Strong Fighter and Mental training and qualities!

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Examining mental training and qualities in light of our martial arts needs

What will determine the fighting spirit of a fighter, aside from his nature?

Even weak spirited person will fight unbreakably, if he is fighting for his life or for the lives of those he holds dear.However the fight is not always a life or death one…

If the fight is a competition and not a life or death situation, what determines and motivates the fighting spirit? Might it be sheer competitiveness?A fighter who can not stand the thought of surrendering, or losing, fueling his motivation to win.

There are some cases in which this competitiveness is not driven due to the opponent but rather from a “self competitive” nature. In this case overcoming the opponent is of less importance!!

“Achieving perfection” is the adversary. The competition is innate, and the mistakes are the “mental blows” received (This sort of mentality drives the people who are motivated by it to be very self conscience, until the point when even winning is not enough, if in the process mistakes were made…)

There's one more kind of fighting spirit - That which does not exist or matter

If we are not practicing a martial art for fighting and self defense purposes, we do not need to have nor develop any kind of fighting spirit, aside from that which drives us to excellence!

A fighting spirit is exactly that mental feature which allows us to succeed and achieve in whatever we choose to do in life, be it school, career, or parenting. 

It’s the quality which raises our head when we’re down and drives us through potential breaking times. Correct mental training can improve this attribute.

- Fighting spirit can also be referred to as Mental Toughness

Fighting Spirit and Mental Toughness

We’ll begin by examining this quality in life and death situations.

When our mental training is intended to deal with life and death situations we need to remember one thing:

If we’re fighting for our lives, chances are, so is the other side, (And if their not we have a big advantage, because we’re willing to do whatever it takes to win!!!)

As always, however, we try to prepare for “worst case scenario”^**. So, in the situation at hand we'll assume we are on balanced ground (we are both fighting for our lives). So, what breaks the tie? What brings the mind to surrender, and to give up?

Some times it will happen due to sheer physical reasons. The body cannot stand the punishment anymore. Exhausted from the effort and the pain, the mind accepts defeat.

In the mental training of the martial arts we try to develop a "mind over matter" thinking and ability. Nevertheless at the end we are flesh and blood.

(Example - Lets imagine an extreme situation - If a person has dislocated his two arms, and his opponent is still in good condition, it will probably cause the will to fight to dissolve and the mind will probably accept defeat.)

Sometimes it will be a mental defeat. For instance if the person is just too good, and we feel that what ever we do, we just can’t hurt him or win. The mind might give in!

By the way, it does not necessarily have to look like a hands down no defense situation defeat, it might, just the same be a “kamikaze” response, where the person attacks knowing he is doomed

Sometimes the same mental defeat is purely mental. It happens when fear takes over (Remember the fearlessness part…). It can even happen before the first blow. The mind just gives in and accepts its defeat.

As we said before these are the “tie breaking” situations where life and death is concerned, but looking closely these are also the same "mental breaking" situations experienced in the different fight types and competition being the opponent - another fighter or ourselves.

However one major difference is that in a sports event room for "mental escalation" still exists, meaning, the fighter still has mental space to push himself mentally to a life and death situation (even if, realistically, this is not the case).

This indicates that:

Through changing our perception of a situation, we can give ourselves a certain edge!!

Nevertheless we must beware! If implemented fully this ability or "technique" of mental training leads to life and death actions as well.

One might break all the physical rules of his sport to “protect” himself and “kill” his opponent, If the opponent is the “person himself” self motivated) he might cause himself serious health injuries over train, over strain exe.