Mixed Martial Arts – The Success Mindset

Question, Are you right minded or wrong minded? I want to talk about something that is absolutely vital for success in Martial Arts or anything else you have to work for in Life. I’m talking about the Right Mindset. Now, I’m not going to give you a long email to read or a long list of things to do. Rather, I want to share with you a one simple thing that you can add to your training that will have a very profound impact on your progress.

Whether you are aware of it or not, the proper mindset can make a huge difference on how well you practice. We all know that when entering into a competition, we have to get into the right mentality and focus on a positive outcome, but few of us use this exercise during practice and sparring.

Here’s what I would like for you to do. Develop a Positive Statement for each major aspect of the style or styles you practice. For example, if you are a grappler and you find yourself on top trying to pass someone’s guard you might have a positive statement for passing the guard. Something like, “I am a master at passing the guard. No matter who I fight, white belt or black belt, when I’m on top, I will pass your guard and then I will get the submission” You can also do this from bad positions like bottom mount. Try saying in your head “I love it when someone gets the mount on me because I know I’m going to escape, not even Roger Gracie can hold down me here”.

For striking you can do the same thing. Let’s suppose that you are just terrible at throwing leg kicks. Reassure yourself that you are always progressing; “I am an incredible kick boxer. My kicks are the best part of my game and they’re only getting better. Look out Anderson Silva” (notice too, how the positive statements are all positive. “I will not lose” is a negative statement. “I will win” is positive. There’s a big difference).

I know this sounds silly, but I promise you this works. It doesn’t matter if you can really escape from Roger Gracie’s mount or knock out Anderson Silva, the point is that when you lead your mind in the direction of the desired outcome you are more likely to achieve that outcome. Trust me on this one, this is what the pro’s do and it will also help you achieve faster results if you just do it. Now get to it.

Professor Travis Tooke

Team Tooke Houston Mixed Martial Arts