Episode show notes
Chris has a passion and drive to constantly improve himself, both physically and mentally. With his latest fight just around the corner, we chat all about how he maintained motivation during lockdown away from training camp and how he gets ready for the ring.
Otherwise known as “The Gentleman”, Chris openly chats about his career path into becoming a champion boxer, the support system of relationships he has around him and his ambition to become a role model for the younger generation and leave his own legacy in the world of sport.
This episode of Living Life Well covers:
• Mindset and mentality
• Self-care
• Strength in relationships
• Nutrition & hydration before competing
• Leaving a legacy and becoming a role model
Links & references
Episode highlights
“I really had to motivate myself whilst home in lockdown. Normally at camp I’m given a time and a place, and a routine. So I made a squat rack and a pull up bar and hung a punch bar which I used for training and then started the 5K runs everyone was doing.” Chris Billam-Smith - 3:02
“The time off was good as well too, I think mentally it made me a lot stronger. And I tried lots of different ways just to improve myself. As an athlete naturally, I'm always looking for 1% or 2% here and there to improve myself, so I tried lots of random things such as yoga or nasal training which is now in my training regime.” Chris Billam-Smith - 4:27
“You've read some amazing titles that we're all about mind expansion, why sleep is important, how to be the best within yourself, whether that's being an entrepreneur or, an athlete.” Simone Thomas - 5:46
“I have realised there is more to life than boxing. But I'm also more driven for boxing and I have ever been at the same time.” Chris Billam-Smith - 6:45
“I’ve been trying to read a little bit more and just learn about different ways to train different ways to make money, different ways to do all sorts of things and just improve life as a whole. I'm very much a driven person and trying to make myself better” - Chris Billam-Smith - 7:11
“I was 17 years old and had my first fight and it was a really good feeling. There was probably 15 of my mates there, and that feeling of getting your hand raised infront of your friends and having other spectators there applause you is a really, really nice feeling. So I just sort of fell in love with that feeling there and then” - Chris Billam-Smith - 11:18
“I just kept going and just kept driving forward. Like right now I want to win the open class championships and then if I do that, I'll get on the Great Britain squad. That’s just life, you get one goal and you achieve it and then you find another goal, and you another goal and that's sort of just how my whole career has gone really.” Chris Billam-Smith - 12:15
“I always wanted to be a champion in something and always wanting to be the best. Always want to be captain when I was a kid, and that sort of thing in football teams, hockey teams, whatever it was., I found boxing I think because it's not like football, there's not 10 other people to let you down, you can have the best game of your life and still lose. And being a control freak, I didn't like that. So now I'm in full control. If I don't put in the work, I won't get the results, and that's just how I look at it, and that's why I fell in love with boxing” Chris Billam-Smith - 14:54
“When the nickname got suggested to me I kind of liked that because it's quite ironic because you can't be a gentleman in the ring. It's obviously a very vicious sport and dangerous sport. I can just flip that switch when I need to.” - Chris Billam-Smith - 16:51
“When I'm in camp, it's very similar everyday I get meal preps done with all my macronutrients saying how many protein, fats and carbs are there and stuff like that. And hydration as well is obviously very important. Then the last two weeks, you start tapering it down, start lowering your carbs, so your body's not holding on to glycogen and stuff like that in fight week. Then that's sort of how you lose the weight, dehydrate a little bit and deplete your glycogen stores, and obviously, as a professional, when you fight for title you weigh in the day before, so you have 30 hours to rehydrate.” Chris Billam-Smith - 22:53
“You don't change it because something might disagree with you on fight day. You don't want to change your diet and start you know, trying new things out on the day of a fight, that’s the worst time, it's just got to be like every other day.” Chris Billam-Smith - 25:50
“When it gets down to it and the fight's happening, it's about how you've prepared and I think that's always the case. If you've prepared diligently and meticulously then I think you'll perform on the night regardless of whether there's a crowd or not.” Chris Billam-Smith - 28:17
“I think as you go through the levels of boxing, you always want to stick to your style. You want to find out what your style is, and work to your strengths. But I'm very much a believer in taking people strengths away from them, so I do watch my opponents.” Chris Billam-Smith - 29:13
“I've got this young hungry kid coming through who wants to take my titles and I think that's how Riakporhe underestimated me. And that's definitely a lesson that I've learned, not to underestimate people. So I’m preparing as well as I can for this fight just as I would for any other fight.” Chris Billam-Smith - 30:46
“Inspiring the next generation. If I can do that locally down here and inspire a few kids and help them, teach them how to carry themselves and stuff like that, that would be amazing. That'd be definitely a massive achievement for me.” Chris Billam-Smith - 34:00
“It's great to have role models that aren't just brash and chucking money around or just about cars and stuff like that. At the end of the day you can't take it to the grave with you. But your name can live on in one way or another, whether that's how you make people feel or whatever. And I think role models are really important for that.” Chris Billam-Smith - 38:47
“Just look at us as humans, as a child, you're not just crawling one day, and then walking. You try and walk, you fall over. That's the perfect metaphor for life, whether it's business, whether it's sports, whether it's a relationship, whatever it is. I think that it can be that simple, like you're gonna fall over, but you get back up and eventually you'll get there and then all of a sudden, you never fall over again in your life...unless you're really drunk. That’s why I don't drink!” Chris Billam-Smith - 41:26