Can anyone tell me some ways that help you stay calm and focused during a fight? I usually get very nervous and any technique/prior training that I know goes out the window, causing me to not me able to fight my best.
I really hate to fight and others(usually the older, cocky ones) like to screw with me because of this. I am nowhere near as experienced as I would like to be and wether it be from lack of self confidence, faith in my abilities, or a combination of both I freeze up and fear overcomes me.
Would you mind helping me out? Thank you.
Swordfish
My forum: The JKD/Martial Arts Web Forum
"I am a slow walker, but I will never walk backward"- Abraham Lincoln
Read some information about zen or around the ideas/concepts of Meditation. I know this sounds a little weird but could help you to learn to clear your mind. Give it a go.
You sort of touched on it in your post. Although I agree with the other fella, meditation can help, it is experience and skill that will help you keep your cool. Practice harder and smarter than the rest of them and you will be fine. There is no real secret to confidence, you just have to have the skills to back your **** up.
You just have to keep at it Swordfish. After time you will develope a "comfort level". You will, little by little become more relaxed with each engagement.
Also, I would learn a form of meditation. This will help focus your mind and calm your nerves before a sparring match.
Join a boxing club... Once you start sparring a lot, you will get nerves of steel. You will fight with more confidence and you will learn how to take a punch. Many martial artists train NOT to get hit, it's a nice strategy and that should definitely be a goal, but it is almost impossible in a violent situation. Train for the worse and everything will be easy.
Zub, you need a good thumping... once you take some bumps, you will eventually be able to give some back. Takes time and heart, there is no easy way around sparring; it’s nasty and unpredictable. If training and sparring were easy, then everyone would be good fighters.
If we entered a fight with a Gun, a gun is greater than our enemy, so we have faith that we will prevail in that fight.
If we enter a fight without a gun, seek that which is greater than our enemy to prevail in such a fight
If you stand in fear without faith, it means that you have nothing greater than your enemy.
Kill the ego.
I can relate to your frame of mind; I have been bullied a lot in one form or another. Past bad experience can lead to lack of self-confidence, therefor you lose that 'killer instinct' in a fight.
The only reason that you get nervous and freeze, is that you are thinking of how well you will do, if you will get hurt, how you'll end up looking like a pussy if you back down etc.
DON'T.
It may sound cold or whatever, but don't consider yourself important.
This doesn't mean 'don't believe in yourself', it simply means take yourself out of the equasion, simply be a conduit for your actions, become a machine made of water.
If you think about yourself getting hurt etc, then that unnessicary information will make your reactions slower, make you tense up, and generally lose control.
I also think body language plays a part;
Don't appear cocky, or too submissive, just be yourself, feel comfertable with youself,(confidence, NOT over-confidence),and take things as they come.
If someone gives you $hit, just remain passive, but ready.(after all, the best attack is one applied through deception!)
Appear apologetic, then just go for it, no quiestions, just fists and feet. (Maybe toenails!)
Remember:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A 'CHEAP-SHOT'!
Anything goes.
I Also get nervous when i fight, its normal
And alittle advice would be don't think about it much. It helps me outhttp://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1080439093.JPG
once you take some bumps, you will eventually be able to give some back. Takes time and heart, there is no easy way around sparring; it’s nasty and unpredictable. If training and sparring were easy, then everyone would be good fighters.
