Developing Fighting Technique Through Visualization

The blood and guts training of sparring and conditioning are essential for a fighter's success, to be sure. No fighter ever lost a bout because he was too strong or fit. Still, the lower levels of competition are replete with competitors whose prodigious physical talents are undone by their lack of mental preparation. Elite MMA combatants know that the mind possesses the determining factors in most tough fights, and so it is in mastering the mind that a fighter allows himself the greatest chance of achieving a peak performance.

When fighters describe their mental preparation for fights, you will often hear the term "visualization". Visualization, also referred to as imagery, involves using all the senses to create or re-create an experience in the mind. The fighter imagines himself competing at his maximum potential, or he re-creates a past successful, razor-sharp performance, recalling in vivid detail what he saw, felt, thought, heard, and even smelled. Properly used, visualization can aid in developing a fighter's technical, tactical and emotional skill.

In this article I will focus on a type of visualization called "mental rehearsal" and explain how it can dramatically improve your fighting technique. Mental rehearsal is a straightforward and effective method of programming the mind (which controls the body) to execute skills with optimal force, speed and precision. Research offers considerable evidence that mental rehearsal combined with actual physical practice produces better athletic performances than physical practice alone. And, as an added benefit, you can mentally rehearse practically any time or place without exacting any additional wear and tear on his body.

Mental rehearsal works essentially because the mind doesn't distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. To use a simple non-fighting example, imagine slowly and step by step walking into a diner and seeing your favorite kind of pie, baked to perfection, ordering it, seeing it placed on the counter before you, pressing your fork down into it and through the crust, smelling it as you take it to your mouth, chewing it, tasting it, and so on. At some point during the mental rehearsal process it is likely you will begin salivating. You may be sitting motionless, eyes closed, no diner for miles, yet your mouth waters and your tongue moves. The chemistry of countless cells within your body changes in response to what you imagine.

Athletic performance can be practiced in a similar way. Imagery is most effectively practiced when your mind is calm and your body is relaxed, so find a time and comfortable place where you won't be interrupted. Recline or lie down, and close your eyes. Using a process called "progressive relaxation", take deep breaths and exhale slowly. With each exhalation, feel stress leaving your body. Start at your feet... exhale and feel all the tension leave your feet... then your legs... then abdomen... then chest... out through your arms...hands... fingers... then your neck... face... all the way to the top of your head... feel all the tension leave your body. Once you're relaxed and your mind is quiet, focus your attention on the part of your athletic performance you want to work on- a double-leg takedown, for example.

First, watch someone perform a double-leg correctly and successfully. Then mentally become the performer, not a passive observer, and practice the takedown in your mind. Experience the sights, sensations and emotions as if you were actually executing the technique successfully. Break the skill down into its key elements (the set-up, the penetration, the finish) paying attention to how one part transitions into the next. Then go back and forth between part and whole rehearsals, putting the elements of the skill together until the transitions are seamless. Skills should ultimately be rehearsed just as you would perform them in competition, including the same rhythm and tempo. As is true with physical practice, repetition is essential. Devote at least 10-15 minutes each day to mental practice.

Start by visualizing non-stressful images, perhaps simply executing the mechanics of a technique. Progress to practicing mentally under the competitive conditions you're likely to face. If it is a new environment, try to get there early so you can become familiar with it or use photographs or videos. As your ability to mentally rehearse develops imagine using the skill effectively in the intense atmosphere of top competition. Remaining relaxed and focused, mentally rehearse your confident execution of the technique and see the successful results.

The more detail you put into your mental rehearsal, the more your brain and body will learn. To the extent possible, use all of your senses when you mentally rehearse a technique. Making the images vivid and rich with detail will deepen the learning experience. Using the example of the double-leg takedown, see your opponent, notice his stance, the position of hands and his distance from you, feel the mat beneath your feet as you circle into position, smell the sweat and hear the yelling from the crowd. Feel the confidence and readiness you experience when you are fighting you are best, the tension in your thighs as you drop your level, your toes gripping the mat as you drive forward, exploding through your opponent, securing his legs and taking him down.

Throughout this process you are giving your brain cells practice in traveling some of the actual neural pathways they will follow later, in competition. This is one of the reasons you may feel your muscles moving, or at least wanting to move, when you visualize deeply. Through imagery you are developing a "blueprint" for the skill's muscular activity, helping the movement become more familiar and automatic. These tiny micro-muscular movements occur even as you are apparently relaxing, laying down new neural pathways, encoding your nervous system with the mental and physical information necessary to execute the technique successfully.

Recalling the successful execution of technique soon after it has occurred in training or competition is another effective way to establish the bodily association of how a peak performance feels, and makes it easier to duplicate in future performances. Remember everything about it-what you did to prepare, where you were, your opponent, who was there watching, all the things you saw during the competition, how you handled any mistakes, and how you handled success. Initially it may help to write a script detailing all the specifics of the experience. With practice you will be able to make the experience real in your mind without the script's help.

A limitation of mental rehearsal is, of course, that one also has to have a certain degree of knowledge and athletic ability for performing the skill in order to be successful. Just as with physical practice, mental rehearsal will predictably yield less than ideal results if you have an incorrect or insufficient understanding of proper technique at the outset. Or, if you lack the requisite strength and conditioning, you will not, for example, be able to lift and body slam an opponent no matter how much time you spend mentally practicing. Mental rehearsal should supplement other forms of skill development, not replace them. However, for fighters who have reached sufficient levels of physical conditioning and understanding of combative skills, mental practice can dramatically assist the skill learning process.