Ready for Battle?

 How can you cope with the demands of a fight?

By Daniel Ferguson

Moments before a fight are crucial, up to that point, you have put in the months of training, but now things are getting serious. How can you be your best on fight day?

The Ring Walk

Ring walks can play a vital role in sports such as Boxing and MMA. We all love to see a ring walk before the big events: what was once a simple walk to the ring has become more of a show before the fight. Boxer Terence Crawford once had famous rapper Eminem alongside him and Tyson Fury has come out being carried on his throne before. In MMA, Anderson Silva has danced to Michael Jackson on his way to the ring and Genki Sudo has had airport runway technicians by his side during a ring walk. This part of the lead up to the fight can impact how you perform, think about how you want to step out towards that ring, what could you do to show your opponent you're ready for war?

Tyson Fury's throne ring walk

Moments before the fight...

Envision yourself as a fighter. You've been training for a fight for months and months. It's been vividly present in your mind everyday during this training. There's been a build up to the fight in the week and now it's time. It's just moments before the fight and your ring walk is around the corner. How would you feel?

There will be fighters who thrive off this moment, but what if it overwhelms you? In this way, how can you prepare yourself to cope with the demands of the fight?

Moments before the fight, fighters can experience 'butterflies' in their stomach, clammy hands and increased heart rate. Being under pressure can also cause difficulty breathing, trembling and tense muscles. A fighter's thoughts before the fight may be like quicksand, as the more they try to resist the overwhelming thoughts and emotions, the more they appear. Some fighters may be fight ready, however, some may feel overwhelmed.

Adrenaline Rush

Building up to the fight an individual releases a hormone known as adrenaline due to experiencing fear, anxiety and stress. This hormone triggers the fight or flight response and increases blood flow and breathing rate by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. This can potentially lead to an adrenaline rush, which a fighter may experience before a fight, symptoms include: 

• Pounding heart rate
• Shallow, quick breathing
• Shakiness
• Dizziness
• Increased sweating

Ways to combat a spike in adrenaline include: 

• Yoga
• Deep breathing exercises
  
• Meditation
• Progressive muscle relaxation
  

Ways to deal with the pressure of the fight

Every fighter is different, each one has their own pre-fight routine, but here are some options as a fighter to cope with the demands and pressures of fight day:

Taking a nap

There are many fighters who take naps before their warm up routine pre-fight. This helps calm the mind and body: Floyd Mayweather Jr. does this.

Keeping warm

Slowly building up the intensity of your warm up is important in keeping your body warm and preparing your muscles. This helps the issue of a fighter's muscles being tense due to anxiety and nerves. To add to this, during your preparation, reinforce yourself with positive affirmations: tell yourself you're ready, you're capable, you're prepared for battle - to be your best self in that ring.

Controlled Breathing

Stress can trigger shallow breathing which contributes to issues with an increase in heart rate. This can be controlled with various breathing techniques which you can discover with calm. Here are three I've picked out:

1. Extending your exhale: inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 6. Exhaling longer than you inhale can make it feel like you are breathing the stress out, guiding it out of your body.
2. Breathing with an affirmation: breathe in for 5 seconds, then breathe out. As you breathe out, say a word or phrase, in this example, which can help you prepare for the fight. A good one could be, "I'm ready." This can be said inside your head or out loud, it's up to you.
3. Box Breathing: breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4, breathe out for 4. You can visualise yourself fighting as you do this, picture yourself fighting the way you have trained and practised. Preparing both your mind and body.

Breathing has a positive effect on the nervous system, increasing oxygen flow, slowing heart rate and reducing blood pressure.

Visualising the fight

Visualisation is imagining an action or skill before it's performed. Let's say you're sitting in the locker room before a fight. Sit upright, shoulders back, eyes closed. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now, picture how you want the fight to go. Use your mind to imagine the fight going as you want it. If it's boxing, you're landing those combinations as trained; that left jab is being timed just right. If it's MMA, you have your opponent in the exact submission hold you have been working on, they may get out of it, but you keep going: you're persistent. If someone were to ask you to describe how you wanted the fight to go, answer that question in your mind when you visualise the fight. Your mind and body don't know the difference between having an actual experience and just imagining the experience. Therefore, picturing the fight in your mind, will prepare you better for when the opponent is there, ready for battle.

As a fighter, I hope you can take away some helpful information from this blog, if you have, please do let me know; don't hesitate to ask any questions or add to what's been said, my socials are below.

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