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Mental training
Most athletes are probably familiar with mental training. Many may have also done it unintentionally. When I was a kid I played ice hockey. On the night before a game I used to think about good performance and great saves (I was a goalie at that time). Later I realized that I had actually been doing a kind of mental training. Mental training can be done about different things, e.g. technique, attitude or atmosphere. Here are a couple of different exercises I’ve done myself. Mental technique training
Patterns and different techniques can be improved while for example sitting in a bus or lying in bed. For instance, go through a difficult pattern in your mind and concentrate on things you want to improve. Besides techniques you can also concentrate on performing, stances etc. In your mind you can also slow down or stop movements and for example see how your hands work during a jump. When you’ve already trained the techniques in your mind, it’s most likely easier to make them work in practice too.Mental attitude training
If you have the tendency of often going backwards and unnecessarily avoiding contact in sparring, you can try to make your attitude better with mental training. This can be very difficult and depends a lot on the individual and one’s imagination. You can for example dig out your aggressive side and think about successful counter techniques and attacks. Think that you don’t go backwards an inch, but always punch back when your opponent tries to attack. Another thing is if you can transfer this to actual sparring, but perhaps you can at least get one or two successful counter techniques into your arsenal with the help of mental training. If the aggressive sparring style doesn’t work for you and trying too hard only makes you run your head to a wall, might one solution be to concentrate on something totally different. In the European Championships 2006 I concentrated only on being as relaxed and fast as possible. The night before, during the morning and just before the fight I did a mental exercise where I saw myself being faster than ever. In my mind I saw how my legs looked like the ones of the Road Runner when I ran, so that they couldn’t even be seen properly. As I entered the ring I felt light, fast and confident. I fought probably the best Championship fight of my career, even though I lost to a true Champion, Neil Ernest.
A competition always makes one anxious and excited, no matter how big or small it is. You can prepare yourself for the atmosphere and fuss of the competition day in your mental images. See yourself in the weight in and talking to your co-competitors. Watch the competition place and feel the smell of the hall, walk in the competition ring and get the first touch on the surface already at this point. Is it hard or soft, do you get a good grip on it, or is it slippery. Also think about the morning of the competition, breakfast, warm up and the moment just before your performance. The purpose of all this is to make you feel more comfortable and relaxed on the exiting competition day. It’s naturally beneficial if you’re already familiar with it the venue or if you have a chance to visit it the day before. You can also go through your performances in your mind. When doing so, concentrate on yourself and on good feeling. The work is already done in trainings and now you can just enjoy the excitement of the competition. If you think about sparring I suggest that you imagine facing your toughest opponent, even though he wouldn’t necessarily even participate. When you’ve already faced your toughest possible opponent in your mind, is anyone else mentally easier to handle. Besides, he might be your first opponent and in this case you’d be mentally beaten, if you’ve wished you’d face only easy opponents.
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