Thread: Mental Preperation

To get mentally prepared for a fight I meditate and clear my mind of other "bother some influences" that would distract me from completely dominating my opponent and using only the most effective techniques. Physical preparation is just as important as mental preparation though. Before a fight your mind should be free and clear, and you should have absolute freedom of movement.

It depends on the situation. If by "fighting" you mean something of a challenge, I couldn't help you as I've never been in what most people consider a "real fight". However, I have sparred a lot. There's a number of different purposes to the sparring I've been involved in. Typically, it falls into one of 3 categories, a competition, learning, or teaching. I do different things to prepare for each type fo sparring situation.

Obviously, the comptetion one is the most popular. I live with 3 other guys, and we routinely have sparring sessions in the basement, normally half of them have the competitive roots. To prepare for these fights, I usually spend a minute or two with my eyes closed breathing and focusing on the strength and speed I feel. It kind of gets me connected to my body, allowing me to move more fluidly, often without thought and not leave myself open. There's a balance of confidence and humbleness in the meditation. Obviously, you need to be confident in yourself, but not enough to be ignorant of what your opponent brings to the table. I try to find that balance based on the opponent and if nothing else, get an edge by being underestimated, whilst not underestimating him. If that makes?

I have two friends who are much more skilled than I, and often times they choose to teach by sparring. I've found it to be incredibly effective to build good form and consciousness of movement in the situations you're actually going to use the things in. It is in no way a subsitute for the Kata of the arts, but it does help show application of the Kata and reinforce that Kata. Don't be fooled if you're new to Martial Arts, its not all about kicking and punching, there is an attitude and energy to most of it, and understanding those underlying principles strengthen yourself. In this "learning" situation, I find myself acting a little bit slower, so my preparation involves going over the concepts we're working on in my head, trying to feel the movements without moving. That way, once the sparring starts, I can try to employ those things effectively. There's a much slower pace in these sparring sessions, and often times, we'll go through a series, and "restart" if someone messes up, and basically do it til you get it right.

The last grouping I came up with was teaching. I enjoy this one the most. I've had several teachers, and teachers who weren't into teaching only diminished my progress. If you're in a situation where you are a senior and you must train someone, please care enough to focus on the individual, don't let them do things the wrong way, be honest, and reinforce their positive progress. To be prepare for teaching type of sparring situations, I first need a feel for the student, and then, I spend probly the first few minutes throwing very very very basic telegraphed attacks to find their confidence and skill levels. Preparation is a continuing thing in the teaching situation. You have to adjust so you are teaching the student, not overwhelming or boring them.

Perhaps that was a long winded answer, and I apologize if it was off topic. Reading the post and the replies kinda spun these ideas off the top of my head. This is my first post on defend.net so any feedback positive/negative is welcome.



-brad..

mental preperation is good for competition fights....as far as street fights its pretty much useless.
(unless you have a good couple minutes when you know the guy is coming to prepare).

just my two cents

i agree that the mental part of fighting makes the difference between winning/losing. but the fact is that every fight is different, and if you believe a fight or violent incounter of some kind is going to go a certain way, your going to have a harder time changing your tactics when what you prepared for doesn't go as planned.

figting is more mental then physical in my opinion...the fact is it would be imposible to sit down and visualize all the possible situations a person can get into...its the little things at are inevitably missing from any visualization that will hurt you in the long run

Note: im not talking from experience, just what iv heard

just one mans opinion.

guess what ryan IM BACK HAHAHA
*sigh*

i looked at that article, i guess the benifits do outwiegh the potential problems (if any).

i was just thinking, for some one who never really experienced violence. how can they visualize something they have never seen, like trying to tell a blind person what the colour blue is like.

i was also thinking that when things go wrong it creates dout, and because of the fact that no scenario will ever happen exaclty as imagined, those little things could add up to lessen the confidence of the defender.

but it seems those things dont matter to much in the end......so
you win again ryan

Well, well, look who's back

In response to your questions:

i was just thinking, for some one who never really experienced violence. how can they visualize something they have never seen, like trying to tell a blind person what the colour blue is like.

Well, you can't learn everything through academic study, but if you talk to the right people, you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect. If you know any cops, feds, bouncers, ems guys, etc., then I would suggest having a chat with them about their experiences.

If you want some people with some hard-won wisdom about real life combat, take a look here (hope the moderators don't mind me posting these) :

www.senshido.com --look in the forum
www.sammyfranco.com --forum has gone downhill, but lots of good stuff in the archives
www.selfdefenseforums.com --info on everything that you'd want
www.gutterfighting.org --specifically WWII combatives info

i was also thinking that when things go wrong it creates dout, and because of the fact that no scenario will ever happen exaclty as imagined, those little things could add up to lessen the confidence of the defender.

You have to accept that things will not go according to plan (that's why the plan is made on the fly), and be able to adapt to it. That's the best advice I can give you. You will be scared, full of adrenaline, and probably experiencing some self-doubt. However, with the proper training (physical+mental), you can overcome this. (NOTE: I am not telling you to quit Systema/ROSS--I've heard some good things from people I trust. Just make sure you round out what you are learning, and be skeptical (but respectful) about anything you learn). Good luck training.


Ryan

heh, your never wrong are you......well you just wait, one of these days....

anyway thanks for your reply, but dont assume that "person whos nerver experienced violence" is me!!

lol (but sadly for all intensive perposes it is )
but im still learning!!
if anything is true im over confident *sigh* the trapings of youth.
lol. (dont worry though, im not stupid)

at first i was very skeptical of the russian system, then i saw a class, i was happy with what i saw but there were still some issues, that is, untill i tried it!

perhaps i trust to much in the system, but then again, i also realized that i have, in no way, even started taping into the potential benifits of the system...i was going to look into the JkD program my friend is taking, but i dont have the money for it right now.

So far the only issues relating to the system are not faults in the system, but how i chose to practice it, for example im relativly new, and lets face it, i dont go as much as i should (though i go as much as i can..) it takes me time to "realize" what my body wants to do in certain situations....so therefore my partner would go at half speed (not all the time, but most of it)
if i have a partner that iv practiced with a few times before, there is enough trust there to go faster, and try more "tricky" manouvers...it really depends on me.

wow that was longer then expected lol



anyway i look farward to many more of your posts, seems you always find something i missed.

p.s. im surprised you looked at my profile (or did i mention the system in another post?) and new the other name to the system im taking! i feel lucky to be able to go there on a regular basis.

The easiest way to prepare mentally for a fight is to believe that you are the better fighter. Have faith in your abilities and never doubt yourself, but at the same time never under estimate your opponent.

Find a place in your mind that allows you to concentrate on the fight and what you need to do to be on top of that fight. Leave all outside issues at the door to the venue and from then until you walk out of there they mean nothing. For that period of time all you are is a fighter, nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't fight in many tournaments during my time in the martial arts but I used this to prepare for sparring matches during my rank promotions and during the small handful of official matches I had. It also came in handy for those occasional schoolyard confrontations as well. Anyway, I hope this is useful to someone