Friday, February 3, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Confidence: Too much or to little you are screwed
Confidence is a psychological factor that can be either a positive if you have the right amount or a negative if you have too much or too little. Confidence has affected me in both ways.
Too Much:
Last year I went to California to compete in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan American tournament. I had spent many months preparing and felt ready. Half way through my first and final match of the single elimination tournament the referee stopped the action, as I had accidentally pulled the guys pants loose, and I lost my concentration. The match was lopsided; I was destroying my opponent and could see exasperation in his eyes. In that split second I stopped thinking about what I had to do to win, and started thinking wow this is easier than I thought, I felt invincible, I wondered what my next opponents would be like. I hardly noticed that the match had started again. I lost ground, I didn’t care it would be easy to gain it back. I lost more, I still didn’t care. He started attacking a choke, I thought he actually thinks he is going to win, he is just delaying the inevitable, then I realized he really was choking me and so I did what I thought I needed to do to escape. But I didn’t know what choke he had set up because I wasn’t paying attention; it was really tight now I was getting light headed. I had to make a guess, I exploded to my feet. Wrong guess, I went numb, my eyesight faded, then I opened my eyes and I was twitching looking up at the ref. I had passed out and I felt sick to my stomach because it was my arrogance that gave my opponent the match, not his skill.
Too Little:
In my very first competition I didn't have enough confidence I was so nervous I didn't sleep all night. I was tired and shaking from adrenaline, I couldn't think straight and felt like vomiting as I walked out on the mat. My only goal was not to embarrass myself which I thought I was about to do. I had never done anything like this before, I suddenly became terrified that I would injure myself, the next thought was of course I would because my opponent was going to try to force me to quit. I started out great, within 5 seconds I had the best position possible but then I relaxed and suddenly the adrenaline disappeared. I was completely exhausted, I felt like if I closed my eyes I would fall asleep, my muscles started cramping. It was everything I could do to barely cling on to my lead until time ran out. After the match my body was reeling I couldn't recover and I am pretty sure I lost the rest of the matches I had that day.
The right amount:
There are also times when the right about of confidence will help you immensely. I have gone to tournaments where I had enough confidence whereas I was not nervous and did not have to worry about an adrenaline dump, but not so much that I wasn’t focused. My mind was fast, sharp, decisive, and instinctually correct. The only thoughts going on were how do I improve the situation and win. This state is incredible I don’t feel as if or fear that I will lose, but recognize that it is a possibility. I can visualize things before they happen and execute. This is what I always strive for, the goal is that as I develop I can zero in on what puts me in this zone so that I can recreate it at will.
Too Much:
Last year I went to California to compete in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan American tournament. I had spent many months preparing and felt ready. Half way through my first and final match of the single elimination tournament the referee stopped the action, as I had accidentally pulled the guys pants loose, and I lost my concentration. The match was lopsided; I was destroying my opponent and could see exasperation in his eyes. In that split second I stopped thinking about what I had to do to win, and started thinking wow this is easier than I thought, I felt invincible, I wondered what my next opponents would be like. I hardly noticed that the match had started again. I lost ground, I didn’t care it would be easy to gain it back. I lost more, I still didn’t care. He started attacking a choke, I thought he actually thinks he is going to win, he is just delaying the inevitable, then I realized he really was choking me and so I did what I thought I needed to do to escape. But I didn’t know what choke he had set up because I wasn’t paying attention; it was really tight now I was getting light headed. I had to make a guess, I exploded to my feet. Wrong guess, I went numb, my eyesight faded, then I opened my eyes and I was twitching looking up at the ref. I had passed out and I felt sick to my stomach because it was my arrogance that gave my opponent the match, not his skill.
Too Little:
In my very first competition I didn't have enough confidence I was so nervous I didn't sleep all night. I was tired and shaking from adrenaline, I couldn't think straight and felt like vomiting as I walked out on the mat. My only goal was not to embarrass myself which I thought I was about to do. I had never done anything like this before, I suddenly became terrified that I would injure myself, the next thought was of course I would because my opponent was going to try to force me to quit. I started out great, within 5 seconds I had the best position possible but then I relaxed and suddenly the adrenaline disappeared. I was completely exhausted, I felt like if I closed my eyes I would fall asleep, my muscles started cramping. It was everything I could do to barely cling on to my lead until time ran out. After the match my body was reeling I couldn't recover and I am pretty sure I lost the rest of the matches I had that day.
The right amount:
There are also times when the right about of confidence will help you immensely. I have gone to tournaments where I had enough confidence whereas I was not nervous and did not have to worry about an adrenaline dump, but not so much that I wasn’t focused. My mind was fast, sharp, decisive, and instinctually correct. The only thoughts going on were how do I improve the situation and win. This state is incredible I don’t feel as if or fear that I will lose, but recognize that it is a possibility. I can visualize things before they happen and execute. This is what I always strive for, the goal is that as I develop I can zero in on what puts me in this zone so that I can recreate it at will.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Back from the Injury... Kind of?
I trained this once this week and did two classes, infinitely more times than I trained or went to class last week or the ten prior to that. It was amazing on one hand and frustrating on the other. I had such a good time moving around, and getting back in the swing of things. I could do almost everything I was doing before except for rolling over to finish the arm bar upside down. I somehow lost that muscle memory, but with a little work I am sure it will be back in no time. Not to worried about that. After training and class my knee got stiff, but I relaxed, waited for it to loosen up, then went back at it. The frustrating part came this morning. I was at the Fargo Body Shop and started a nasty nasty workout called Hidalgo and my knee started hurting. Not the bad one either. The left MCL now had twinges of bad pain through various spots in the range of motion. Steph ruled out overcompensation as the cause of injury saying if it were the case it would be my LCL bothering me. We concluded that since I hadn't run in probably half a year, and I ran 1 mile yesterday and two miles today and while I was running today my hip flexers got extremely tight that this might be causing the problem. I aborted the workout and went home, anxious, upset, and frustrated. Luckily however we were right, I stretched and loosened up and the pain was gone. My mood: back to happy and looking forward to the training adventures ahead of me! Can't wait! No the only question that remains in my mind is, "Can I make the Pan?"
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