From the Blitz magazine archive. First published on blitzmag.net when the site was the online home of Blitz Australasian Martial Arts Magazine; restored from an archived copy dated 2016-03-29. Words credited to Tai Sor Jaiphet in the original.
Just because a fighter shows promising talent in the gym or dojo doesn’t mean they can become the next world champion. Many will reveal amazing qualities as an amateur but can’t seem to cut it as a pro. Some display so much technical skill or innate athleticism that they seem assured of greatness yet they fail to perform at the highest levels of the sport. Then, on the other hand, a technically average fighter with a limited but fairly consistent all-round game can end up surprising everyone. So, beyond a superior level of physical competence, what is it that’s needed to perform at the highest levels of combat sports? As muay Thai coach Tao Sor.jaiphet explains, it’s in the mind.
As Babe Ruth, the famous baseball player, said with eloquent humour: “Ninety per cent of this game is half mental.”
It might seem like a lofty idea, but give me two fighters with the same physical skills and I’ll back the one with a mental toughness program every time.
The difference between a champion and a mediocre fighter is their ability to maintain a tough mindset, not only for the duration of a bout, but in each and every training session. Mental toughness is a quality that persists constantly within the minds and hearts of great athletes, and must be applied in every waking moment. Even down time and rest days are factored in as a part of the program so that every day becomes part of the process in achieving the ultimate goal. This is the kind of mindset that is needed to become a champion. Not everyone has these high goals, but for those who do, anything short of this approach won’t cut it.
The development of mental toughness is achieved by consistently applying the qualities of real motivation, a constructive and practical understanding, total self-control, composure while under pressure, and maintaining a driven mindset. These five qualities are an integral part of any champion’s training and mindset. When they are put into practice habitually, they become the foundations for building mental toughness, like so:
1 – Real Motivation
Fighters, for the most part, make their journey alone. When you come out of your corner to fight, what happens next pretty much boils down to you. A fighter needs to find their inspiration from within, and the power of that fighter’s motivation is generated by their will to become the best that they can be. A fighter’s drive to perform and grow needs to be consistently strengthened. Keeping their ‘eyes on the prize’ or using setbacks as a means to boost their enthusiasm to train and fight harder, fighters are constantly looking at ways to achieve their goals. Reflecting upon past triumphs is also valuable so that the winning feeling stays strong and reminds the combatant of the feeling of becoming a champion.
2 – Practical Smarts
Regardless of how technically brilliant we become, we will never be perfect. It just isn’t realistic to think that we are going to be great at everything. So one of the main things we need to identify is our own individual strengths and weaknesses. I’ve had fighters say to me, “My kicks keep getting caught by my opponents because I’m too slow. How can I land my kick on the opponent without being kicked or blocked?” My answer would be to set up the kick with a fake/feint or maybe even a punch. If your opponents see your attacks coming, give them something else to think about then catch them out with your follow-up shot. By identifying our weaknesses, we can develop strategies to make them fit into the overall picture. While we still want to strengthen our shortcomings, we should have strategies to make them less of an issue.
Identify your strengths also. A good fighter will to have a series of go-to techniques that they feel confident using, but a great fighter will have a basic game plan for dealing with unusual or surprise situations. For example, suddenly you find out your opponent is a southpaw (a left-handed fighter who stands with their right leg forward). A good fighter should know to circle to the outside of a southpaw’s lead leg so as to keep themselves moving away from the power side of the ‘southy’. That is just one example of how a game plan might go out the window if you thought you were fighting an orthodox fighter.
Having a well-rounded understanding of themselves and their sport, a fighter can build solid self-confidence and a positive attitude. From here the seeds of mental toughness can grow into unshakable self-belief.
3 – Self-control
Fighters come under a lot pressure, and in any sport where high levels of pressure are present, emotions can have a big influence, both positive and negative. Emotions can be great motivators but they can be equally detrimental to performance if they are allowed to run wild. Emotion, it is said, can make a great servant, but a terrible master. In the fight game, you can expect trash-talking, internet BS, bad calls from referees, equally bad calls from judges…the list is endless, but the point is, all of these things are out of your hands. I tell my fighters to expect at least three things to go wrong during a fight, so when these things happen they won’t be caught by surprise. You just have to get on with it. Having mental toughness allows a fighter to not become distracted by outside influences that they cannot control. A fighter in control of their emotions is able to stick to a game plan without allowing frustrations or other outer influences to lure them out of their optimal performance zone.
4 – Composure
Leading on from the last quality, a great fighter needs to be able to maintain composure at all times during the bout. Thai boxers from Bangkok demonstrate amazing composure during their epic stand-up wars. Thais are trained from a very young age to not show any sign of weakness during a bout. Whether they are executing a technique or defending one, Thais are taught to show no emotion in a fight. Thais exhibit a great deal of composure at all times; however, this is a skill that needs to be learned and then trained to become second nature.
‘Calmness under fire’ is a skill like any other. Human beings are great at adapting. When we become familiar with something seemingly daunting, it quickly becomes less intimidating. But we need to familiarise ourselves slowly. Putting ourselves in worst-case scenarios in training, we can start to develop an understanding of them. When we learn to become comfortable with high-pressure situations, we naturally develop composure while under these pressures. But we need to put ourselves in the firing line, so to speak, if we are to cultivate the resilience that comes out the other side of it.
5 – Drive
Fighters must be insatiably driven to excel if they are to become champions. A lukewarm motivation to fight won’t be nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with the best. If you aren’t driven to fight hard and succeed, save yourself the punishment and take up something else. A fighter needs to be willing and eager to go to war with every bout — it’s the same as with self-defence: you must have the ability to ‘switch on’. Fighting is unlike most other competitive sports. While tennis or cricket, for example, are all competitive and the same attributes of mental toughness apply, but in fighting, getting hurt is pretty much a given. Even if you win, you’re likely to experience plenty of physical pain in the process and come out with your fair share of bruises. In combat sports, the motivation comes not just from the desire to win but the desire to not have your arse handed to you. When you are hurt in a fight, real mental toughness is required. You have to bite down on that mouthguard and get on with it. No one is coming to help you; it’s all on you to get the job done. How much do you want it? What are you willing to endure to become a champion?
So there you have it. Mental toughness is not something fighters are born with; they acquire it through persistence and perseverance. Its seeds are planted each time we choose not to give up when the going gets tough. It becomes more and more a part of us when we keep our eyes on the prize and drag our butts out of bed to train. When we make the journey to the gym when it’s freezing outside. When our muscles scream from killer cardio work. When our noses bleed from punches we didn’t see coming. When we willingly give up the comfort of mediocrity to chase after the dream of becoming a champion. This is where mental toughness begins.
More restored features are listed in The Blitz Archive.