It’s time to start training. There is no better time than now. Not tomorrow, next week, not when you have more money…now!

The work-personal life-training balance is very difficult to maintain. You will go through times when one will dominate at the expense of the others. That’s ok but its important not to turn the training tap off. Don’t stop. Keep maintaining it even if it’s at a lower level.

More importantly, never, ever give up. If you do, you lose it all. All that hard work goes out the window and in time all is forgotten. Better to keep it going at a lower level for a long time, than go crazy, train too hard, then crash and burn. Training is your health pension that conditions your body and mind to have less problems in later life. Prevention is far better than a cure and training is the best medicine around.

However, words are cheap and action is more difficult. It’s not easy to follow the path when so many things distract you and tell you to quit. Don’t stop trying though. “Nana korobi, ya oki” if you fall seven times, get up eight.

Over the last two months my training has been at a real low. I’ve been hindered by illness, injury, personal things, travelling and working all hours and weekends for a new job. But that’s all done now and I’m ready to start training hard again. I’ve got this guy I have to fight. I’ve fought him before a number of times, sometimes losing but usually winning. But he’s a really tough guy and a very good fighter. He often tries to put me down and tells me to quit because I’m past my best. But I won’t. I’ll train my hardest, fight him and win. If I don’t win, I’ll be back the next day and fight him again. Every day until I win. I won’t stop. I won’t give up. He is my worst enemy. He is me.