Latest / Between The Rounds Official / Inside Camp | Treading Deep Waters
Transcript
- Sarah: Inside Camp, week two, treading deep waters. I've just completed week two in Ireland and the novelty of camp has definitely worn off. The reality of the work has set in and honestly, this is when it gets really good. Something clicked this week and once that happens, you can't go back to who you were on Monday. Session by session, round by round, not just surviving them, competing through them, staying present, staying sharp, even when my lungs were screaming. Now the brief this week was clear. Push each other to uncomfortable places and get comfortable being there. Go to the hard place, stay there and learn there. Now most people think deep water is a metaphor for exhaustion. Exhaustion is just the physical state. The deep water is a psychological one. It's the moment your lungs are screaming, your vision is narrowing, and every instinct you have is shouting at you to back up. But that's where the lesson is. There's a massive difference between drowning and diving. Most people panic when they can't feel the bottom. And the work this week was learning to embrace that exact discomfort. Seeking clarity where your body tries to quit. but your brain says, not today, stay in it. Playing it safe and sparring teaches you absolutely nothing. You stay in your comfort zone, you repeat what you already know, you feel good, but you don't grow. I had to force myself into uncomfortable exchanges this week, trying new things that might not work, accepting I'd get caught while figuring it out, and that was the trade-off. All growth happens at the end of your comfort zone, not near it, at the end of it. And you have to be willing to look like a novice to become the expert. One of the coaches shared a great lesson this week. Box off of a plan, not off emotion. So when rounds get heated, your instinct wants to take over. You stop thinking, you start reacting. And that feels like competing, right? It's actually not, that's surviving. The discipline is staying with your game plan even when everything in you wants to abandon it. Trusting the process, even when the pressure says otherwise. The discipline isn't in the punch, it's in the decision to stay with the plan when your pulse is hitting 180. Come back to the plan always. because if you lose your head, the rest of you will follow. Now this one caught me off guard because when you're under pressure, your natural response is to tighten up, curl your toes, grip harder, clinch brace for impact. But tension kills speed. It kills fluidity. It makes you slow and stiff exactly when you need to be fast and loose. Now it sounds counterintuitive, right? Relax when someone's trying to hit you. But that's the difference between amateur and elite. The ability to stay loose when everything says tighten up. And honestly, I think that insight applies way beyond boxing itself. because the moment in life when you grip the hardest are usually the moments you actually need to let go. And the final lesson, come back to what you know. As I was stepping through the ropes, I was reminded, it's just like any other ring around the world. Come back to that. when pressure builds, your brain makes everything feel bigger than it actually is. So come back to the basics, come back to what you know, ⁓ trust ⁓ and it work. Camp life right now is a cycle of work, rest and intentionality. don't just get rounds in, we problems. Every drill is a task. Every partner is a different riddle to solve. and there is something incredibly honest about a life when your only job is to be better than you were the day before. Week two is in the bag and I'm further out from shore than I was last week. And honestly, I'm kind of liking the view from here. So get comfortable being uncomfortable because that's the only way forward. This is Between the Rounds. Thank you for joining me for this mini episode.