July 3, 2015 - Written by: Becky Solomon

Entering the Ring: My Biggest Challenge So Far…

Taking on a challenge.

So, about 3 months ago whilst attending my usual weekly kickboxing session, one of the trainers dropped it in that he reckoned I could fight.

Not too surprising I guess. I have been kickboxing and sparring for years but I had only been training at a place that does full contact about a year. This would be full contact fighting and very hard going on the body and essentially my first real fight.

Why on earth would anyone want to do that?

As soon as it was suggested, a little seed had been planted in my mind. Could I do it? Could I really do it? There were two options, I could say no and carry on living a life which would be far easier. It would also mean having to live with not ever knowing how capable I was. Or, I could take up the challenge and commit the next 8 – 9 weeks to training and everything else that came with it; fatigue, mood swings and dieting to make sure I made the weight. I never diet.

Challenge accepted!

I broke the news to my family and told them, if I’m going to do this, I need your support. They were worried but agreed and said to do the training for a month and see how it goes.

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So that’s what I did, the first week I stepped up my training from twice a week to five times including adding boxing and Thai boxing to my usual routine.

It was tough.

After the first Thai boxing session I had bruises all down my shins and a huge swollen elbow. I was wondering whether it was possible to cope 8 weeks on this sort of repeated damage. But honestly, the first week was the hardest and most emotional.

It would have been very easy to quit at that point but it got better…

Rest days are like heaven.

Every night I would get home around 9pm, ice myself, eat dinner, shower and go to bed exhausted.

It’s incredible how much you appreciate a day of free time when you have none. It felt like someone had blessed me with a day to do absolutely anything I fancied. Which usually involved a lie in, followed by a big breakfast, afternoon cake followed by an afternoon nap and socialising with those closest to me who I could bore with tales of training (as that was all I was doing).

Positive thinking.

I came to the conclusion that if I’d had a bad day or messed up, there was no point in beating myself up mentally when I was going through a physical beatings regularly. That stayed with me throughout.

I was worried about feeling down or nervous but I told myself the best thing was to stay positive and encourage myself when I needed it. It got me much further than putting myself down constantly, which I can struggle with.

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On the day.

The day seemed to drag until around 4:30pm and there was only an hour and half to go. I honestly felt as ready as I could be. If training nearly 6 days a week for around 8 weeks hasn’t got me ready then I never would be.

When I got in the ring and the bell went, I walked towards it not knowing what to expect.

‘It dawned on me for the first time the only way out was to survive the whole thing.’

Within seconds she came at me fast and furious with punches and my nose started bleeding. I was in shock and it took me a while before I thought, ‘throw something back!! People don’t like getting hit, throw something back!!’

I did but they weren’t landing as much.

Blood was running from my nose and with several large head hits, I had the awful realisation that this could be over quick. I could hear the tense gasp to my left of my friends and family willing me to stay up. I did not want them to see me go down so easy.

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After a hellish first round, the bell finally went and I went back to my corner desperate to hear what I needed to do to stay in the game. Second round went and was better, with nowhere near the intensity of the first. The second bell seemed to go much more quickly.

Last round I thought, ‘I can do this, I’m actually going to make it to the end.’

I knew after the first round I had lost and the only way I would have a chance was to try and knock her down. I did my best and I must have got her a few times because the sound of my family cheering was deafening!

The bell went, my cornerman came over very politely and said, ‘I think you might have lost that but well done’.

I knew I had, but my god I was grateful I had done it and it was over.

Afterwards was a bit of a blur. I wandered around a bit like a headless chicken until someone came over with some wine. It was needed to take the edge off the adrenaline. I soon settled down and watched the rest of the right cheering as loud as I could for the other guys.

(I’m the one in the purple shorts!)

Getting back to normal.

It was an exceptional night and an experience like nothing else in my life.

I don’t think anything else has happened in my life that took as much guts and determination as that did. So much time and effort was put in from the trainers and other guys at the gym, I have a complete new respect for everyone involved. The risk was big but if I had won it would have been a feeling like no other, which the other girl thoroughly deserved.

I was slightly worried I would be on a downer afterwards but I wasn’t. I had enjoyed the experience (as much as it could be) and I wasn’t too badly injured. The most rewarding thing was all the free time I suddenly had.

After a couple of days of having a fuzzy head (the results of adrenaline and possibly concussion!) life started to go back to normal, apart from it suddenly felt like I had all the free time in the world.

I spent the last two weeks saying yes to everything, going out for meals, drinking with friends, having a mini holiday and joining back with old hobbies. It was a good experience, but it certainly took its toll on other areas of my life.

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The question everyone keeps asking… would I do it again?

Too early for me to say. For now, I am having too much fun doing other things than kickboxing, and I have a summer planned full of events which I don’t want to miss out on. However, I learnt so much from the experience itself, it would be hard not to want to put that to use.

It’s almost like someone saying, ‘right, you know that exam you found really hard, well you have the chance to do it again and try and remember everything you forgot from the first time round’. For now, I will have to wait and see…

As for anyone else thinking of taking on a challenge, the best advice I could give is, as cheesy as it sounds, to believe in yourself, keep positive and remember even if you don’t win, make it or get exactly what you hope for out of it, you will certainly get an experience you will never forget.

If you enjoyed this post why not check out, ‘6 Things Climbing a Mountain Taught Me About Life’?