Mind Over Matter

Vast amounts of time and energy is spent towards enhancing the conditioning of the body, deservingly so. Yet when it comes to the conditioning of the mind, that focus is found wanting. When several fighters, from similar weight classes are compared and contrasted, the variations between the different body structures are small. The minds, of the different fighters, contain the greatest amount of variations. The fighter’s mind has a greater potential to change the outcome of a fight than the fighter’s physical traits. The fighter’s mind has a greater potential to anticipate changes thus increasing the rate at which the fighter can adjust and adapt to changes. What matters most to a competitor is visualization, the ability to learn and plan… strategize.

In any competitive athletic event, 70% to 80% of the competition is mental… strategy. A well conditioned mind allows you to develop an awareness of your opponent’s habits. This knowledge allows a fighter to acquire improved timing along with a heighten understanding of the proper use of space. Without strategy, the fighter’s movements become predictable with time and inefficient. The efficiency of any strikes depends on the space between the fighter and target. Being too close or too far will result in a failed attempt to transfer all the energy of the strike. With the assistance of a well thought out plan, predictable actions and obvious reactions can be guided into anticipated outcomes.

Who would be the fighter with the greatest advantage, the fighter that spends an extra 30 minutes performing sit-ups or the fighter that spends an extra 30 minutes strategizing with their coach? Strategy increases the potential for a fighter to adjust, adapt, and manipulate the ring while reducing the potential to falling victim to hesitation. It’s the mind that is directly affected by hesitation and no amount of sit-ups is going to reassure an uncertain mind. Therefore, the mind of a fighter is as much of an opponent as the opposing fighter.

In a conflict, such as a fight or a war, both sides are losers. The winner is usually determined by the fighter or side that suffered the least amount of damages. Stemming from the mind, strategy minimizes one’s loses. Besides being conscious of the strategy developed by the fighter and coach, it would be prudent to study strategy concepts. There are many sources to help a fighter become more familiar with strategy. One such source is the game of chess. Chess, in all it’s simplicity, is a microcosm of all armed and unarmed conflict. The concepts understood in chess improves a fighter’s overall visualization. In chess, you must anticipate the movements of your opponent. If you think of the pieces in chess as extensions of yourself, you’ll be able to lure your opponent with the appearance of weakest. The moment your opponent believes that they are exploiting your weakest they will in actuality be revealing their own weakest(s). In chess or in a conflict, a conditioned mind matters more than a conditioned body because the mind has the greatest potential to suffer from a lost.

-William Giles