Red Hawk Essentials #43
Comparing Yourself, Breathwork, Figuring Out Your Creativity
Comparing Yourself
Comparing yourself to others can be good or bad, depending on you.
Good, if it’s helping you level up and develop good habits. That’s why it’s important to surround yourself with good people who are always doing good stuff.
But a lot of people start to get jealous when comparing themselves. They start thinking, “Poor me, why do I have it so hard?” They wonder why someone else got an opportunity before them or has something they don’t.
Maybe they did have it easier than you. But that’s out of your control and toxic thinking.
It will lead you nowhere good.
I think a lot of people get this bad habit from their parents. I’ve seen it a lot, where the parents are complaining about someone else getting success. And they’re trying to downplay that success.
There are a ton of people who are jealous that Sean won the title. They’re jealous of how he got to the title.
That type of thinking isn’t gonna help them get to their goals any faster.
You know what will help you though?
Thinking about how good you can get. See how far you can take your own skills. See how much better you can be than last week.
And when someone you know is accomplishing big things, be genuinely happy for them.
You do this trusting that your time is coming. If you stick to the grind, and keep up with the good habits, then success will be in your near future.
Sometimes your friends will pass you up even when you’ve been at it longer. That’s okay, that’ll make you level up now.
Enjoy the grind, enjoy the improvement. Just know your time is coming.
Breathwork
It’s crazy how no one really shows you how to breathe correctly.
The average person is sitting down for 6-8 hours a day. Most people aren’t aware of their own breathing so they’re usually taking a lot of short, shallow breaths. And they’re breathing through their mouths.
The healthiest ways of breathing are nasal breathing and belly breathing.
Nasal breathing helps you get more oxygen than your mouth. And the nose is better at filtering out the nasty shit like dust, bacteria, and allergens.
Belly breathing opens up your lungs. It helps you draw oxygen all the way to the bottom of your lungs instead of filling your chest with air.
Most people when you tell them to take a deep breath, you see their shoulders moving and their chest sinking in. They’re not getting much oxygen to their lungs.
Implementing breathwork into our training has been a game changer for us.
Sug and I work with our coach Brandon Harris for our breathwork protocols. We usually do it to end a workout.
But it’s also great for warming up the lungs. It helps our bodies manage oxygen better.
If you breathe with your mouth or chest during a fight, you’re gonna gas out quick. And when you need to take those deep breaths, your lungs aren’t used to it. So you’re tiring yourself more by trying to breathe.
Outside of the physiological benefits, breathwork helps you calm down. Alleviates any anxiety and helps you stay present. That’s a powerful thing to be able to do.
The night before fight day, we had Sean do some breathwork. During fight day and in the locker room too. That’s why he was able to walk out of the tunnel completely calm.
I think the best way to start is to train yourself to nasal breathe. Learn to breathe through your nose during workouts or when you’re sitting around.
Use mouth tape if you have to, I did. I promise nasal breathing is one of the best things you can learn to do.
Thorne
Another healthy thing you can do for yourself is to get some good supplements.
A lot of UFC fighters use Thorne as part of their daily supplement routine.
Thorne is third-party tested for the best quality ingredients so you know exactly what you’re putting into your body.
I personally use magnesium before sleep, fish oils, amino-acids when I’m training hard, and their VeganPro complex protein.
If you’re in the market for some good supplements, Thorne is the brand I trust. You can feel safe and good about what you’re putting into your body with Thorne.
Use the link below and Throne will hook you up with a 15% discount on your order.
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Figuring Out Your Creativity
My best ideas come when I’m doing nothing. Or when my mind is still.
I could be getting a quick lift in, showering, or just sitting in silence.
It’s good to take notice of times and/or activities you’re doing when ideas start coming to you. Because usually, it’s not random.
But I think the most important part is being disconnected. All electronics turned off. No scrolling on the phone, looking for a quick dopamine hit.
Nothing stimulating. Just you and your mind alone in silence.
I know a lot of people get anxious when they can’t check their phones for more than a few minutes. And they wonder why they have no time to think.
Check your screen time and it might be a rude awakening.
When you can be okay with not checking your phone all the time, you may never want to go back.
One of the best habits I’ve picked up, hands down.
Finding Creativity As A Fighter
Every fighter is different and everyone wants their own style.
But if you’re a newer fighter, you shouldn’t be worrying about standing out. You should be focused on mastering the fundamentals.
Things like having good balance. Getting in the right stance. Turning over your punches. Having shoulders up on defense. Making sure your hands come back to your face after punching.
You can try to be creative all you want. You can do all these cool things while shadowboxing.
But when you’re in a real fight and you don’t have good balance, that’s how people usually get knocked out bad.
The same thing goes for jiu-jitsu. You need to know basic guard passes. How to escape mount, side control, and the back.
When you’ve got the fundamentals mastered, that’s when you can start getting creative. Putting things together in your own way.
The only exception to this is if you’re a crazy good athlete. If your athleticism is at a high level, you can get away with a lot more things.
But, it doesn’t mean you can skip the fundamentals.
Quick Hits From This Week
Red Hawk Recap Ep. 104
Sean On The P4P List
#8. Now we’re gonna see if we can make Sug become the greatest fighter of all time. I think it’s possible.
Meeting Jobins In Boston
Crazy what we’ve done with this community. We met a whole bunch of you guys in Boston, appreciate the love!
Staying Grounded After Winning
The hard work starts now. To us, we gotta stay more focused than ever and I think Sean isn’t close to how good he could be. Yeah, we’ll do some celebrating, but it’s time to get back to work.
Getting Back Into Fighting
To be a successful fighter, I have to be selfish. But I have 2 gyms, 240 students, and a world champ. To throw all that to the side so I can focus on my training would be a dumb move.
TimboSugarShow Ep. 250
Izzy vs. Strickland
UFC 293 is almost here, damn I can’t wait! Does Strickland have a style that’s good enough that’ll do anything to Izzy? Sug doesn’t see a lot of ways for Strickland to win.
Managers Taking Percentages From Bonuses
There are fighters that we know who are giving away 20% of their bonus to their managers. Sug and I both think that managers should not touch any performance bonuses. That’s shady.
Plans After Fighting
It sounds like MrBeast is too attached to an identity. He’s killing himself over trying to put videos out. It is scary to think about when things end. There’s a whole other life to live.
Red Hawk Academy Patreon
Welcome to all the new Patreon members and shoutouts to all the OGs!
On Patreon, we’ve done a bunch of giveaways, podcasts, and vlogs.
We’ve been going 4 years strong with our Patreon. There are hundreds of videos on there, with new content going up all the time.
You can get exclusive access to technique videos, extra podcasts, and general healthy living videos.
I reply to everyone on Patreon, so if you have any questions, hit me up there!
»» Click here to check out Red Hawk Academy on Patreon
That ends it for this week’s Red Hawk Essentials.
Hope you enjoyed this one. Give me a like/comment/subscribe below.
If you’re new here, welcome to the fam! We’re dropping gems like this each week.
Luv ya, talk next week.
Tim