about way of saying, I've finally found a sport that I'm dedicated to and enjoy and it only took 30 something years.

Effectively, it is NEVER too late to start something.

It's by no means the end of the journey (back in training tomorrow as of writing this), but I wanted to put down my learnings and thoughts from a year of dedicating myself consistently to one specific sport.