Pre fight mentality

[Dragn]

I'm not a naturally aggressive person. But I love doing MA, especially sparing. But when it comes to competitions, my lack of agression, has cost me a couple of fights that I should have won.

How do you get yourself mentality amped just before you get in the ring?

Do you focus on relaxing your nerves and staying focused, or are you just thinking KILL,KILL,KILL!

I'm sure everyones different.

Trying to stay relaxed isnt working for me. I need a new approach.

[Mr. Mike]

visualize yourself winning, then do what you have to do to get there.

[Ben Martin]

my first tourney was last nov and i hyped my self up so much that when i steped in to the ring my sensei looked at my eyes and said to me straight away calm down this is semi contact your not hear to kill him, when the ref came over he said the same thing too. i have my next tourny on sunday and i think im gona try the relaxed approach. i thing ill do some meditating before my match.

[Jerry]

Relax!!! .... Being tense makes you tired. Relax and focus. In the ring I am very relaxed and it helps a lot with reading my opponants. Consentrate on your technique opposed to knocking the guy out. My trainer (shihan ... spelling?) has showed me how to relax and he is drilling it into us. He personally knocked 14 guys out withing the first two rounds in his pro carreer. His longest fight was sheduled 8 rounds and lasted 7 .. KO .. he wins!

Be relaxed and relax your arms and legs when fighting. If you have not yet done so, read Bruce Lee's book - Tao of Jeet Kun Do ... great tips!

Enjoy!!

[SevenStar]

the tips given are great, but none of them really address his issue. He lacks aggression. some people are just naturally passive - you need to have that agression turned on in you, then use it. For alot of people, simply getting smacked a couple of times does this. As he mentioned though, each person is different. Try a few things - listen to agressive music, structure your future sparring sessions around adding aggressiveness to your training - that actually may be the best thing for you to try.

[Jerry]

To become aggressive is easy. Just become competative. Taste the win and you will be inspired.

[Dragn]

Its not that easy for me. I have to get really mad before I go on the offensive. I'm generally a defensive counter fighter.

In 1 round full contact Karate tournies Its very short and intense. No time to play around, you just gotta go hard. I find I'm just starting to get fired up when its too late.

I know I have to be physically relaxed.The trick is in finding the right ballance of physical relaxation with enough agro to put me on the offensive.

I find if I'm just concentrating on relaxing before the fight, then I haven't got the necessary drive at the beginning, and get driven back on the defensive.

Some fighters look so agro like they just cant wait to tear into their opponent.(eg:Silva) Others look like they'd rather be taking a nap!(eg:Emiliaenko)

What are you telling yourself just before a fight?

What are you thinking as you step into the ring?

[SevenStar]

To become aggressive is easy. Just become competative. Taste the win and you will be inspired.

not everyone is competitive by nature, and it's not something that can be just turned on - if you don't like to compete, chances are that you never will. you have to get into the person's head and figure out how to make them aggressive...

[SevenStar]

Its not that easy for me. I have to get really mad before I go on the offensive. I'm generally a defensive counter fighter.

In 1 round full contact Karate tournies Its very short and intense. No time to play around, you just gotta go hard. I find I'm just starting to get fired up when its too late.

I know I have to be physically relaxed.The trick is in finding the right ballance of physical relaxation with enough agro to put me on the offensive.

I find if I'm just concentrating on relaxing before the fight, then I haven't got the necessary drive at the beginning, and get driven back on the defensive.

Some fighters look so agro like they just cant wait to tear into their opponent.(eg:Silva) Others look like they'd rather be taking a nap!(eg:Emiliaenko)

What are you telling yourself just before a fight?

What are you thinking as you step into the ring?

How long does the round last?

[Dragn]

3 mins.

For tournaments just one round, unless you draw, which will lead to an extra round.

For one match fights, and amature kickboxing, 2 rounds.

I did pretty good in some sanshou tournaments and amature kick, against less experienced opponents.Then I came up against an experienced kyokushin black belt in an amature kick boxing match and he TKO'd me in the first round. He came at me really full on and I just kinda froze up. It really shattered my confidence.

I've lost 2 fights in a row since then, by judges decision.Basically because I'm not attacking enough. Its not a skill or a lack power etc problem, its a mental thing.Which makes it really hard to overcome.

I just seem to be hesitating and holding back.

Maybe I'm just thinking too much.

I've got another amature kick fight comming up in 2 months. I aint gonna give up. I just gotta dig down deep and find the aggression I need to get over this hurdle.

I was hoping to hear about the experiences of some of you more experienced ring fighters to get some inspiration.