What’s with all the names…?

A new chapter in the ADK Boxing saga begins. We are now ADK Boxing & Fitness, LLC, and we have a new facility. Yep, it’s ours. Well, I mean we are renting the space. Just under 1200 sq. ft. of studio space, a reception area, bathrooms and showers.

So there is ADK Boxing & Fitness, the ADK Boxing Club and Flow Fitness. So what is going on here?

ADK Boxing & Fitness, LLC is the company, it’s the business side of things, the umbrella under which ADK Boxing Club and Flow Fitness operate under. ADK Boxing Club is pretty self-explanatory: we are a USA Boxing-sanctioned club and surprisingly enough we do boxing. Boxing fitness classes, individual lessons, competitive boxing, and youth boxing. Flow Fitness is the feature of the business that focuses on fitness and well-being. It’s the personal training, strength and conditioning, and the plethora of classes and instructors that will use the space to enhance people’s lives.

Okay, the cynic voice in my head says, so what does that all mean? With vague answers like that you should be a politician.

Right then. Never one to be satisfied with current systems and processes, I am always looking to do things better, that make more sense to me and hopefully others as well. I am committed to well-being and fitness, and despite the ads you see in social media, there is more than one path to get there. There is no one Ring of Power, no one-diet/exercise regimen-to-rule-them-all. So why create a business that does that?

ADK Boxing & Fitness isn’t just boxing. It isn’t just a gym. It’s not just a fitness center or wellness center. It’s so hard to define I’ve had trouble naming it just one thing. Just like fitness, wellness, mind-body health, etc. mean different things to different people, so should my facility be. It is a place where right after a boxing club session where we finished sparring, there’s a meditation or yoga class. A workshop on postural and functional mobility, there is a self-defense class. It’s a space for every discipline that is involved in the overall improvement of people who are trying to be and feel better.

ADK Boxing Club. Teaching and coaching boxing is my passion. there is so much to learn and to be gained from it. How and why the body moves like it does, the physics behind it, the practice, the art of it, all fascinates me. Not to toot my own horn, but it’s what makes me good at it. And I love to share it with those who want to learn it. Club sessions are skills development, strength & conditioning training, and sparring in a group setting.

We are a club that is sanctioned by USA Boxing - the governing body for amateur Olympic-style boxing. That is what we teach. From beginner to advanced and competitive levels (which is not to say that I wouldn’t or couldn’t coach professional boxing). When you join the club you also will join USA Boxing as a member-athlete; whether you are an adult or a kid. Being a member-athlete covers supplemental health insurance for you if you’re injured during club activities, and covers ADK Boxing Club’ liability insurance. Win-win.

Flow Fitness. In my not-so-humble opinion, the best way (but not the only way) to maximize the benefit of exercise is by fluid motion and movements. Elite athletes at the top of their sport don’t move in short, jerky movement patterns, even in sports that it seems like it’s exactly what they are doing (weightlifting competitions, for example). We are, in the words of an alien species from Star Trek:TNG, ugly bags of mostly water. Even our bones. Fluidity of movement is built in to our very structure. As we grow up we forget - when we stand up too fast, tweak our backs from moving in weird ways, hurt our knees from unnatural movements - and have to relearn it. I know I did.

So Flow Fitness is a nod to the natural state of or bodies and how it should move through space (no, not outer space). How many times in our daily lives do we make references to rivers and other bodies of water, meaning that things are flowing like they should, or that fluidity means smoothness and easy going? The intention of the Flow Fitness feature of our business is to use our space for exercise, wellness and mind-body health help your body and mind flow easier and with less resistance.

STFU About Ilona Maher

Call me a follower, a band wagon-jumper, a whatever. I started following Ilona Maher on Instagram after the women’s rugby team beat Australia to take the Bronze Medal in the Olympics, and her subsequent posts about her body and the comments she’s received.

I’m going to lay this out there, and quite frankly you vitriolic keyboard warriors (yes, I used a big word - look it up when you take a break from writing your shitty comments about people you literally know nothing about) I don’t care. Go ahead and comment. If your comments aren’t thoughtful, informed and contextual, I have no time for you. If you think you’re going to hurt me or my business, the joke is on you. And if you’re really serious come see me in person. I know you won’t.

I love the content Ilona is posting. I love the fact that she is calling out those who shame her because she “looks like a man” or that she is not sexy or feminine, or her BMI is too high. Here’s a fact to chew on: BMI is a tool in an otherwise comprehensive assessment. It is not a level of fitness, it is not a standard by which any self-respecting trainer uses to gauge their athlete’s entire training regimen. It’s merely a tool. Just like you.

Here’s the deal: Ilona Maher is who she is. She has the body she has, and it’s hers to do with what she pleases. She is a rugby player, and if you have never been around rugby, it is a sport that requires strength, agility, and power. You all who want to criticize her for being who she chooses to be have no right to do so. How would you feel if the entire USA Rugby Team criticized your body - which I imagine is pretty soft and squishy. You at home have no right, no authority, no mandate, and no standing with which to judge her, or any woman for that matter on their body. You also have no right or provenance, or ownership over her body, her mind and what she chooses to do with her body. If you believe that you have the right to do any of those things, let me say the quiet part out loud: NO YOU DON’T. The only mandate or provenance you have over Ilona Maher or any woman is to STFU.

I’m a personal trainer, I’m a boxing coach, I help athletes with strength and conditioning. I have a Master of Science Degree in Fitness and Wellness. Do you? Have you ever played rugby? Have you ever left your couch long enough to do something that is considered exercise? Is your name Ilona Maher? Did you grow up and experience her life? If you can’t answer yes to any of those, refer to the last sentence of the last paragraph. You have no right to comment unless you are wiling to show her some respect for what she is (an elite athlete), who she is, and you DO NOT get to decide how she lives her life, much less comment on it. You have no right. Just because you can, does not entitle you to share your opinion. Your opinion is not fact, and you are under no obligation to share it. So if you have something to say about Ilona Maher - or any woman’s body for that matter - that is not thoughtful, insightful, respectful or praising her for being an exceptional person, then STFU.

Are you not entertained…?

Jake Paul. Influencer boxing. Some say it’s good for the sport of boxing because it draws in new fans, which in turn generates more interest in boxing, which in turn generates more viewers, and which ultimately gets down to money. That’s good for the people who it benefits, but like trickle-down economics it usually only benefits those who already have it. Who it doesn’t benefit are those who deserve it. Jake Paul and those like him maybe be financially wealthy, but they are poor interns of what boxing truly provides: all the things that make a community and a sense of belonging.

Jake Paul is worth a lot of money. He can hire the best strength and conditioning coaches and the best boxing coaches. Despite that, what he can’t ever do is be an elite boxer. He will never be the the top of the game. Why? Because he is an entertainer, a celebrity (why we “celebrate” narcissistic loud mouth blowhards, I will never understand). He is not a boxer. Those of us who know the sport, study the sweet science, who understand why the body moves like it does, who understand strategy and conditioning, we see him flail around throwing punches that miss or have little effect. It might look good, but it’s not boxing.

We all want to see a good fight, a knock down, a knockout. We all want to be entertained (Can you hear Russell Crowe echo in your head, “Are you not entertained!?). At the end of the day, entertainment is cheap, it’s easy, and really, anybody can entertain. Boxing is not any of those things. It is hard work, dedication, bringing your body to its physical limits during training. And it isn’t just during the six weeks of training camp. It’s a lifestyle and it takes a whole team of support. Real support, not the kind that you can buy. People who care about you, believe in you, people who see your success as their success.

While training Aaron for competition, we went to the Ring of Hope Boxing Club in Schenectady, NY for sparring. One, we don’t have a ring of our own or a boxing community up here in Saranac Lake. Two, I visited the R of H a couple times before that and felt the vibe in the gym. It was community. It was sacrifice. It was dedication. It was caring, respect, discipline. It was family. There are several gyms I could have taken Aaron to for sparring down state, but this is the only one I wanted to take him to, because the R of H is what boxing truly is. It’s a community of people with something in common, and that everyone understands it belongs to them individually and collectively. After our first sparring session, Aaron told me, “I really didn’t know what to expect, how they would treat me as an outsider, but I was amazed at how they just accepted me, how they listened to the coaches and were supportive even though they didn’t know who I am.”

Avery, one of the boxers at R of H is 12 years old. Just before turning 12, he won a Silver Glove National Championship in Missouri. He was featured on local and national news broadcasts. This kid is the real deal. He floats more than he steps, his punches are accurate, efficient and effective, and his defense is solid. You would think that he runs around the gym like a celebrity, but you’d be wrong. He is a boxer, and he is treated accordingly. This does not mean they don’t acknowledge his achievement; on the contrary they honor his achievement by keeping him grounded, focused and making him an even better boxer because they care about him as a person. He is not a commodity, something to be leveraged to self-aggrandize or further their own ambitions. Avery will grow up into a talented and self-confident boxer because he will believe in himself, because he was taught by people who believe in him but also expect him the keep training as a member of the community.

Jake Paul can have all the money in the world, but he will never have this. And that makes him poor. Bereft. He will never know who his community truly is or who are his true friends because he made himself a commodity, not a person. He is an entertainer. That’s the choice he made. He and those like him are turning boxing into spectacle, and if influencer/exhibition “boxing” is what brings in money, it will kill the sport. So where does that leave genuine boxers like Avery and places dedicated to the sport of boxing and boxers like the Ring of Hope Boxing Club?

That is not me…

This is not me. I don’t look like that. Can I help people look like that? Yes I can. But…

Everyone has different fitness goals.

Some want to lose weight, some want to increase their overall, upper body or lower body strength. Some people want to look like Chris Hemsworth when he’s playing Thor. Some want to learn what all those medieval torture device-looking machines in the gym are and how to use them. Some just want to be able to confidently walk into a gym and feel comfortable knowing what they're doing.

Everyone’s goal is valid.

Will you achieve that goal is the question; and can you do it on your own? A very small percentage of people have that innate ability - the sustained motivation, the drive and the willpower to do it by themselves. Those admirable few are also the elite athletes we see at top-level competition in sports, on the soccer and football field, the ice, in the ring.

Then there’s the rest of us. Even as a fitness professional I still struggle sometimes to stop watching Marvel movies and get off the couch to go exercise. Those elite athletes aren’t better than us, they just have a different focus.

Here in the good ‘ol US of A we have a tendency to believe that bigger, longer, faster, stronger is better. Look at how we choose things like our phones: which one has the more powerful processor, the most memory storage, the most camera lenses, etc. Cars are no different. One of the first tech specs for a vehicle listed is horsepower. Manly men don’t drive a Prius, right? They drive Camaro or a Ram Hemi-powered truck, right?

We have the same view of exercise. I see people in the gym lifting weights much to heavy for them because they believe that bigger is better. Add another plate on there, I got this! Meanwhile, they are drastically increasing their chances for a significant injury. They are also not getting the most benefit out of the movement because their form suffers from the resistance being too heavy. The same goes for the treadmill, elliptical or bike. “If I run or pedal another mile it will increase my gains.” That is not always the case.

So what’s my point? It’s twofold.

First, stop thinking that bigger, longer, faster and stronger are better. That's a singular focus that will actually have more negative effects than positive, as much as no exercise will. Think in terms of progress, not in terms of how heavy you can lift or how long or fast you can run. Progress is rewarding, it is positive reinforcement. Benching 250 pounds might be your goal but trying it after a week in the gym and failing (or injuring yourself) isn’t going to encourage you to keep exercising.

Second, give yourself a break and keep your goals realistic. Know who you are and know your body type. Be realistic about the amount of time and effort you can give to reaching those goals. We are all busy, we all have lives and jobs and obligations. Remember that Chris Hemsworth spends hours per day and surrounded by a team of trainers to help him. Even that super buff and cut person in the gym most likely spends more time there than most of us have time for. And that’s okay, because that is their goal, it's what they want to do. Conversely, it does not mean that is what you have to do - unless that is your goal too.

Bottom line is this: if you want to start getting more active and more exercise that is great! I celebrate anyone who wants to take those steps, because ultimately all it will do is improve the quality of your life.

If you need help on that journey, a partner who can help you define your goals and design a program that will work for you as an individual, help get the most out each exercise, provide positive feedback and motivation and help you monitor progress, please let me know!

And So It Begins…

As of January 31st of this year, I am a small business owner! ADK Boxing is now officially a business and no longer just a side hustle. Throw in your favorite cliche here, but when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade - or if you’re over 21 a celebratory libation made with lemons. Sometimes unexpected changes are just the thing you need to step out of that comfort zone and decide that the best career you can make is the one you make for yourself - even if your new boss is a jerk sometimes (just ask his wife).

ADK Boxing has been around for a while, just not as a true business entity. The idea of creating a business out of my passion for boxing and being a trainer has been rolling around in my noggin for quite some time but I always told myself, “you’re too busy,” or “there’s too much to do at work,” or “ugh, that’s too hard.” Those were all excuses though. Really what it boiled down to was a lack of confidence on my part. I mean, what do I know about running a business? I know how to train, I know boxing and I have a Master’s degree in Fitness and Wellness Leadership, but I can barely add and subtract without taking my shoes off.

It turns out that while I don’t know a heck of a lot about running a business, I knew more than I thought and as any good business owner, leader, or supervisor does they go for help from people who are smarter than they are. So, big thanks to my lovely bride Aleacia and my friend Matt (@adkmtnrunning on Instagram) for not looking at me like I was (am) insane for wanting to do this; and lending their expertise and wisdom.

So, what got me to take that first step?

Since that fateful change in my working life, I took a hard look at what I have been doing in my career and where I want to be. The two, I found, were not exactly playing nice together. So, with my bag of lemons firmly in hand I went looking for recipes.

Luck, it seems took some interest in what I would make as well. Since I stopped the 9 - 5, I have three new personal training clients, and I have secured a boxing fitness gig over at Whiteface Lodge in addition to the Boxing fitness and Skills classes at SLove Health Club. With the growing interest in what I want to do, it seemed a good time to take that leap. Getting the hearty “Go for it!” from family friends certainly helped too.

Every new thing starts with a single step and that was me yesterday, driving almost an hour away to the Franklin County Courthouse and filing the paperwork to create ADK Boxing as an official business.

And so it began….