Sparring is one of the scariest things you can do. The 2015 Men’s Health Staff Challenge came to a close last week. That means the fitness test is over, and a lot of the guys around the office are breathing easier, walking easier, now that they’ve done their time and put a few personal bests to bed. For me, a new challenge is coming: Professional Services Fight Night is a month away. Anyone who’s ever been ring-side knows, this is not like any fitness test. The guys in the MH office are taking it easy, but I’m busier than ever. Five weeks out from Fight Night, Clever’s voice has ingrained itself in my head. Everywhere I go, I hear his voice, going
Tag: thomas okes
Come On, Commit
Moses and Jesus are playing golf. Moses steps up to the tee and hits a beautiful shot straight down the middle of the fairway. Jesus steps up to the tee and hooks the ball into the trees. Jesus looks up into the heavens, raises his arms, and suddenly the sky darkens. A thunder clap rings out, rain pours down, and a stream rises among the trees. The golf ball floating on top finds its way into the mouth of a fish. Then a bird flies down and takes the fish and the ball out over the green, drops it in the cup for a hole-in-one. Jesus turns to Moses with a satisfied grin, and Moses says, “Look. Do you wanna play golf or you
All of Life’s the Fight
Boxing, writes Joyce Carol Oates, is a sport forever in crisis. What must we make of this: two men, half-naked, hell-bent on hitting each other so hard, for so long, that one will eventually fall to the ground, as if dead? There is nothing inherently likeable about this scene. No immediate sign that makes clear: this is entertaining, even fun, or at least important. To the casual observer, she writes, boxing must seem not simply barbaric but mad. The Armoury on Fight Night is a place of worship: the weights are packed away, the lights come out, the cameras go up. This is a party. Beer and burgers. A hundred voices, dressed up, excited, electric, waiting for the bell, waiting for the fight. The Armoury
Hitting Back
The problem with life is, it’s dirty. Dishonourable. It’ll come out of nowhere, and it doesn’t care about the rules. Vicious, like it’s trying to put you in the ground and cover its tracks. Low blows, stabs in the back, these are everyday things. When you’re down, it’ll kick you, and again, in the head, for fun. The problem with life is, you know it’s coming for you, but you can’t get out the way and you never think you deserve it. Life knocks you down and the world counts you out and you wonder, why me. Before joining Men’s Health, I’d been at my last job almost two years before I realised I was really unhappy.
Breathing In
There’s not much to learn in boxing training. Except everything you already know. Seven weeks into the MH Staff Challenge, I’m beginning to understand how you can do something your whole life without ever realising you’re doing it wrong. Walking, eating, these are things I knew about long before boxing, things that now feel brand new. Drinking, breathing, these are familiar skills, made fresh. Swinging from the hips, stretching all the way over there, what’s different? Except everything. Boxing training has a way of taking simple things and making them really, really hard. Here, a push-up is something that tightens your core, strengthens your shoulders, so you stop falling sideways, so you stop dropping your arms. A sit-up is something that