Any tips from you all on how to deal with pre-fight nerves?
ttt
thx anyway chris ;)
Just warm up properly - get a high pulse once during the warmup. This'll loosen up all those super-tense muscles and get you a little more relaxed.
Some fighters have tendency to cut their warmup short. Do it properly. Work up a sweat!
And have a corner crew that takes care of everything. All you should worry about is the fight. All the paperwork, gear and so on should not be your worry AT ALL!
A proper motivational coach will also help a whole lot...
Sweet viking.... nice advice.
ttt for anymore advice?
How long do you warm up for?
Prior to getting warmed-up bring along a travel chess board. Play a few games and try to accustom your mind to focus on strategy and thinking a few moves ahead. It's also good for concentration and relaxing.
I agree many people don't warm up enough before fights. I think that is one of the most important aspects not only for your body but for your mind. When you really believe that you are warm, limber and pumped up you will perform waaay better.
what I did was before being announced I used to just say "FUCK IT!!!"
Jim de.
I agree with viking but im gonna go a little further back.. I train with some great guys and we train for a min of six weeks pre fight. We tran hard as hell with a few days a week being a 99% simulation of the fight...mainly round times(working a fresh man in on us each round)working on what you are lacking or based on what you forsee happening in the fight. Having said that, when i got nervious b4 my second fight (nothing i could do about the first)I just thought about how hard i trained and how the fight would not be as tough as My "gountlets". If you train hard and give it your all, you dont have anything to worry about, win or lose.(dont lose though:)
I just put fighting in the back of my mind.usua''y we just hang out and tell sex jokes until it is time to warm up and then I just get in my own little zone.When you walk to the ring don't focus on the size of the crowd,just focus on the ring itself.Once you are in the ring waiting to begin is when the nerves are the worst but after the first strike has landed all of your nerves will be gone and you won't even know that 2000 people are watching you.
I would recommend doing what I used to do in Karate Tournaments, I would go through a Set or Kata in my mind.
Gary Hughes
I agree with DHeath, the pre-fight preparation is the key for me. If I feel like I have prepared hard as hell, my nerves will be alot less. Also, train your cardio to the max, almost obsessively. With good cardio, your mind will relax knowing that no matter what happens, you will not crumble due to fatigue. That is a big one for me.
Brett
i've never had a fight, but i played in a band, and used to get nerves before gigs. someone recommended eating a banana before the show. they have potassium or some shit which is supposed to help chill you out. seemed to work, could have all been in my mind though.
Agree with Striking Viking.
Some guys like to listen to music, I think so that other people do not get to bother them as much. I just kind of keep to myself and my corner-men, try not to have too much to do with others.
I think it is a good think to get nerves, makes it fun and helps build up adrenaline. Also for me I am not longer nervous when the fight is about to start then my mind is kind of clear, if you know what I mean. Just focused on fighting, but not really anticipating, just react to what happens.
When I cornered one of my teammates at FFC 7 in December, I had a strange sensation as the ref was giving his last instructions. I wanted to PUKE! I was like, "No way in hell could I get in there and fight right now!" Kenny KOed the guy in the first and after the event I though about whay I felt like that.
It was because I was so close to the fight about to happen, that I could realistically imagine myself in the ring about to fight at that moment. And at that moment I wasnt prepared to fight as far as training was concerned.
March rolls around, back in front of a sold out crowd at the FFC, and I am in my corner telling jokes to Kenny and Rich before they ring the bell for me to fight. I was totally ready for that fight that night, so I wasnt too nervous at all because I knew I had trained properly.
It was ok for me to feel so nervous in december because I had not trained properly and was not scheduled to fight that night. But once I trained like I was supposed to for a fight, everything else was just fine.
Create a ritual that you can do both before the fight and in training...Every time you train, at some point when you're feeling very confident (maybe you just pulled off a badass sub, etc.) go through the ritual. Do this EVERY time you train, and always do it when you are feeling good about yourself and feeling completely confident in your abilities. You wanna try to associate that feeling of self-confidence with whatever ritual you are performing, you wanna make a connection between the two so-to-speak. Then before your fight, relax yourself, take a few deep breaths, focus, and perform your ritual...it should "summon up" (so to speak) some of the confidence that you anchored to it...I use this for school activities (Firefighter Academy), when we have to do the more ballsy stuff, and it works great. If you try it let me know how it works out...
If you get too nervous does it affect stamina and make you think poorly.... ie forget moves etc.
I put in my taebo workout video. Billy Blanks gets me motivated.