Mental Training For MMA.

Everyone understands that MMA fighters these days aren't one dimensional hobbyists trying to make some extra cash for the holidays or impress their friends, they are serious athletes, at least, at the highest level. Fighters these days can box, kick box, wrestle, throw you on your head with some Judo trips and some can even bend your limbs every-which-way with high level Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well as lift small German cars with their world class strength and conditioning, thanks to their coaches help. However, there's something missing from the previous statement. One would ask what could possibly be missing? That list does encompasses every part of MMA. Yes, it does cover every part of MMA's physical game, but you're leaving out the most important part, the head. The mental game. It's been said over and over in sports, at least at the elite level, 90% of competition is mental. Why on earth are so many fighters leaving that out of their training regiment? If someone was to tell you that 9 minutes of a 10 minute fight would be kickboxing and the last minute would be Jiu Jitsu how would you prepare for that fight? I'm assuming you would probably train about 90% kickboxing and about 10% Jiu Jitsu give or take a few percentile. Well, it shouldn't be different for your brain. Having a strong mental game going into a fight, or any competition for that matter, will only make you better. Even if you think you're already mentally strong, it will do wonders to practice it and get better. If you're a good wrestler you still wrestle right?

Mental preparation should begin at least one-to-two months prior to your fight. When your training camp begins, your mental camp should begin. You need to make sure that you're training with a camp that you believe is good and will be able to get you ready in all aspects of your fight. If you aren't 100 percent confident in your training partners and coaches, you will have negative thoughts bombarding you telling you "you're not ready for the fight" and you will not perform to the best of your potential. A false sense of confidence is better than a real sense of skill. What I mean is that if you take a person that isn't really that great in the technical aspects of the sport, but they come to fight/compete and don't let the nerves dictate their performance, will do better than a skilled person that doesn't compete well as he/she doubts themselves and lets nerves sabotage the competition. Confidence is key and you will hear that repeatedly throughout this article.

You need to have a realistic idea as to where you measure against other people in your camp. Are you doing well or submitting/beating other top level guys in your gym? If so, you should be confident in yourself and your skills. If you can measure your abilities with those that have had success in your sport, it's a great way to build confidence.

Training could be one of the greatest confidence boosters out there. Make sure you're in top physical condition. The confidence of knowing that you have done everything in your power during training camp and have given it 100 percent will make your confidence soar. Are you sharp at all of your skills? Is your conditioning great? If so, what is there to worry about? You've done everything in your power to succeed and that is all you can do. If you know you can go the full fight without getting tired there's no reason to be nervous and you can throw everything in your arsenal at your opponent without the fear of being fatigued.

Bad nerves kill cardio...and careers. When you start to think about your fight, and the butterflies come into your stomach (dropping it as if you had just gone down a steep hill unexpectedly), don't try to think about something else. Embrace the butterflies. It's excitement. That's why your involved in MMA/competition. It's exciting. Enjoy it. However, don't let it dictate you. When you feel those butterflies, take a deep breath and tell yourself it's going to be fun. Everyone gets those butterflies. You just need to harness them and accept them as excitement and a good thing, not fear and a bad thing. Which brings us to visualization.

Visualization has long been a part of mental preparation in sports. One of the best ways to mimic a physical act that you can't physically perform constantly is by visualization. There are multiple studies that show visualization can actually have a positive effect on muscle memory and muscle repair and building. Again, visualization needs to be going on for weeks and months, not just a few days before your fight. Imagine that you are going to walk into a room and give an important speech that the whole world will see. You are just as nervous as if you were going to walk into a cage and fight someone. Now, imagine that you have given two hundred speeches to the world and it's almost a daily occurrence. You wouldn't be very nervous at all! You would go in to the speech exuding confidence and the speech would go off without a hitch. It's the same thing for the fight. You need to do that single fight hundreds of times before you're not really nervous any more. Of course, you can't actually do that so you need to bring visualization to the table. You need to visualize the entire day of your fight over and over again, so when the day actually comes, it's nothing new to you. You've done this a hundred times now and you already know the outcome of the fight! You're Bill Murray and you're living in Groundhog Day!

Here is a sample for Visualization leading up to the fight:

"Imagine yourself waking up fight day and getting something to eat. What are you going to eat for breakfast on your fight day? You eat it and are hanging out throughout the day.

What are you going to do to waste time? Are you going to watch movies or play video games? Are you going to go for a walk and get some siteseeing in? Well, whatever it is, visualize it.

Okay, now it's time to pack your bag to start your journey to the arena. You're starting to get those butterflies just thinking about it at this point and need to take a deep breath and relax. Remember, you love this stuff! You've arrived at the the Venue and you’re checking out the cage. It's probably not completely finished as you’re there at 4:30 pm and your fight doesn't start til 8pm. You won't be going up to fight until close to 10 or 11 pm. It's now time for the rules meeting. Your ref is going over all the legal and illegal moves.

You say to yourself "Of course that's legal/illegal. Doesn't everyone know all this by now?" Some JV trainer that probably owns a Karate Mcdojo is asking ridiculous hypothetical scenarios keeping everyone in the meeting longer than they need to be. The meeting is finally over and you are in your dressing room. There are probably 5-10 other people in the room with you making it hard to warm up. You are sitting there bored, listening to some idiot with a 2-5 record, who was brought in to lose by the promoter, talk about how he is the best fighter in the world and how he has 50 kickboxing fights.

It's time to start warming up. Take a deep breathe again. Relax. Enjoy the butterflies. You're hitting mitts and rolling around on the carpet as there is most likely not a mat in you’re room. You have a good sweat going and your getting yourself in your mental zone. You’re going to win. You know this. The fight before yours just went out so you are next. You're hoping for a quick fight so you can hurry up and get out there. Your chomping at the bit. Of course, the fight goes to a decision and takes as long as humanly possible to completely finish. Okay, you're up.

They call your name. You hear your entrance music. Your walk to the cage is beginning. You dance a little during your walk. You throw some fast punches in the air. You notice random people in the crowd as you walk toward the cage. There's a ton of little kids and Tapout-wearing teens that are reaching for you to slap their hands as you walk by them. You take note of the guy in the first row with unusually big teeth and his girlfriend with a low-cut shirt on. The ref comes up to you and asks if you have your cup and mouthpiece. Your trainer is taking off your clothes and telling you ‘good luck’. He puts Vaseline on your face. The ref tells him to wipe some of it off. You enter the cage wearing nothing but your shorts. It's cold in there. You feel naked. You turn to your corner man as he starts to give you last-minute instructions. You notice a friend of yours in the crowd screaming like a drunken maniac.

They are announcing your opponent now and it seems to take him forever to get his clothes off and get into the cage. Okay, he's in. The announcer starts to give the details of the fight. "In the red corner, weighing in at one-hundred seventy-one pounds!" "Yea, yea, yea, shut up already", you say to the announcer in your head. Breath. Relax. This is fun for you. The ref brings you two to the middle of the cage for some worthless last words and has you and your opponent touch gloves. The bell rings. You’re ready.

Your hand is raised and there isn't a feeling on the earth that can match what you're feeling right now. Your so tired you can barely stand, but you won and your thanking your corner men and everyone around you. Your in Heaven. This is why you fight."

Ah, the power of positive thinking. Your mind is its own worst enemy. It wants you to fail so it can say, "I told you so". Every time a negative thought comes in to your head, say stop. Literally, say the word STOP! You don't have to say it out loud, but say it. Stop those negative thoughts from having a voice. Don't even entertain them or whatever they have to say. Say "stop" and immediately recite positive things to yourself like, "I'm good", "I'm prepared for this fight", "My skills are great", "My BJJ is great". Those types of positive reinforcement will let you fully understand how good you are. And you are good. If you weren't good you wouldn't be given the opportunity to be testing it on the level that you are. You are good at what you do. You know that, so why do you question it and listen to that negative voice in your head that says otherwise?

Enjoy the nerves, you are good and you have every right to be confident in yourself. Believe you are going to win. If you honestly don't believe you are going to win, why did you take the fight/competition? Go play tennis or golf or something else. If you don't think you’re truly trained enough, train longer. You need to have every bit of confidence in yourself as your training partners and coaches do. If they didn't think the fight was a good idea, they would advise you not to take it and tell you that you aren’t ready. If they didn't do that, you should find new coaches and training partners.

So, now you're training camp is off to a good start and you are using visualization and positive thinking daily. Yes, daily! It's a great start. There are a lot of other things you can do to mentally prepare your for your fight. If the ability is there, you can employ the help of a professional. I'm sure your giving your trainer 10-20 percent, why not fork a little out to meet with a sport psychologist? Even if you don't plan on seeing him/her weekly, one or two times is better than none. You can also go to a local book store and choose from numerous titles that focus on mental preparation for sports.

Good luck.