 Editor’s Note: BJ Penn wrote this column just two weeks before his UFC fight with Diego Sanchez.
Well, I’m in the best shape of my life. That’s what six hours a day, five days a week will get you. When you work this hard, your rest days are really, really holidays; not like those weekends that kind of come and go without much fanfare.
When Saturday rolls around I’m so ready to rest I feel like its Christmas. And now that I have Liliu (my daughter, age 1) to care for, I have empathy for all you hard-working parents out there. Yes, training to fight Diego Sanchez was tough, but being a parent is its own special kind of event. \It’s not that it’s that hard to be a dad, in fact it’s a very fine feeling, but there aren’t any “rest days” in parenting.
You can see Liliu on The BJ Penn Show at www.BJPENN.COM. The show is, for the most part, about my life; like what I’m eating, how I’m training, who I’m training with, and about my down time. Of course, I don’t’ put a lot of my training and workouts on the show, not when I’m preparing for a fight. You know, you can’t give away all of your secret techniques!
I have to take moment here to acknowledge my bothers, JD, Reagan, and Jay, who in one way or another have all helped me get ready for this fight and, for that matter, all my fights. Any one of the three could be a professional fighter if they wanted to, as they’re all world-class BJJ players and great athletes. I’m really lucky to have the around and in my camp; I don’t even know if I’d even be fighting if it weren’t for their encouragement and support.
“Family is important.” You hear a lot of people say that, but some people, I think, find the idea a hard thing to put into practice. For my brothers and I it comes naturally, but that doesn’t mean we don’t occasionally disagree; we simply put our respect for each other and an understanding that “this too shall pass” ahead of whatever issue we’re dealing with.
 In the Live Like a Champion Project, which is one of my “projects” for 2010, a group of teachers and athletes from around the world will be joining me for a year of on-line and in-person training. The idea behind “Live Like a Champion” is that being a champion on the mat or in the ring is just one fraction of what it takes to actually live like one. Taking care of family, your diet, your community, your education, and “life” in general is all part of what it takes to be a champion in and out of the ring.
The Web site for The Live Like a Champion Project is www.UltimateBlackBeltTest.com. I’d also like to point you to another project I’m working with Tom Callos called The New Way Network, which you can see at www.TheNewWayNetwork.com.
In The New Way Network we’ve launched a martial arts teacher’s association with the goal of expanding the mission of martial arts schools to include many of the ideas we’re promoting in The Live Like a Champion Project. And while we’re talking about Web sites, let me send you to a site that we’re using in all our on-line projects: www.CharterforCompassion.com. Check it out.
If you’re a martial arts teacher, you know that philosophy plays as important a role on the development of a well-rounded person as does physical training. The Charter for Compassion presents the martial arts community with something we can use as a solid base for teaching young people about the mindset of a champion.
Stay tuned for next month’s column; I’ll be on the other side of my fight with Diego Sanchez. I’ll give you the blow-by-blow of the fight and give you the inside scoop on my strategies leading up to and through the contest.
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