Silva knee stomps Leites (image from prommanow.com)
Your competition is soon! You feel tightness around stomach and chest, your head hurts. Your muscles feel weak and you are incredibly tired. In two days’ time you are going to have to fight. First you thought you will come out happy and relaxed and walk out with that win Rocky Balboa style, but now you somehow feel stressed and anxious. All competition fighters know that feeling. This is our body’s natural fight or flight response to prepare us to deal with this situation and even the best of best get those symptoms. Even the middleweight UFC champ and pound for pound best fighter admitted that he is scared when he walks into the octagon. You are not alone and never fear, as you are going to find out how to fight your inner self before fighting the opponent.
1.Your opponent is not out there for your blood-The opponent is there to have fun on the competition just like you and may also be nervous just like you (unless it’s a pro bout). Nobody is going to kill you and you won’t lose any limbs. You will be fine. Just relax and enjoy yourself!
2.Visualise- Visualise the whole fight. Visualise yourself putting gloves on, walking out, going through all the procedures before fight and visualise every single detail of your fight. Visualise yourself dishing out blows to your opponent and also yourself receiving some. Slow down, rewind and repeat whenever you feel appropriate. Visualise your stamina level and how you not going to be gassed if you fight relaxed. This will certainly reduce your anxiety and the technique itself is used by thousands of professional fighters around the globe.
3.Meditate- This is another really effective technique of reducing your stress levels. Meditation is based around the concept of clearing your thoughts and thinking processes therefore achieving total calmness relaxation and serenity. Start by sitting down, or lying down in comfortable position. Close your eyes and focus your mind on your heart beat (you can put your hands on your chest to feel the beat). Just focus on this feeling and try to stop thinking. If any thoughts intrude your mind, gently push them out. Continue to do so for next 5-10 minutes and then open your eyes. You should feel bit calmer if done correctly. At the beginning it may be very difficult to keep fighting those thoughts, but you will get better with practice and benefits will grow as well if you do it regularly.
These are my main tips on how to overcome pre fight anxiety or stress. Do you have any more techniques? Please share!
Article written by: Hubert Bieluczyk
Martial Arts Talks 
What a great article! I’m glad people are realizing how martial arts can help in many different aspects of life. From being more alert to being confident, martial arts is a great training exercise.
I actually wrote a blog about martial arts and how it builds confidence. I would love it if you could take a few minutes and check it out. The title is “Martial Arts Builds Confidence in Children”. I have attached a direct link to my name so it’d be easier for you! Please let me know your thoughts!
Thank You for your kind words! Sorry it took me a while to get back, but due to personal issues, i had to take a break from blogging, now i am back though! I read through your blog and it is very informative and insightful! For some reason, it won’t let me comment anywhere on it, so perhaps that is where implementing clearer comment area would be beneficial, however on the writing side it’s pure gold! 🙂