“It was really frustrating. I’d walk into the gym every other week complaining at Martin [Bowers, my trainer] about something, and he’d calm me down and say, ‘Look, man, at the position we’re in.’ It’s a glass half-full, as opposed to half-empty, mentality. ‘Oh my days, I need you to just get angry with me.’ But it’s cool, man – he’s kept my head cool, kept me in the gym working on stuff. I haven’t wasted a year. It felt like I was wasting it but I haven’t – I’ve improved so much being in the gym for a year straight working consistently on things and things are coming off ‘cause I’ve had more time to work on them. I feel good in that sense – I feel the improvements in myself when I’m sparring, so I don’t feel like I’ve wasted a year. It’s been a year of practice and learning.
