This is part 4 of a series on the mental side of fighting and training. Make sure you read the first 3 parts!
1. Intro and Goal Setting
2. Visualization and Positive Self Talk
3. Fight Day Strategy
I touched on having a game plan a little bit in the visualization part of the series, but didn't really get into it much. Just said that you should be visualizing yourself executing your game plan. So, what exactly goes in the game plan and what do you do with it?
Your game plan should be simple. Those t-shirts and internet memes that say "Pull. Sweep. Submit" aren't far off from a solid game plan. It's a tad on the simplified side, but here is what you don't want your game plan to look like: "First, I'll grip with my left hand, then the right. If they step with their left, I'll go to the right. Then, I'll step in with my left, and scoop up their right leg for a single..." Get the idea? That is way too detailed, way too much information.
Game plans can't account for every single scenario either. There shouldn't be 1000 "ifs" in your plan. One or two is OK, but if your plan involves a lot of "ifs", then you are counting on your plan not being effective, and you need to go back to #2 and get that head on straight. Here's an example of an OK "if" in your game plan. "Double leg straight to side control. If they get a guard, pass right away before they can close it. Follow with knee on belly to cross choke / armbar sequence.". As you can see, there is one "if" but it resolves to the same place so we don't have a million branches.
So you've got a plan, now what?
Drill, Drill, Drill. You know the saying, "you fight how you train" or "perfect practice makes perfect" or "drill to win". All of these apply. You need to drill all aspects of your game plan, individually, and together. If your game plan is to get a double leg, you need to start standing when you roll. If your game plan is to do a triangle from side control, don't pull guard every time you roll.
Now, it's important to note that I'm not saying always roll exactly what you want to do in a fight, because then you will never expand your game and never really learn jiu jitsu. But the week or two leading up to your competition should be full of very focused drilling and rolling. This is not the time to be experimenting with new techniques and playing around in your rolls.
When your drilling your game plan, work together with your partner, let them know your game plan, so they can help you. Have them purposefully throw a wrench into your plan by reacting differently, so you can work on your reactions to all situations. Jiu jitsu may be competed as in individual sport, but it is most definitely a team sport. You will need your team mates to help get your game plan sorted and ready, and you will need to help them with the same!
There are some people out there who are against having a game plan. They feel like if they have a game plan, and something goes wrong, they will be lost like a fish out of water. But, in my opinion, if you don't have a game plan, you are already that fish out of water. If you are just reacting to what the other person does, you're going to be one step behind, the entire match. There may be a time that your game plan doesn't work out. Maybe they pulled guard faster then you could, maybe they've got legs that are a million miles long and got their guard around quick before you could pass. It doesn't matter why; at this point, you just go back to the jiu jitsu you know, and get yourself to a point that your game plan comes back into play.
Like all the other factors in the mental side of the sport, this is going to take time to develop and work into your training and competition habits. Having a game plan will help you visualize more effectively and help you become more confident in your fights.
So, what's your game plan? How are you training to be able to implement it? Where are you going to give it a test next?
See you on the mats!
Showing posts with label Mental Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Game. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Believe and Achieve aka Visualization and Positive Self Talk
Alright, so I stole the title from our amazing team head instructors, the Mendes brothers. But, they are right on the money with the phrase so I decided to borrow it.
If you haven't read the first post in this series make sure you do! It introduces the mental side of the fight game and goal setting.
Visualization and positive self talk really go together nicely. Basically, visualization is watching videos of yourself doing what your game plan is in your head, over and over and over. There's a bit more to it, but that's the basics. Positive self talk is basically telling yourself that you can do it, of course, there is more to that too.
Visualization
This is something you can do any time, anywhere. Visualize yourself doing all aspects of your game plan from start to end. Watch yourself start the match, slap hands, pull guard, and set up your sweep or sub. Watch your hand being raised at the end of the match. All in your head of course ;)
It's important to visualize things on the high level, like I just described, and also on the more detailed level. Think about and visualize exactly where your grips are going to be, exactly where your feet are going, how you break their balance, and so on.
So take 5 minutes before or after class, or while you're waiting for the bus, or brushing your teeth and do some visualization :)
Positive Self Talk
Basically, this is you not being negative. It's believing in yourself, and reinforcing that belief by telling it to yourself. This is something you can do while you are working on your visualization, and before your matches to get you into the right mind set. Some examples of this are "No one has trained as much as I have for this", "I will get the triangle set up I have been working on", "It will be my hand raised at the end of the match".
If both of these concepts are new to you, it'll probably feel weird at first, but give them a chance, try to spend a few minutes every day on each and you will feel less weird pretty quick. :) And even if it does seem weird, do it anyway, and keep at it. It'll help improve your game and mind set quickly!
So these two tools will help you get your brain on track and help you get focused and ready for competitions and other challenges. Like goal setting, these concepts can be applied to all things in your life, not just jiu jitsu. They can be applied to your general fitness goals, school goals, and life goals.
If you haven't read the first post in this series make sure you do! It introduces the mental side of the fight game and goal setting.
Visualization and positive self talk really go together nicely. Basically, visualization is watching videos of yourself doing what your game plan is in your head, over and over and over. There's a bit more to it, but that's the basics. Positive self talk is basically telling yourself that you can do it, of course, there is more to that too.
Visualization
This is something you can do any time, anywhere. Visualize yourself doing all aspects of your game plan from start to end. Watch yourself start the match, slap hands, pull guard, and set up your sweep or sub. Watch your hand being raised at the end of the match. All in your head of course ;)
It's important to visualize things on the high level, like I just described, and also on the more detailed level. Think about and visualize exactly where your grips are going to be, exactly where your feet are going, how you break their balance, and so on.
So take 5 minutes before or after class, or while you're waiting for the bus, or brushing your teeth and do some visualization :)
Positive Self Talk
Basically, this is you not being negative. It's believing in yourself, and reinforcing that belief by telling it to yourself. This is something you can do while you are working on your visualization, and before your matches to get you into the right mind set. Some examples of this are "No one has trained as much as I have for this", "I will get the triangle set up I have been working on", "It will be my hand raised at the end of the match".
If both of these concepts are new to you, it'll probably feel weird at first, but give them a chance, try to spend a few minutes every day on each and you will feel less weird pretty quick. :) And even if it does seem weird, do it anyway, and keep at it. It'll help improve your game and mind set quickly!
So these two tools will help you get your brain on track and help you get focused and ready for competitions and other challenges. Like goal setting, these concepts can be applied to all things in your life, not just jiu jitsu. They can be applied to your general fitness goals, school goals, and life goals.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
"90% of the fight game is half mental" or something
I think it was Tim Sylvia who said that particular quote, and it's almost kind of accurate. The mental side of fighting is a HUGE part of it and there are many different aspects of the mental side of fighting.
One of my team mates and I had a discussion the other day about the mental side of competing and ways to improve our competition results (aside from the obvious, drill more, roll more, lift more type things). Mental Preparation is often over looked and can make a huge difference!
I'm no sport psychologist, but I've taken and completed the NCCP program all the way up to Level 3. I'm not technically level 3 certified, because I never got around to doing the practical side of Level 2. But I have passed everything for level 3. so whatever. This blog isn't about my NCCP progress. In these courses we talked and dealt a lot with the mental side of sports, and combat sports specifically, since I took the Judo sport specific side of the course. I would day 99% of the content, aside from the technical stuff, directly relates to Jiu Jitsu. I have applied a lot of the things I learned over the years in taking these, and other courses/seminars directly to my self and had pretty solid results.
So what exactly is involved in the mental side of the game? Some key parts are:
Goal Setting
This goes way beyond making your new years resolutions. But to give it some perspective, every year, we make new years resolution, and we are mega motivated to meet them, at first, then we get bored, or we've made them to lofty, or forget, or whatever. But, think about how amazing it would be to harness that early motivation, and apply it to your training, and competition!
There are really 2 main types of goals, short term goals, and long term goals. You need both to be successful in the fight game, and in everything. Your short term goals are goals, and milestones along the way to your long term goals, and/or things that will make your long term goals possible.
Short Term goals should be based on a a time span of a week to a month, of course they can be shorter, or longer, but that's a pretty safe range. So examples of short terms goals, for jiu jitsu are:
These goals are clear, consise, and measurable. Goals like "have better cardio" arn't good goals, how much better? how do you determine what is better? Same with "Do better in competition", what is better? Is it winning more? is it not getting subbed? is it not being sloppy? it's to broad!
So what do we do to use this information?
At the begining of the year, or season, or what have you, You need to sit down, with a pen and paper (or computer i suppose). and figure out what your long term goal(s) is. Don't make to many, 2 or 3 is good. Then, come up with the short term goals you need to reach that long term goal. Once you have those written down, make your schedule of when you want/need to obtain those short term goals by, in order to reach your long term goal. Finally, make notes on HOW you are going to achieve those goals. Going back to my examples for short term goals:
For drill 200 arm bars: the notes would be something like "Get to class early 3x a week with a partner, and do 2 sets of 20 each. Also take 1 round of rolling during open mat to drill as many as possible". For rolling 5 rounds without a break... "roll every other round the first week. Roll 2 in a row with one off the 2nd week. Roll three in a row the third week, and so on. Also, do this and that specific cardio at the gym 3x a week" Got the picture? It's basically making a road map for yourself.
I've made a little document you can use to set this up: Goal Document
It's important that your Long Term, and Short Term goals are reasonable, make them attainable, but not to easy. It's also important to keep yourself accountable to these goals. Update your goal document as the dates for them come around. Make new short term goals as you accomplish them, and always keep your eye on the prize, which is your long term goal.
It can be helpful to share your goals with your coach, or a team mate or two. Having them aware, and on board will help you be attain your goals by having them help you be accountable, and by supporting you on your journey!
So, that's a basic introduction to Goal Setting! It's a great tool to help you get where you want to be and a huge part of the mental side of the sport. You can even have goals about the mental side of the sport, but since we've only covered goal setting so far, I'd stick to the more traditional goals ;)
I'll write about the other 3 parts in subsequent blog posts over the next few days/weeks as time permits! In the mean time, set your goals, make a plan, and feel free to share them with me!
One of my team mates and I had a discussion the other day about the mental side of competing and ways to improve our competition results (aside from the obvious, drill more, roll more, lift more type things). Mental Preparation is often over looked and can make a huge difference!
I'm no sport psychologist, but I've taken and completed the NCCP program all the way up to Level 3. I'm not technically level 3 certified, because I never got around to doing the practical side of Level 2. But I have passed everything for level 3. so whatever. This blog isn't about my NCCP progress. In these courses we talked and dealt a lot with the mental side of sports, and combat sports specifically, since I took the Judo sport specific side of the course. I would day 99% of the content, aside from the technical stuff, directly relates to Jiu Jitsu. I have applied a lot of the things I learned over the years in taking these, and other courses/seminars directly to my self and had pretty solid results.
So what exactly is involved in the mental side of the game? Some key parts are:
- Goal Settings
- Visualization
- Positive Self Talk
- Developing and Using your competition day strategy and mindset.
- Game Planning
Goal Setting
This goes way beyond making your new years resolutions. But to give it some perspective, every year, we make new years resolution, and we are mega motivated to meet them, at first, then we get bored, or we've made them to lofty, or forget, or whatever. But, think about how amazing it would be to harness that early motivation, and apply it to your training, and competition!
There are really 2 main types of goals, short term goals, and long term goals. You need both to be successful in the fight game, and in everything. Your short term goals are goals, and milestones along the way to your long term goals, and/or things that will make your long term goals possible.
Short Term goals should be based on a a time span of a week to a month, of course they can be shorter, or longer, but that's a pretty safe range. So examples of short terms goals, for jiu jitsu are:
- Drill 200 arm bars from 2 different positions
- Use a specific technique in live rolling successfully X amount of times
- roll 5 rounds in a row without taking a row
- Win a medal at a tournament
- Earn a trip to Abu Dhabi
- win a match by submission
- not gassing at a tournament
These goals are clear, consise, and measurable. Goals like "have better cardio" arn't good goals, how much better? how do you determine what is better? Same with "Do better in competition", what is better? Is it winning more? is it not getting subbed? is it not being sloppy? it's to broad!
So what do we do to use this information?
At the begining of the year, or season, or what have you, You need to sit down, with a pen and paper (or computer i suppose). and figure out what your long term goal(s) is. Don't make to many, 2 or 3 is good. Then, come up with the short term goals you need to reach that long term goal. Once you have those written down, make your schedule of when you want/need to obtain those short term goals by, in order to reach your long term goal. Finally, make notes on HOW you are going to achieve those goals. Going back to my examples for short term goals:
For drill 200 arm bars: the notes would be something like "Get to class early 3x a week with a partner, and do 2 sets of 20 each. Also take 1 round of rolling during open mat to drill as many as possible". For rolling 5 rounds without a break... "roll every other round the first week. Roll 2 in a row with one off the 2nd week. Roll three in a row the third week, and so on. Also, do this and that specific cardio at the gym 3x a week" Got the picture? It's basically making a road map for yourself.
I've made a little document you can use to set this up: Goal Document
It's important that your Long Term, and Short Term goals are reasonable, make them attainable, but not to easy. It's also important to keep yourself accountable to these goals. Update your goal document as the dates for them come around. Make new short term goals as you accomplish them, and always keep your eye on the prize, which is your long term goal.
It can be helpful to share your goals with your coach, or a team mate or two. Having them aware, and on board will help you be attain your goals by having them help you be accountable, and by supporting you on your journey!
So, that's a basic introduction to Goal Setting! It's a great tool to help you get where you want to be and a huge part of the mental side of the sport. You can even have goals about the mental side of the sport, but since we've only covered goal setting so far, I'd stick to the more traditional goals ;)
I'll write about the other 3 parts in subsequent blog posts over the next few days/weeks as time permits! In the mean time, set your goals, make a plan, and feel free to share them with me!
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