Sarah Liegmann – from the ring corner: A constant up and down

Before I get started, I’m really glad you’re here to read my column. It’s going to be chaotic, funny, but mainly 100 percent real. I’ll be sharing lots of anecdotes and experiences from the world of boxing, but also giving you some exciting insights into my everyday madness. And now it’s time to clear the ring!

A training camp always means a change. Not only physically, but also mentally. Even if you keep fit and train regularly outside of upcoming fights, there are huge differences between normal everyday training and a training camp. From one moment to the next, everything becomes more intense, faster and more uncompromising. To be honest, you always fall into a small hole after a fight, a kind of “post-fight depression”, as the body is confronted with a phase after this hard time in which everything suddenly shuts down – you slowly find your personal homeostasis again. As relaxing as it is for body and mind, you want to get back into focus relatively quickly. It’s a constant up and down. Longer off-seasons therefore make perfect sense. When things suddenly start up again, you first have to give your body, motivation and discipline a little jolt.

The advantage is that the body remembers everything and doesn’t take long to get back into the rhythm and realize that another phase has begun. Suddenly, sore muscles are a constant companion again. While normal amateur athletes would take a rest day, we put in two more sessions. Nobody at the camp waits for the sore muscles to disappear. You go into training anyway. This is where the mental part begins. This is certainly harder than the physical part when you’re back at camp. There are days when you wake up in the morning and your body actually says: “Not today, please.” You’re tired, your motivation is low – and this is exactly where discipline comes into play. These moments are always crucial for us athletes. It’s not just about improving every day, but also about overcoming yourself. This makes you mentally stronger and more resilient.

Overcome the control center!

Of course, I know all this only too well. Now that I’m back at training camp, I realize how often I have to force myself to do a second training session in the afternoon. Today, for example, I had a sparring session in the morning and then sprints in the evening, which I really didn’t feel like doing. It took me ten minutes longer than usual just to get changed because everything inside me was fighting back. At times like this, it’s important to not just be a passenger in your own head, but to take the wheel back into your own hands and force yourself. That’s what I did. Even if it took a lot of effort. Sometimes you’re really unlucky and the training doesn’t go well, but often the training sessions that you have to force yourself to do are the best ones. And that’s what happened. Although I hate running and therefore also hate sprints, I felt really good and fit during training.

This shows once again how much influence our head has on our physical sensations. The head is the control center for everything. So if the head doesn’t play along, it’s difficult for the body to show that it’s actually in top shape. In the end, it is often not the body that decides, but the will. And it is precisely this will that keeps us going.