60 Mins With The World Champ

On Thursday 14 March, we hosted the longest standing cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson MBE, at our west London studio, where we asked for his help in inducting an enthusiastic group of fitness fans to a ‘REAL’ session. Guided by the former world champion, we were in experienced hands.  

This was a launch event for our latest drop of precise training essentials, using luxury and advanced fabrics. Everyone was clothed in a pair of our Uprise shorts and Flyweight 2:0 t-shirts, both minimally light and maximally breathable, geared up for what was to follow.

Once changed, we prepped everyone in pair of our signature 4.5m hand-wraps, to keep the wrists aligned and the fists secure. While the ritual of wrapping hands  was ongoing, there was an introduction to the boxing-inspired brand narrative that:

“Boxing is as much mental as it is physical. Inspired by the resolute focus, to the exclusion of all outside distractions, we live in the fullness of the moment. It is in this meditative state that we re-capture clarity. In a noisy world, full of distractions, we aspire for more focus and clarity in our lives”

After some movement prep and mobility, we begun in earnest with a 3min pulse-raiser round of high-volume, low-impact exercises to raise body temperature, recruit and coordinate the muscles.

At this point all seven participants were given a number, a pair of gloves and instructed to enter the ring one-after-the-other, for a 2mins 30secs round under instruction from the charismatic former world champion. It was time to go to work on the pads, with Johnny calling the shots. Time to focus on what’s in front of you!

Meanwhile outside the ring, we organised boxing-inspired partner drills, which had everyone on the balls of their feet, focused on tapping their opposite number on the thigh or shoulder to win the game, while avoiding any counter-taps coming their way.

Following a 2mins 30secs ON - 1min OFF pattern, one-by-one our candidates entered the ring to join Johnny on a journey of powerful movement, co-ordination and very much fixated on what Johnny’s pads were doing. 

As the rounds wore on, the intensity grew and the performance credentials of our considered sportswear were increasingly evident; accommodating vigorous movement and heavy perspiration. Our performance pieces are treated with an anti-bacterial application to keep odours absent and with an enhanced-wicking application. 

When everyone had rotated through the ring for their turn, Johnny took charge of the script and called everyone back for another round. Only this time Johnny was the target - he’d invited everyone to test their accuracy in landing shots on his body. One by one the contenders entered with fresh vigour and one by one they left depleted. My Nelson stood firm for 7-rounds and rode out a few hundred of the best directed shots our players had to offer. Needless to say we’ll all be dining out on the anecdote of having landed shots on the former world champion, even if the story doesn’t include how unfazed Johnny remained. 

After each round as everyone breathed in strict accordance of what their body demanded, we all came to terms with just how far beyond comfort we’d all been pushed. That’s when the glee of self-satisfaction kicked in. A realisation rises through your abdomen of how much more you are capable of than you first thought. This is an empowering realisation. 

Expressing our physicality is an essential counterpoint to our modern, quick-fix lives. Feeling our body’s response to effort and toil reminds us what we are designed to do, as well as what we’re capable of. This gives us a heightened sense of control. This gives us power.

As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the human ability that cannot be automated: emotion. 

REAL fights for enhanced mental wellbeing.