Issue 012
April 2006
By James Barraclough
There is no doubt that music can have a powerful influence on our lives. If you hear your favourite piece of music then I have no doubt that it provokes some sort of reaction from you. This may be to tap your foot or sing along (or even get up and dance), but in some way or other that music will affect you: that’s why it’s your favourite music. Simply put, it can make you emotional, and it is these emotions that sport psychologists try to harness to help both athletes and fighters achieve their full potential.
Music can be used in a number of ways in sport psychology ‘interventions’ (ways of improving training/performance). These interventions are worked out by the sport psychologist in conjunction with all the available sources of information about the fighter. These can be taken from questionnaires (kept to a minimum; nobody really enjoys filling in forms), observing training and performance, talking to coaches and other fighters, but most importantly by talking to the fighter.
As I mentioned in the last months article, the aim of sport psychology is to help the fighter help himself. In other words, the psychologist acts as a channel to help the fighter come up with solutions to improve their performance. At the end of the day, who knows better about a fighter than a fighter himself? Although, it is always good to get as much information as possible in order to get a more unbiased picture because some fighters are less able to talk about things as openly as others. They may even be initially dishonest, as they feel working with a psychologist means they have emotional or psychological problems, but this is not the case. It is simply about trying to refine their ways of training and improve their fighting.
One of the main aims of the psychologist/fighter partnership is to make sure that when the fighter steps into the cage, they are fully focused on the job in hand: winning. Music is an important part of that process. The most obvious example is the choice of music played when they enter the ring. When Rosi Sexton (CageWarriors Female Champion) defended her world title, her choice of music reflected how she wanted to feel as she went up the steps, and was even chosen so as to intimidate her opponent. The Fugees’ song ‘Ready or Not’ was a great choice, with the haunting lyrics ‘Here I come, (You can’t hide)’.
The lyrics obviously have great meaning, and help as part of the ‘pre-performance routine’ suggested by psychologists to improve concentration on the day of competition (and in the few days leading up to the event). The song also helped create an emotional response in Rosi, and should positively affect her body arousal levels (her state of alertness). The aim is to make the fighter as awake and alert as possible, and therefore physically ready to fight, but also mentally calm and in control of their actions. Music is an excellent way of bringing on this body arousal, and other techniques (such as self-talk) can be used along with this.
As well as on the day of competition, music can also be used in various types of training. It can be used in simulation training (which is basically trying to recreate the fight conditions as much as possible in the gym). This can never be done with 100% realism, but it should be attempted as much as possible to enable the fighter, coach and psychologist to practise how they want to behave on the day of the fight. One way would be to play the same music that they will be entering the cage to on the day. This should create an emotional response as described above and get the fighter used to controlling this in a non-threatening (simulated) situation prior to trying it for real.
Another way in which music can be used in preparation is in imagery and visualisation. When using imagery, the fighter should be encouraged to recreate a meaningful, realistic environment. A recent major criticism of applying imagery is that athletes are often encouraged to physically relax when visualising. It goes without saying that when you are in a cage you are far from being physically relaxed, so why would you try and recreate this when you are training mentally through imagery?
I encourage my clients to try and recreate the ‘aroused body/relaxed mind’ scenario whilst using imagery. Not only is it more realistic, but it gives them the chance to use other interventions (such as mental – not physical – relaxation such as self talk) in an as real as possible situation, giving them the opportunity to experiment as to what works best without leaving it to chance on the day of the fight.
One way of doing this is by using music, preferably the same music that they will be entering the cage to. You will be using this music a lot – as its recommended to use imagery daily – so its important the fighter (not the psychologist) pick something he will not get bored with.
Also, its not always possible to do imagery in a formal way, but just listening to that piece of music (e.g. in the car or on the bus) should bring about a response and make the fighter visualise automatically, and any chance to use imagery can only help them to mentally perfect their moves and practise their interventions. Performing at any decent level in sport is about how you prepare yourself both physically and mentally. There is no absolutely no doubt that music can be a very helpful tool in achieving this.
James Barraclough is a sports psychologist from Manchester who works with MMA fighters. If you have any questions relating to his articles or sports psychology in general, you can email him on [email protected]
