Issue 056

November 2009

 ‘It takes a man to admit when he’s afraid; it’s a stronger man who does something about it.’

The Truth

The most formidable, merciless, agile and powerful opponent you’ll ever face is your own mind. The toughest challenge for any fighter is to face and conquer their inner demons that take the form of fear and are stronger than any punishment Brock could dish out.  

If you’re experiencing anxiety before or during a fight, know that this is fear and it is OK. It’s normal, all fighters experience it. We can’t deny millions of years of inherent instinct; fear’s prime function is designed to protect us and keep us alive, and stepping into a cage sends alarm bells ringing.  

Know Thy Enemy – Yourself!  

Recognize the onslaught of signals fear gives us: Rapid heart rate, irregular breathing, lose of appetite, nausea, butterflies and muscle tension. In the heat of battle these shackle hand-to-eye coordination and rewire fine motor-skills, leading to hesitation. Fighting in the cage takes no prisoners and the slightest chink in the armor can cost us more than battered pride!  

How to Dominate Fear

I could write a whole book on this subject but for now you’re getting the crash course – hold on tight and don’t worry, there are no hokey acronyms! 

Knowing how to dominate fear is an art, and one all mixed martial artists should master. Your job is simple. First unfetter (release) physical tension, only then can you harness the power of the blood, sweat and tears you’ve sacrificed.  Second, understand and submit fears before they gather momentum, causing you to psych-out (succumb to fight-day nerves).  

THE PATH OF FEAR:

FEAR = DOUBT = ANXIETY = TENSION = HESITATION = DEFEAT!

PHASE 1. Unfetter Physical Tension 

To avoid psych-out is to psych yourself in. Psych-in means you’re in the driver’s seat of your mind and no fear can distract or sway your warrior focus. You’re secure in the knowledge your skills are refined and primed. 

To attain this optimal state you need to first unfetter physical tension, which involves tuning into your body with a frontline, tried and tested ancient yoga-technique: Nadi Sodhana (alternate nostril breathing). The term means ‘purification of channels’ and restores balance to a mind and body under stress, and science backs this up. It controls the rate at which you breathe and calms your nerves that can constrict muscles in the chest and throat causing shallow breathing. Using this odd yogi breathing method before a fight floods the bloodstream with oxygen, which energizes the brain and charges those ninja reflexes, allowing you to effectively maul and maim your rival. Exhaling will cause you to relax, loosening unwanted muscle tension (which is the precursor to second-guessing yourself). By concentrating on breathing you’re reclaiming control of your mind and steering attention away from fears.

Here’s How 

(trust me, I’m a psychologist – it works): 

Close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale deeply through your left nostril.                                                               

Close your left nostril with your right ring-finger and little finger, remove your thumb from the right nostril and exhale.                       

Inhale deeply through the right nostril, then close the right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through the left nostril.  

Each inhalation and exhalation should last four to eight seconds – all in all it should take you 8 to 16 seconds to complete a cycle. Do 15–20 to feel the benefit. To release excess muscle tension, tense up a muscle with each breath (try all muscle groups) and release suddenly as you exhale. Your arms and legs should feel like iron balls attached to loose chains.  

PHASE 2.  

Understand Fear  Submit Fear Understanding and submitting fear allows you to strengthen the mind and boost physical potential by severing the cord between negative thinking and the fight.  

By no means is this hierarchy complete, as fears ambush us in all manner of disguises, but these are the three most common among our kin and are the main culprits for fight-day nerves (psyching out).  

Fighter’s Fear Hierarchy©

Fear of Defeat is the ego taking over and the Achilles’ heel of many a good fighter. It’s the most horrifying fear for a fighter; the thought of being emasculated, knocked out or forced to tap in public can be humiliating and consequently hemorrhages confidence. 

Redirect your unconscious mind, concentrate on nothing but the fight. Mentally rehearse and visualize your body as a weapon and its capabilities. This creates tunnel vision, you will become more alert, time will seem to stand still and the thought process will be bypassed, meaning you will rely on reflexes that allow you to anticipate your opponent.  

Take solace knowing that if you fall in combat, you fall – but at least you had the courage to test yourself. Most will never know victory nor defeat, and you’ll live to fight another day. If it’s any consolation, you learn more about yourself from losing than you do from winning. GSP proved this by coming back to be arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world after his loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69 (and he did it with the help of a sports psychologist!) 

Performance Anxiety is when attention is focused on how good you want to appear in front of a crowd. Vanity (ego again) has nowhere to hide in the cage. If you leave your ego at the door you stand a better chance of becoming a complete fighter.  

This is no time for showboating, this is a time for war! The audience don’t matter; the guy who wants to smash your face in matters. You need to disassociate from the mob and give yourself a reality check; the moment you hear “bring it on” you’ll be quick to realise your Shaolin praying-mantis-finger-dragon strike isn’t going to run exactly the way you planned, and performance anxiety quickly evolves into fear of defeat. In the cage you can’t prepare for what might happen; you can react to what will happen.  

Fear of Pain is termed ‘algophobia’ and in this arena preys on fighters’ irrationality, causing many to completely psych-out, thus consuming the fighting spirit.  

The idea of pain is an illusion (to a fighter anyway) and is almost always worse than the real thing. Our autopilot (the mind) kicks in as it senses danger, overrides our fighter’s logic and preps the body to do a runner. As fighters, we know it will probably hurt on some level, but our robust physiques are desensitized and conditioned to withstand copious amounts of punishment. Remember those hours spent drilling, sparring, being dropped on your head? Remember complaining when it hurt? No, I didn’t think so. We need to eject this autopilot and get on with what we train to do, namely fight.

Joe Bell is a sports psychologist / exercise scientist who specializes in fight psychology and calisthenics. He can be contacted by email at [email protected]