Red Hawk Essentials #72
Separate Your Identity, Longevity, Things To Think About As A Young Fighter
Separate Your Identity
Defining yourself with whatever you do is a recipe for high anxiety and depression. Especially if you don’t achieve what you want.
It’s important to separate who YOU are from whatever you do.
Your real happiness will come from your relationships with your loved ones and friends.
And it can come from helping others. Whether that’s raising a kid and building a great human being, or helping people around you.
Achievements and accomplishments will bring happiness, but it’s temporary. That’s not true happiness.
When I decided to slow down on fighting, it was hard on me. When you have a focus on a goal and it’s all you think about, it’s hard to not define yourself.
But it’s important to find time to shut it off.
If you have a truck and it’s running 24/7 in your garage, it’s eventually gonna run out of gas.
If you’re constantly obsessed with a goal and it’s all you think about, you’re gonna burn out.
So find some things outside of your main focus to do. Could be video games, hanging out with your partners, whatever.
It can only be beneficial.
I know it’s easier said than done. But you gotta remind yourself that whatever you’re doing is just that. Something you’re doing.
It’s not you as a person.
Longevity
Bernard Hopkins says longevity is a mindset. I think science would probably disagree with him.
When you get old, your body starts to break down. But sometimes, your mind still wants to act like it’s still young and force you to grind and grind.
Once you get into your mid-to-late 30s, your body is just gonna break down.
But there are things for you young bucks that you have 100% control over if you want to have a long career.
We preach about it all of the time. A healthy sleep routine, good nutrition, and recovery.
Getting the right amount of protein and not eating like shit to inflame your body.
Cold plunge, stretching, and hitting the sauna. Staying hydrated. And having good relationships with the people around you.
Also, staying in the mindset of a lifelong student. You gotta be constantly learning and improving your arts.
A lot of fighters get out of fight camp and balloon over 30 pounds. If you’re doing that multiple times a year and cutting over 30 pounds, that’s hard on your entire body. Your organs, joints, etc.
Nobody ever regretted living a healthier lifestyle.
I think the earlier you start living a healthy lifestyle, the longer your career will be.
Thorne
Supplements are key for longevity.
A bunch of UFC fighters use Thorne as part of their daily health 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 an additional 15% discount on your order.
Things To Think About As A Young Fighter
The early decisions you make in your career can dictate how your career will go. So it’s important to not make any quick decisions and really weigh your options.
Careers can change so fast. Something can happen like an injury.
If you’re a young up-and-comer and you’ve got some hype behind you, you’re basically going to have 2 major promotions looking at you. The UFC and PFL/Bellator.
What most people don’t know is that if these promotions like you, they’ll start building you up before putting you into the big show.
These are called feeder programs. So I have a couple buddies who are in the program and the UFC pays them to go fight in smaller shows like LFA.
The purpose is to get these guys more experience so when you do come into the big show, you’ll be ready.
Bellator has a similar program. One of my buddies is on a $32,000/$32,000 show-win contract as a fresh pro.
That’s some good money. That’s money you can put on a down payment for a house or other investments that will last you a lifetime. These are things that will be there for you when you’re done fighting.
If you have the opportunity to make that kind of money early on, I say take it.
The promotion will give you matchups that are favorable to you. And you have an opportunity to stack some cheddar.
You won’t get as much promotion and eyeballs on your personal brand, but you can still build it up from winning.
Compared to if you went into the UFC right away, now you’re fighting animals for less money.
If the UFC isn’t that interested in growing you at that moment, they’ll give you matchups that are tough as shit. Losing a couple of those can get you cut and take every other deal off the table.
And if you’re making $10K/$10K, then after paying your gym, coaches, taxes, and other camp fees, you might be left with a couple grand.
I’ve advised friends in the past to take that money early. Getting fed guys to beat up for $60K a fight? You can’t pass that up.
But if you think you have “it” and you’re trying to be a superstar and make millions of dollars…
You can only do that in the UFC. But you gotta put together 3-5 wins in a nice fashion. You gotta put guys away, that’s what the UFC wants to see.
Those kinds of performances will give you leverage to renegotiate your contract.
It’s a serious bet on yourself. You’re passing up more money upfront to make millions down the line.
If anyone asks me, most of the time I would probably advise people to take that money.
If you can string together wins and be smart with that money, you can really set yourself up for the future.
But every athlete is different. Everyone has different superstar potential.
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.
We’re also doing a new show called the Confident Pod exclusive on Patreon every week. We get a little spicy on there and it’s a good time.
I reply to everyone on Patreon, so if you have any questions, hit me up there!
Snapchat
If you’ve got Snapchat, hit me with a follow! Timwelchmt
Posting a lot of behind-the-scenes and rowdy stuff on there.
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