Performance Anxiety?

[Soulfighter]

I need some expert advice on this....

I have been training BJJ since 1997, but have taken plenty of time off due to injuries and school. Recently, since starting up again on a serious mode, I have competed in two grappling competitions.

In the first, I was very aggressive and active, trying all sorts of things, but once my gas gave, that was it for me. Lost be decision and couldn't keep on going to my next possible fight.

The second fight, pissed me off! I started aggressively as always working for a take down, I attempted a risky Judo throw and more or less got it, but landed on my side. Well, as you might imagine, I had to work for the guard. My opponent was strong and well balanced, but he lacked some finishing skills. I kept him in the half-guard and then he got a good side control. Well, my breathing stopped. I found myself unable to breath well and tapped out from pressure on my chest!!!

Can you imagine this? I panicked and gave up!

I have been diagnosed with 'Exercise-Induced' asthma before and got an inhaler for the prefight. But this kind of thing doesn't happen to me as much when training. Even though I get tired, I don't panic.

My instructor and buddy told me that this could be psychological. Do you guys know of anything I can do to overcome this half-ass shit? Any books on overcoming the anxiety, fear, any training tips, etc. One tip I got was to burn my lungs prior to the first match. Like I do while training, just go hard and then take the time to compose myself before the real fight. What do ya'll think?

Any help would be appreciated, I want to kick butt next time. It's about time for me to do so.

[Tom Yum]

That's a tough one. I don't have any sound advice...

you might try grappling in different places to get used to the environment change and going light for a longer amount of time?? There are some books on mental preparation in the 'Mental Training' Thread.

I get nervous before fighting. Tyson's coach, the legendary Cus D'Amato said that fear is natural but controllable.

[Soulfighter]

Thanks Tom. It is a tough one.

I will look into some of it in the thread.

Appreciate the response.

[Tom Yum]

Did you see the Mark Kerr documentary? He gets sick to his stomach before a fight.

[Soulfighter]

I gotta take a look at it. This weekend I spoke with a great NHB fighter and he knew exactly what I was talking about. It was good to see that I'm not the only one who experiences this limiting effect. But he seems to overcome it well.

On the mat it is forgiveable, but on the streets, it could be deadly.


Thanks Tom.

[SweepEm]

A few years back, I was competing in a tournament and it took forever for my match to get started. I was at the warm up area for over an hour and still waiting to get called up.

by the time I stepped on the mat and my match started, I had no gas and got submitted in about 3 minutes to a move I could have easily defended. I was on edge and the adrenaline tooks it's toll and burned up all my energy.

This year, I was injured but went anyway to compete in the Pan Ams. I tried to stay relaxed. If you see, lots of guys listen to some cool music with their Walkman's before their matches. I guess it gives them relaxation and focus. In both of my matches, since I wasn't 100%, I was trying to keep my energy up by being patient and look for a good opening to either shoot or for a throw. Both matches, the guys were impatient and pulled me into their guard and I tried to pass and instead they pulled me in their half guard.
By doing this strategy, I still had plenty of energy left to go to the end of the match not gassed, even though because of my energy I hadn't trained much. When I stepped on the mat, I had no nervousness and kept trying to just focus that this was going to be a match, similar to what happens at school. It was not until later that I thought about it, being in the biggest BJJ tournament in the US, competing in front of hundreds of people, going against a guy that, potentially could hurt me.

Anxiety is the toughest emotion to try to overcome.
Unfortunately, it's all in your mind.
But there are many ways to overcome this, one is to do as many competitions as you can because most times the more you compete, the easier it will become.

[Soulfighter]

SweepEm,

Thanks for sharing that. I was thinking the same thing, I need to compete more! It's amazing how different things are in a tournament for me, than just a regular training session.

So how did you do at the PanAms? I am in Florida, so this time I skipped out because of the trip to California and risking just one match. Although, I had the pleasure of competing in the 1999 event.

I'm gonna try to find an exit to this somehow and I think it'll be just a lot of training and many competitions. Plus a more rigorous anaerobic workout.

Thanks again!

[Ripley]

You should definitely make a conscious effort to relax in tournies. With all the adrenaline and waiting around, it's easy to get exhausted just fighting nerves. I suspect you'll be fine once you've got a few under your belt.

[JaredExtreme]

I remember before my first tournament I was so nervous I could barely eat breakfast, and when I finally started eating I felt like I was going to throw up. I managed to keep it all down though, and went to the tournament and lost both matches. Even though I got my ass kicked, it was a major psychological victory for me by just going and competeing in front of 30+ people.

[SweepEm]

I won my first match and lost my second match and got a silver medal.

[Szczepankiewicz]

What weight class/skill/age bracket?

[SweepEm]

Fat guys/white belt/old guys

oh, that was a few years ago, one of 3 is still the same

middle weight/purple belt/old guys

[CHOKE UK]

Does anyone remember the Choke video.
Rickson Gracie, at the time the lord of the ring,
before his fight running to the toilet !

Everyone gets it.
The people who say they dont get it,
dont have tough fights.

Some days I have noticed in myself and others,
that relaxation is a place we cant seem to find.

We feel edgy, for no apparent reason.

Our performance is less effective, leading to frustration, making matters worse.

I put this down to an leakey adrenalin pipe !
In other words we have a slight adrenalin trickle.
This saps our energy, and can make us short of breath.
I have seen good fighers tap because of just weight on their chest.
I have also seen fighters very occassionally develop a kind of astma.
Even the most able and calmest of fighters get this, from time to time.
I also think it has a psycological connection often,
as when people fight with say an injury,
they dont put themselves under the same kind of pressure to win.
And like the earlier reply, are often much more able and free from these effect.
Everyone has bad days at work or home so it only follows that this can happen at training.
And a cycle can develop, and if it continues,
people often drop out !
I think it is related to the natural desire to "want to win",
"i must win",
It shouldnt be so, but we all do it !

[Soulfighter]

Wow Choke!

That hit it right on the nail! Thanks for your input.

I thank all of you who have contributed to my post. I didn't train yesterday and didn't train today. Trying to let go of that ego sensitivity issue before seeing my team-mates.

What you said made me remember something...about three years ago I won first place in a Judo tournament in Georgia. I had a busted toe, all wrapped-up. I guess since the injury was so obvious, I didn't really have to prove anything. I rocked that day!

I guess this was just another one of those bad days at work!

Cheers mate!

SF

[Toudiyama[NL]]

the reason why you don't panic during training is because you can rely on your trainingspartners not to overdoo it and to stop when neccesary, something you do not know about the stranger you are facing during competition

the advice to do some training in other dojo is a sound one
That and just competing more

We used to have a student(karate) who got sick 2 weeks before the competition and it didn't matter if it was a clubchampionship against his fellow clubmembers

especially when you think you have something to proof, the stress is very high and will do strange things to you

occasionally I used to train with jitsu/judoguys 2meters in length and 120 Kg or more in weight if they did a north south hold(mount?) I would have the same problem as you but then again a packed citybus does the same thing to me as does a full bar, I just need a lot of O2