Before any boxing match, boxers will experience the physical effects of their mental turmoil. The fear of physical pain, humiliation, or losing the fight can induce many physical side effects.
For example, bowel movements will increase in frequency. There can also be incidences of vomiting or trembling.
A detailed discussion on the physiological and psychological effects of battle field fear and its effects would require hours to put down. This knowledge would not enhance your ability to cope with the disruptive effects that fear can create.
Fear is much easier to deal with when it is accepted as mental and physical distress. This distress is created by thinking about the impending combat and all the perceived dangers. Mental and physical distress then creates a nervous energy that is very difficult to control. Paradoxically, this nervous energy is also an essential aid to individual survival. The total control of fear is neither necessary, nor desirable. The nervous energies created by fear will tense up the whole body and prepare it for either the fight or the escape. When the human body is slightly tense, it can respond much faster than a relaxed body.
Physical tension also prepares the body for the impact of the opponent's attack. Simultaneously, fear will increase the individual pain threshold. This allows the body to cope with more trauma than normal. Blood flow to the surface of the skin is reduced. Because of this, bleeding from body wounds is also reduced.
The stress of combat will also induce a mental tension. The opponent will be mentally focused on the source of the problem and will be operating with a limited level of consciousness(think about this, here is where automation reflex comes into play!!). Their attention will be directed straight towards you. In this state, the opponent will be unable to hear or respond to advice from any source. They will also be unable to see any activity that takes place outside their direct view.
Psychological research has shown that individual fears will peak before and after a battle. During the battle, the majority of the combatants can focus on the operational task. Soldiers who are bonded together with a team spirit, well led, believe their cause is just and properly trained, will find it much easier to focus on the operational task.
Because of these factors, learning to cope with fear must form an integral part of basic combat training. Their are training programme that can be used to produce close combat fighters who can control their fears.
Your training programme must also include ways of coping with the limiting mind set of focused attention. Learn to expand your consciousness during training so that you can see and hear much more than the direct threat.
Dragon awaits Dark-knight.
"A Smart Man Knows his limitations. . . and Ignores Them!"
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