Prior to a fight, you feel weak, your knees and legs feel limp, you feel sick, you feel as though your world is falling apart, you want to go to the toilet and you do.
You doubt yourself, you wonder why you are doing this, you feel as though everybody else is stronger, you feel inadequate.
Most fighters feel the same emotions prior to a fight. They may not admit it to you, but they will admit it to themselves.
Some fighters, will talk a lot and disguise their emotions, others will clam up, and remain silent and intense. Everybody has a different way of handling the situation.
This pre-fight feeling is totally natural. It is a feeling that you feel prior to a fight for survival, there may be a cocktail of excitement and fear that results in the above, but it boils down to how you handle it.
It is the control of these emotions that makes the difference to your performance and how you are perceived.
Sometimes the fight can be won before anybody strikes a blow, the psychological battle is always evident. You have an internal psychological battle to portray an external psychological calm or control.
If you have 1 fight or 35 fights it should feel the same, if not more extreme, it's funny that even though you have more fights, the feelings are the same, sometimes even more intense!
It may be that the more fights that you have, usually your opponent you end
up fighting is equally experienced to match you. The one thing that you do gain from experience is the control of the emotions. The adrenalin rush should be recognized as your ally and friend as opposed to your enemy and fear. The more fights that you have then logically the more experience that you gain, with this experience should come confidence in your ability, with this confidence should come a calmer controlled ability to control the pre-fight nerves.
Top fighters always look as cool as a cucumber, but inside they may feel like a mixed salad.
Your ability to control and recognize the natural emotion is imperative to your performance. You must accept that your perception of the situation is unique, yet natural.
Most animals in the animal kingdom feel fear and relief, survival is of paramount importance. The adrenalin rush prior to a fight can be easily misinterpreted as cowardice and weakness, but the preparation of your body for combat to the death is so important, that you must recognize these feelings as your ally as opposed to your enemy.
Again, it is the recognition and acceptance that these feelings are totally natural, that will aid your performance.
Doubt is a great enemy, It arrives all too soon.
The echoing negatives that resound within, are your greatest adversary.
To conquer them and control them, you must first accept them.
It is so easy to misinterpret the adrenalin rush prior to a fight as cowardice, whether it be a real street fight or a controlled tournament fight. The first lesson to learn is that these feelings do not represent cowardice, they represent preparation.
Coward or hero.
Dictionary interpretation of coward is: "one who lacks courage, shrinks from danger"
Ones' desire to survive is to avoid danger and risk and peril yet the measure of boldness and bravery is to stare it in the face and confront it!
There is a fine line between stupidity and boldness, it all boils down to emotion. The timing of the events are crucial.
Emotion, timing and circumstance is the governing factor.
Everybody is a coward and everybody is a hero.
You can be both coward and hero. Everybody has the strength to confront their fears and overcome them, just as everybody has the inability to confront their fears and overcome them.
I am sure that everybody can recall a time when they have labeled themselves a coward and at another time acted courageously, or somebody has called you brave and courageous. If not that time may still come, in desperation you may fling yourself into a dangerous situation to help a friend without contemplating the danger, this is the timing element.
"The lion is not a coward, yet the lion can be chased off by a bird"
Danger = "liability or exposure to harm; risk, peril"
Fear = " dread, alarm, anxiety, unpleasant emotion caused by coming of evil or danger"
Emotion = "mental agitation, excited state of feeling, as joy, fear etc"
Risk = "chance of disaster or loss. put in jeopardy, take chance of"
Disaster = " calamity, sudden or great misfortune"
Remember, that the best form of self defense is avoidance. It is sometimes your choice, for whatever reason, you may not even know why you are doing it, but nevertheless, if you are confronted with the ultimatum and you are faced with the fight and danger, your denial to fight even at the late stages of progression into the fight are not a sign of weakness, they are a sign of non readiness and the easier and more sensible choice of avoidance, and, or survival. You are not a coward.
The hardest part of any fight is the preparation and the waiting. If you are confronted on the street or wherever, you probably experience a few minutes of pre fight nerves, but at a competition it can develop into a couple of days prior to the fight, if not longer.
When the fight is over, it is like christmas. It is relief and celebration.
Depending on the situation, timing and the importance of survival, you will either choose to fight or avoid.
