Article written by Tim "The Bohemian" Lajcik - Sherdog Record
Mental training, it works. Practice it. The lower levels of competition are replete with guys whose prodigious physical talents are undone by their lack of mental preparation. Don’t be the fighter from your gym the old timers are talking about when they say, “He’s got a Ferrari body, but doesn’t know how to drive”. Or worse, “Looks like Tarzan, fights like Jane”.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting you abandon the blood and guts training of sparring and conditioning. Nobody ever lost a fight because they were too strong or fit. Still, elite MMA combatants know that the mind holds the determining factors in most tough fights, and so it is in mastering the mind that a fighter allows himself the greatest chance of giving a peak performance.
When fighters describe their mental preparation for fights, you’ll often hear the term “visualization”. Visualization, also referred to as imagery, involves using all the senses to create or re-create an experience in the mind. The fighter imagines himself competing at his maximum potential, or he re-creates a past successful, razor-sharp performance, recalling in vivid detail what he saw, felt, thought, heard, and even smelled. You can use visualization to improve your technical, tactical and emotional skill.
I’ll focus on a type of visualization called “mental rehearsal” and explain how it can dramatically improve your technical skill as a fighter. Mental rehearsal is a straightforward and effective method of programming the mind, which controls the body, to execute skills with optimal force, speed and precision. Research offers considerable evidence that mental rehearsal combined with actual physical practice produces better athletic performances than physical practice alone. And, as an added benefit, a fighter can mentally rehearse practically any time or place without exacting any additional wear and tear on his body.
Mental rehearsal works essentially because the mind doesn't distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. To use a simple non-fighting example, imagine, slowly and step by step walking into a diner and seeing your favorite kind of pie, baked to perfection, ordering it, pressing your fork down into it and through the crust, smelling it as you take it to your mouth, chewing it, tasting it, and so on. At some point during the mental rehearsal process it’s likely you will begin salivating. You may be sitting motionless, eyes closed, no diner for miles, yet your mouth waters and your tongue moves. The chemistry of billions of cells within your body changes in response to what you imagine.
Athletic performance can be practiced in a similar way. Imagery is most effectively practiced when your mind is calm and your body is relaxed, so find a time and comfortable place where you won't be interrupted. Recline or lie down, and close your eyes. Take deep breaths and exhale slowly. With each exhalation feel stress leaving your body. Start at your feet ... exhale and feel all the tension leave your feet ... then your legs…then abdomen ... then chest ... all the way to the top of your head ... feel all the tension leave your body. Once you’re relaxed and your mind is quiet, focus your attention on the part of your athletic performance you want to work on- a double-leg takedown, for example.
First, watch someone perform a double-leg correctly and successfully. Then mentally become the performer, not a passive observer, and practice the takedown in your mind. Experience the sights, sensations and emotions as if you were actually executing the technique successfully. Break the skill down into its key elements (the set-up, the penetration, the finish) paying attention to how one part transitions into the next. Then go back and forth between part and whole rehearsals, putting the elements of the skill together until the transitions are seamless. Skills should ultimately be rehearsed just as you would perform them in competition, including the same rhythm and tempo. As is true with physical practice, repetition is essential. Devote at least 10-15 minutes each day to mental practice.
Start by visualizing non-stressful images, perhaps simply executing the mechanics of a technique. Progress to practicing mentally under the competitive conditions you're likely to face. If it's a new environment, try to get there early so you can become familiar with it or use photographs or videos. As your ability to mentally rehearse develops imagine using the skill effectively in the intense atmosphere of top competition. Remaining relaxed and focused, mentally rehearse your confident execution of the technique and see the successful results.
The more detail you put into your mental rehearsal, the more your brain and body will learn. To the extent possible, use all of your senses when you mentally rehearse a technique. Making the images vivid will deepen the learning experience. Using the example of the double-leg takedown, see your opponent, notice his stance, the position of hands and his distance from you, feel the mat beneath your feet as you circle into position, smell the sweat and hear the yelling from the crowd. Feel the confidence and readiness you experience when you’re fighting you’re best, the tension in your thighs as you drop your level, your toes pushing off the mat as explode through your opponent, secure his legs and take him down.
Throughout this process you’re giving your brain cells practice in traveling some of the actual neural pathways they will follow later, in competition. This is one of the reasons you may feel your muscles moving, or at least wanting to move, when you visualize deeply. Through imagery you’re developing a "blueprint" for the skill’s muscular activity, helping the movement become more familiar and automatic. These tiny micro-muscular movements occur even as you’re apparently relaxing, laying down new neural pathways, encoding your nervous system with the mental and physical information necessary to execute successful technique.
Recalling the successful execution of technique soon after it has occurred in training or competition is another effective way to establish the bodily association of how a peak performance feels, and makes it easier to duplicate in future performances. Remember everything about it-what you did to prepare, where you were, your opponent, who was there watching, all the things you saw during the competition, how you handled any mistakes, and how you handled success. Initially it may help to write a script detailing all the specifics of the experience. With practice you’ll be able to make the experience real in your mind without the script’s help.
A limitation of mental rehearsal is, of course, that one also has to have a certain degree of knowledge and athletic ability for performing the skill in order to be successful. Just as with physical practice, mental rehearsal will predictably yield less than ideal results if you have an incorrect or insufficient understanding proper technique. Or, if you lack the requisite strength you won’t, for example, be able to lift and body slam an opponent no matter how much time you spend mentally practicing. Mental rehearsal should supplement other forms of skill development, not replace them. However, for fighters who have reached sufficient levels of physical conditioning and understanding of combative skills, mental practice can dramatically assist the skill learning process.
There are peripheral benefits to the process and practice of mental rehearsal, as well. A fighter experiences stress when he perceives threats or situations that he fears he cannot effectively handle. Mental rehearsal helps overcome that sort of stress. First, relaxation is often a part of mental rehearsal exercises, and relaxation alleviates nervous tension. Also, as noted, the mind doesn’t discriminate between the real and imagined. Because mental practice is perfect practice, it is also a confidence-booster. Experiencing success increases confidence, even if that experience is imagined. A fighter can manage stress by visualizing himself confidently and successfully dealing with challenges he might face in the ring or cage. Using mental rehearsal in preparation for competition as well as training develops a sense of internal mastery that is very reassuring.
Okay, now for the relevant personal anecdote. A few years ago in Japan I faced Osami Shibuya, a tough fighter fresh from a victory over Ian Freeman. The morning of our flight to Tokyo my friend and sparring partner Eugene Jackson and I waited at his place for our ride to the airport while his two sons played a UFC videogame. Eugene and I were characters in this early version of the game, but until then I’d never seen it. Eugene’s kids, meanwhile, had spent the better part of the year beating up my character and telling me about it every chance they got. On this morning, though, my promise to return from Japan with a fistful of Pokemon cards made the videogame version of me invincible.
My fighting background is in wrestling and boxing and my video counterpart’s skills matched those disciplines with one exception- the videogame “Tim Lajcik” possessed a fierce straight front kick that would stomp through the solar plexus of one opponent after another. At that point of my MMA career I’d had 15 bouts and had thrown a total of three leg kicks. Still, the image of my character’s devastating kick stuck with me. During the long flight to Tokyo I passed the time quietly imagining getting that kick off in the upcoming bout. I closed my eyes and fixed on the image I’d seen on the video screen. Again and again I mentally rehearsed the technique against Shibuya, who I’d studied in videos, feeling the power surge through my leg with each well-timed kick. Finally, I was jarred from my imagery by a woman seated in front of me. Immersed in the visualization I’d been inadvertently kicking her seat slightly each time I replayed the scenario. Embarrassed, I apologized.
During the fight I landed a right hand that dropped Shibuya to his butt momentarily. He gamely scrambled to his feet and lunged towards me. Reflexively I drew my knee to my chest, then slammed my heel into Shibuya’s mid-section, just below the sternum, folding him in half. I might have been surprised if I hadn’t seen the same result so many times in my mind.
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