Issue 128
May 2015
How many times have we heard a fighter say they “just couldn’t pull the trigger” on a given night? Recall Rashad Evans vs. ‘Little Nog’? Rashad just could not get his jab going. It was like he was frozen.
Gareth A Davies
MMA and Boxing Correspondent for The
Daily Telegraph, London, discusses sport psychology in MMA
Jake Ellenberger vs. Rory MacDonald too, and Ellenberger’s fight with Robbie Lawler for that matter. “There’s guys who pull the trigger when it’s time to step up, and there’s guys who don’t pull the trigger. This is two times when he was in the spotlight and had big opportunities that he didn’t pull the trigger,” UFC president Dana White noticed.
There may be a deeper reason for this, according to Brian McCready, a peak performance sports coach who helps athletes discover the power of the subconscious mind in sport. He’s already developed an absorbing study.
McCready, who built his reputation largely on the PGA Tour, has uncovered a method which works for fighters, having originally looked at golf ‘yips’ and why so many golfers hit the ball sweetly on the range but crumble when it matters. When what he calls the “chattering of the conscious mind” interferes with performance.
The yips are involuntary movements in the fast-twitch muscle fibers and McCready states there are two reasons as to why they manifest in athletes. The first is what he calls “the subtle body,” which is feeling and emotions. While the other is the “ego pure conscious mind,” memory and perception of the self.
“While we are in conscious mind, which is the noisy mind, the beta-brain frequency can literally obstruct the talent from expressing what was impressed to him some time ago,” McCready says.
“In effect, once the subconscious has stored the physical action in its four billion bit-per-second mind, it is hard-wired and does not require any input from the noisy analytic mind. What happens when the conscious mind interferes is that two minds with very different ideas are activated creating a compromised signal.
“So when the neurons fire up in the brain and the motor action is not clear, then the twitch occurs. This is why, in golf, the easy putts of three or four feet out are often missed because the greater the expectation, the fear of missing can cause a misfire in
the brain.”
McCready has applied this to boxing and mixed martial arts, where he believes it’s as much a problem as it is on the greens. Or, in some cases, even worse. In combat sports, nerves kick in considerably more than in golf because of primal instincts – the risk of being harmed. And while some fighters appear not to suffer from nerves, most struggle to contain the sympathetic nervous system.
“It is the most natural thing for us to go into this fight or flight mode, so can you imagine the quality of the signal by the time a fighter enters the ring or Octagon?” says McCready.
According to McCready, there is a golden 30 minutes before the athlete is due to perform, when the real battle is won. Studies into psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), or the mind-body connection, is the fastest and arguably the most effective way to stop the sympathetic nervous system from sabotaging the fighter’s performance.
McCready has devised a system for fighters to combat the yips and ensure maximum mental performance when the first bell or hooter sounds. Here’s a brief breakdown of his technique:
THREE-STEP ANTI-YIPS SYSTEM
1) Qigong breathing
Learning how to breathe correctly is a major factor in controlling the sympathetic nervous system. I studied this myself in China almost a decade ago and it’s fascinating.
2) Positive signals
Sending signals from body to mind, and mind to body. McCready cites examples of positive reaffirming to evoke the mindset of a predatory animal. “Imagine convincing yourself you’re a lion facing a wildebeest.”
3) Mental rehearsal
Set up weeks before a fight, this is based on the number of days it takes the sub-conscious mind to accept a belief so deeply it’s like it’s already happened. It’s done by carrying out mental rehearsal at a certain time in the day for a set number of days.
It may sound far-fetched, but McCready has practical results from his system. He’s worked with an amateur boxer for the last three-and-a-half years, and the results speak for themselves.
“He used to get very nervous but now he’s very calm before contests. He’s won countless medals around the world, including Commonwealth Games gold. And I’m just starting work with a 19-year-old MMA heavyweight, who is already 240lb and is touted to do great things in the sport.”
Fascinating stuff. Watch this space.
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