It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Earlier this year, I set a goal to compete in the Masters World Championships at light-featherweight.

Masters is a competition I’ve not had much success at in the past, and I’ve not been a light-feather since 2008. But I love a challenge so… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

However, because I’m a disaster at planning and often procrastinate, when I tried to register the competition had already reached capacity.

Face meet palm. So I wrote it off as a lesson learned and promised myself I’d be proactive in registering for comps.

Fast forward to last Friday (and the over all the eating, relaxing, and lack of training since I failed to register) and I’m told registration had reopened.

Now comes the important question and the moral of this tale;

Do I make excuses and say I’ve not trained, I’m overweight, blah, blah, blah… or do I think f@?k it, you only regret the opportunities you don’t take, and enter?

Obviously, I entered, otherwise, I would be writing this lol.

Once I’d decided to enter my only other choice was, do I enter at featherweight or do I stick to my original goal of light-feather?

I usually weighed is about 67kg (about 148lbs) when I compete, so I alway gave up weight when I fight at featherweight (70kg / 154lbs).

And I was ok with that because I was well hydrated, well fuelled, and didn’t have to stress about weight. But in my last few comps, I’ve noticed something; I can’t move the featherweight, elite competitors, as easily as I’d like.

This was my main reason for deciding to cut to light-feather. I know I can do well at feather, but I have to accept the fact I’m a natural light-featherweight.

So when I checked my weight before entering the Masters Worlds, and I only weighed 65kg (about 144lbs), I realised I could still achieve my goal.

All I need to lose is about 7lbs.

Honestly, I was a little shocked when I saw my weight. I hadn’t been training much, and my lifestyle had been ‘relaxed’ to say the least.

That was last Friday and as of today, I weight 140.6lbs, which means I have less than 3lbs to go, something I can easily achieve.

How’d I do it?

– I cut all the rubbish out of my diet
– I started to drink a tonne more water (about a gallon a day)
– I reduced my carbohydrate intake
– I started training more

The best thing is I feel ok. I have a little less energy than normal but I’m still able to spar hard and I know it’s just my body adjusting to the new diet.

Anyway, what’s the point of this email? Good question, basically there are two things you should take away. First,

First, you’ll only regret the opportunities you don’t take. Second, you can accomplish amazing things when you set your mind to it AND have a hard deadline.

Right, I’m off to drink… more water.

Too long to read? No worries here’s the condensed version.

I’m entering Masters Worlds as a Light-Featherweight, and my weight cut is going great. And you can accomplish amazing things when you set your mind to is and have a hard deadline.