Choose Happy

Fight camp has officially begun, so how am I doing mentally? Surprising really fucking good to be honest. Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are. Talk to any high-level, elite, professional mixed martial artist and they’ll tell you that the preparation of fight camp is one of the most physically grueling and mentally taxing tasks someone can undertake. Like, you need to really, really love fighting to willingly put yourself through constantly testing your limits. We are in a caloric deficit, have highly amped up our training, and our schedules are squeezed to max capacity with all of the extracurriculars and mitigating tasks as well (jobs, family, additional strength and conditioning, cardio and agility work, getting medicals done, outside travel and training, and making sure to schedule things for recovery like massage, dry needling, restorative yoga, etc). Sure, all of this work is very grating, but fortunately for me, I do truly love it.

There are a few things I am doing differently this time around, and I must say, what a major improvement mentally and physically they have had. First and foremost, I have done a complete overhaul on my nutrition in preparation for my weight cut. I fast all morning long, and put in a couple of hours of fasted cardio. I’ve incredibly increased my protein, and work for these macros daily: 100g of protein, 50 g of fat, and 90 g of carbs. When it comes to my protein sources, I have greatly increased the amount of meat I am consuming, but make sure it is freshly hunted, or organic wild game, and also super lean. I supplement my meat with clean whey protein powder that I add everywhere I can. I am paying closer attention to my body and how it reacts and am finding myself doing well with this and feeling stronger and fuller and satiated for much longer. This has caused me to completely eliminate snacking (my biggest weakness) and I am able to take notes and see which foods produce the best results and which cause digestive upset. My planning and prepping my meals, I am having little to no difficulty maintaining my caloric and training goals.

I am a big believer in what you put into your body effecting your mood and well-being. Now that I am cut out from artificial dyes and substitutes and processed foods, I am feeling good not just with my body, but my mind and emotional state as well. To aid with all of this, I have incorporated approximately 20-30 minutes of mobility work in direct sunlight 4-5 days a week. Turns out Vitamin D and the great outdoors will do wonders for your psyche. Especially after lengthy hours busting my booty in the gym, it’s been quite nice to relax with light movement and deep stretches while embracing the warmth and scenery the good ol’ earth provides. In addition to keeping my joints and ligaments lubricated by doing all of this self-care, I have made sure to keep up with the maintenance of my body through things such as yoga, dry needling, chiropractic care, foam rolling, and sports massage. No longer will I wait for my body’s check engine light to come one before I practice routine maintenance. Because of all this, I have been sleeping much better, allowing me to fully recover between training days and being much better off for it, something I greatly struggled with in the past.

Lastly, I have reframed my outlook on various aspects of my life. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but I always took things so dang personally. I would read into every single situation, and then I would invent and create scenarios in my head where I would only end up making myself miserable. I would always assume people didn’t like me, or they were plotting things behind my back, or excluding me from situations, and whether any of this was true or completely fabricated, the only thing it resulted in was my bitterness and sadness. Comparison truly is the thief of all joy and I seemingly couldn’t stop myself from constantly comparing myself to others when it come to things like progress, skills, and even relationships. Now that I have instead chose to focus on the things I am doing with my path and live in a way unbothered by what others are doing, oh man, my happiness has exponentially increased. I wish I had the wisdom and experience to accomplish this sooner, because lately I have been waking up every single day pleasant and in a jovial mood. It truly impacts my mood and demeanor for the rest of these days and I am sure people much prefer being around this person than the one I was before.

All of these things were conscious choices I made (some definitely took some hard work), in order to effect my life for the better. The positive impact every single one of these has made has been all the difference between this fight camp and any other prep of the past. I am choosing to not harp on and dwell on the mistakes I have made and rather, have focused on improving every single day for the better. It’s amazing what these small, subtle changes in the tiniest parts of your life can do for the bigger picture. I have chosen happiness for myself, and it is probably the single greatest choice I have ever made. Death to Samantha Seff, because Sam Schell is alive and coming in like a wrecking ball to tear shit up and all with a smile on my face. I am working so incredibly hard and I can’t wait for all of you to see that when it comes to fruition June 11th. Create the discipline and habits of today to become the successes of your tomorrows. Choose happiness.